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The Keeper of Lost Things

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The Keeper of Lost Things

By: Ruth Hogan
Narrated by: Jane Collingwood, Sandra Duncan
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About this listen

Winner of the Richard and Judy autumn book club 2017.

One of the Mail on Sunday's 'Best books for the beach this summer'

Meet the Keeper of Lost Things....

Once a celebrated author of short stories now in his twilight years, Anthony Peardew has spent half his life collecting lost objects, trying to atone for a promise broken many years before.

Realising he is running out of time, he leaves his house and all its lost treasures to his assistant Laura, the one person he can trust to fulfil his legacy and reunite the thousands of objects with their rightful owners.

But the final wishes of the Keeper of Lost Things have unforeseen repercussions which trigger a most serendipitous series of encounters....

And if you loved The Keeper of Lost Things, don't miss Ruth Hogan's second novel The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes, which is out now.

©2017 Ruth Hogan (P)2017 John Murray Press Contemporary Contemporary Romance Horror Literature & Fiction Romance Romantic Comedy Women's Fiction Scary Fiction Feel-Good Comedy Heartfelt

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Critic reviews

"One of the most charming novels either of us has read. Don't lose it. Keep it." (Richard & Judy)

"The first book I read in 2017 - and if another as good comes along in the next 12 months, I'll eat my special gold reviewing spectacles." (Daily Mail)

"Captures perfectly and heartbreakingly the small moments on which a life can turn." (Kirsty Wark, author of The Legacy of Elizabeth Pringle.)

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I've listened to a lot of audible books but this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review! I loved this book, it's laugh out loud funny at times, sweet without being sickly so and also moving without being cliche or 'hammy'. I've dabbles with a few books which are general fiction leaning towards 'chick lit' which mixed success, in fact I can think of only two others I enjoyed; the trouble with goats and sheep and the one plus one. This is up there with them, there a few unexplained things, there are a few subplots which could have been teased out further and which I'd have happily listened to more of, but it is still a lovely book. I even had a look at what other books Ruth Hogan had written only to find this was her first published novel!

Lovely lovely book!

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nice story, had to listen to it twice as I wasnt really paying too much attention the 1st listen as i was on holiday with one eye on the daughter bobbing around on an inflatable pizza in the pool whilst a cretan from Denmark chatted her up.

Listen to it Twice

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great book . characters ... i could see them even felt i knew them .
places I was there . narrators brilliant .

great

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The idea behind this story is great but I was left disappointed by the execution. It left me feeling that this was a story which couldn't decide whether it was chick lit or supernatural chiller and fell short of both.
More could have been made of the stories behind the objects. At first I was left wondering whether we were hearing the real stories or the stories in Anthony's books. I was looking forward to finding out, but this thread was not really followed.
I didn't mind the various threads tying together at the end. I also thought the story of Bomber and Eunice was excellent. However the main story remained full of cliches and disappointing. It felt like a cross between one of Porschas bad novels - heroine falls for the gardener - and the stories that Anthony first published that were basic literary fodder. Whereas the stories behind the objects were far more the stories described as being unpublishable.
Overall it misses the mark. Also the narrator made Freddy sound slow and stupid - which we are told he isn't - which didn't help.

Could have been so much better

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fab story with likeable characters beautifully read by performers I wanted it to last longer!

wonderful

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