An amazing story based on pieces of real history! Masterful storytelling pulled me in from the start and kept me mesmerized until the end. It could have continued another 100 pages even and it would have kept me glued to it.
Both the modern plotline in 1980's Louisiana, and the past one from 1875, held my attention, especially towards the end as they began to merge. Benny and Hannie were strong, flawed heroines, sacrificing to 'go the extra mile' for others, at their own risk. The modern story of a struggling first year teacher working in a disadvantaged school was quite inspiring. It reminded me of The Water is Wide or other heroic tales of teachers who take risks to reach out and make connections to their students.

"...the past travels with you. It’s whether you run from it or learn from it that makes all the difference."

The author does a good job of mixing in tough topics associated with slavery and mistreatment of women without being too graphic. Themes included breaking free from a destructive past, and being courageous to move toward a better future despite hardship and prejudice. Many of us can relate to overcoming things we are ashamed of or times we could have used a hand up to help us. There's a whisper of faith present, but not overtly Christian, more of a moral perspective.
Highly recommend! A solid 5 star read!

1875 - “I wish to inquire for my people…. We were stolen…. I was sold”.

How is it possible that without any personal reference point a book can absolutely rock your world? Hannie’s story was a gut-punch. She is not articulate; she cannot read nor write but the dialect is easily understandable. Hannie does not have much but the cunning and common sense necessary to stay alive. She was a slave. She is a sharecropper. She is the savior of two girls. She is an amazement.

1987 – Trying to repay student loans a young woman takes a teaching job in an impoverished Mississippi town. This part of the story tries to connect with the history of Gossett Hall, the plantation where Hannie’s story first unfolds. In this portion there are some interesting characters; they are colorful, troubled, reticent, some are very unlikable, all very real. A few twists and turns to bring the timelines together and make the story whole.

A very hard tale very well told. Thank you NetGalley and Random House / Ballantine Books

I love Lisa Wingate's writing. I have seen her speak and she writes just like she talks. This book holds your attention and you feel as though Lisa is speaking to you. Interesting topic I had not heard about before. Definitely learned a lot while reading such good stories.

I was so excited to get a copy of this book because I loved Before We Were Yours however this one did not have the same pull that the other had. This was a really good story and I enjoyed reading it but parts were really slow and I had a hard time connecting with the characters. The story was told in two different time periods, the first was the story of Hannie, a slave, who got caught up in a debacle with the daughters of her owner. The other was a more current story of Bennie who was a teacher. These were the main characters of the story and I unfortunately couldn't connect with them or understand some of their be decisions which made it hard to get invested in the story. The ending was good though it felt a bit rushed. Overall I enjoyed this book though.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Told in 2 separate yet enter twined stories and time periods, this is a fantastic book about hope, family and history.

This book is a time slip story. It goes back and forth between 1987 and 1875. In the present day of 1987 Benny has just moved to a new town to be a teacher. She comes in contact with many different people who she is trying to help or get to know. The town is very poor and is run my a family called the Gossetts. Benny moves into a house on the same Gossett plantation we start to learn about in 1875. She starts uncovering historical events, people, and even some secrets as she begins to live in her house.
In the year 1875 we are learning what has become of the Gossett plantation and their slaves 10 years after the Civil War has ended. Slaves are now free but still have many challenges that they have to go through. In this time period the story revolves around Hannie. She is also trying to uncover facts about her family and coming across many secrets of her own. She goes on a journey that will change her life and many around her for the rest of her life.
These two time periods have their own story but come together full circle. The author Lisa Wingate does very well with how she wrote both sides. You were infested in both time periods and sometimes it's hard to do that. Alot of time you are more interested in one side and can't wait for the story to return to that time period. She did very well in making both intriguing and making us want to figure out both sides. I wish we could have figured out more information about everyone's ancestors in the town but that would just be too much information. I think that's a goo thing that I had that desire though. It means the author did amazing at pulling me into the story and wanting more and more. I received this book freely through netgalley and have chosen to give my honest opinion.

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate delves into the plight of freed slaves during the reconstruction period and how slavery still impacts communities today. Jumping back and forth between 1987 Louisiana and 1887 Louisiana and Texas, The Book of Lost Friends tells the story of Hannie, a freed slave, and those who live in the town that is still controlled by the family of her former slave master.

Hannie finds herself in a tight situation along with her master's daughter and her master's illegitimate daughter. The situations they find themselves in demonstrate the difficulty of being African-American in that time period and being a woman. While in their desperate situation, the find lost friend letters published in a newspaper which helped former slaves to find family members who had been sold to other plantations. They collected this information in a book during their travels. Meanwhile in the current day, a new teacher unfamiliar with the social do's and don'ts of her new community has her students at a low-income school do research on their ancestors. The social codes in this town and the who's related to whom all trace back to the former plantation owners and their off-spring.

Wingate does a marvelous job of depicting the hardships that former slaves experienced and how they were not really free during Reconstruction and even more recently. She also does a marvelous job of showing how those same restrictions and social codes in many ways still exist today and how the former plantation owners simply moved into being factory owners, town mayors, and other "big whigs." This was a difficult book to read simply because these are difficult topics to consider and Wingate demonstrates these are still issues that impact the world today. Highly recommended.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The Book of Lost Friends from Random House Publishing-Ballantine via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

I've read and loved Lisa Wingate's previous books so was looking forward to this one. It didn't disappoint. The interspersed letters took some getting used to but they lend authenticity to the work that is so important it's essential they're there. It was horrifying to see how people were treated.

I got caught up in the lives of Benny and Hannie - two such strong characters (though they didn't realize that themselves). It was fascinating to see the two stories come together . The characters were very well done and the stories mesmerizing. I loved how we found out at the end what happened to Hannie - almost in an offhanded way. And we can guess what will happen with Benny (or maybe there will be a future book so we don't have to guess?)

Thank you, Lisa Wingate, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book!

I immediately snagged The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate because I loved her previous book Before We Were Yours. This book follows two timelines. The first is post-Civil War Louisiana where three women embark on a journey to Texas. The first is Lavinia is the heir to a plantation that is facing financial difficulty. The second is Juneau Jane who Lavinia’s illegitimate half-sister. Then finally, Hannie. Hannie is Lavinia’s former slave. Lavinia and Juneau Jane are looking to find information regarding their inheritance. Hannie is just looking for family that she was separated from when she was sold into slavery. The second timeline takes place in Louisiana in 1987. Benny Silva is a teacher at a local school and is desperate for them to become interested in literature. After finding a local treasure trove of books from a local plantation that contains local history, she may have just found a way to get to these kids.

I absolutely loved Before We Were Yours. It still haunts me and I read it years ago. I wanted to love this book just as much. I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. There are so many parts of the story that are so slow that it is almost hard to follow. The switching of timelines didn’t come together cohesively and was a bit jarring. Although, the storylines are quite beautiful individually. Hannie discovering letters and her desperation to find her family moved me to tears more than once. Reading the real letters throughout the book broke me. But it is a part of history that is so important to learn about and puts things into perspective.

I did absolutely adore Benny and her determination to ignite passion in her students. I know so many teachers that have this same drive and I love how the author really depicts Benny fighting for her students. I love her creativity with her students. Honestly, it would be a dream to stumble on a treasure trove of old books filled with history. This made me almost giddy while reading the book.

Overall, I liked it but I wanted to love it. So I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Wow, I am still in awe of this book! Author Lisa Wingate's new book, based on real "Lost Friends" advertisements post civil war, is an absolute must read.

At the age of 6 enslaved person Hannie Gossett, along with her mother, siblings, aunt and cousins, is sent by her owner to take refuge in Texas. But her owners nephew who has been entrusted with taking them to Texas sells them off by ones and twos at different stops along the way. Only young Hannie is recovered by her owner. Her missing relatives haunts her, never knowing if they are dead or alive. 10 years later Hannie is free, helping other former slaves finish their indenture and own their 40 acres free and clear. But a lack of trust thrusts Hannie into a search for her former owner, along with his 2 daughters, one (Lavinia) from his wife, and the other (Juneau Jane) from his colored mistress. It is during this journey that Hannie learns about the Lost Friends advertisements and she and Juneau Jane gather advertisements and stories as they search for the lost owner of the plantation.

Over a hundred years later, Bennie Silva, a young school teacher with her own traumatic scars, lands a job in a backwater Louisiana town, were her students are indifferent at best. But there are stories there to be told, and rich histories to be learned, and Bennie finds the way to her students through researching their past. How Bennie's students are connected to Hannie, Lavinia and Juneau Jane is painstakingly revealed through their alternating stories.

I could not put this book down. The courage of Hannie and Juneau Jane and the people they meet along the way, both black and white, good and bad is the story of the people behind the Lost Friends ads. This is truly an amazing book, well written, well researched, and people with a rich variety of characters. Don't miss it!

A beautifully written historical novel set in Texas and Louisiana and told from two points of view, and two time periods. 1875, Hannie is separated from her large family and is looking to find them. 1987. Benny is a single teacher making a powerful difference in the small community.
It's a story of slavery and searching for lost friends, family members...loves. Amazingly it includes actual ads that were published in Southern newspapers and read to black churches by their preachers for those searching for relatives of former slaves. The last time many of the people had seen their families were in sale pens or auction yards being sold off to separate owners one or if they were lucky two at at a time. On the bright side some of the ads told of reunions, but regardless of the ad they were all heartfelt.

I love the premise of this book--the story of ex-slaves who published in special newspapers short descriptions of family with whom they had lost touch through the slave trade. Some stories benefit from the past and present genre. This one does not. The present day story of Bennie who turns uninterested students in a poor town into researchers about their families past just does not ring true. The great mystery in her story is a fizzle. Why, oh,why does every story have to have blossoming romance!?

Hannie's story of a young ex-slave and her master's two daughters who are searching for the girl's father and her family is better. A little over half way through, I just started skipping Bennie's chapters.

This is a very interesting premise, but it was not handled very well. I did enjoy searching for and reading the real notes written after the Civil War.

A wonderful story of love, loss and family. This heartwarming story transcends the ages with its story of family and the ties that bind. I highly recommend reading as soon as it is available.

I really enjoyed Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours,” so I was really excited to read this book. “The Book of Lost Friends” alternates between 2 stories, Benny in 1987 - a new teacher struggling to make learning important to her students. She is teaching in a school that does not have any budget for supplies, to students who don’t have much, and some don’t even have food to eat at home. The other story belongs to Hannie, a recently freed slave that has been separated from her family and is thrown into a dangerous situation that takes her on the run with a couple of other women, trying to find their father.

On their travels, they start to write down the stories of other frees slaves who are looking for their friends and families. This is how the Book of Lost Friends starts.

I struggled a bit with the vernacular used in telling Hannie’s story, and think I might have enjoyed it more if it were a bit easier to read. I also thought the end felt a bit rushed to me. So, this one is getting 4 stars from me. If you enjoy historical fiction, it is definitely worth checking out!

I received a copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

if you enjoyed Lisa Wingate historical book Before we were yours, than you are going to enjoy this one. i am not one for historical fiction, but i really enjoy this authors way of writing and her topics of choice.
the story is after the emancipation when slaves are bought and sold, taking them away from family and loved ones.
ADs are placed by those seeking family members that have gone "missing" hoping to reunite with them.
i love how the story writes in two different time periods of Missy and Juneau Jane and than about Benny, the teacher that is renting the house that used to belong to them.
this book is powerful and thought provoking due to the ability to see how horrible man can be to others
i was given this book from netgalley and publisher to provide an honest review.

Available now! “The Book of Lost Friends” takes place in alternating timelines, in 1875, just after the civil war and 1987 in a small Louisiana town that’s founding fathers were slave owners. Most of the town people can trace their roots to the Gosset plantation.

Newly freed Hannie is trying to find her family and figure out what to do with her life. And first year teacher, Benny, is trying to get through to her students who are uninterested and difficult. The stories come together nicely.

I liked both timelines but I did feel like I would just get involved in one of the characters stories and it would switch to the other perspective. Most of the time it doesn’t bother me but with this book it made me reluctant to pick it up quickly. Overall a well told story. I generally like this author and her books and will continue to read new books in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine Books for the copy of the book in exchange for my review.

c
#NetGalley #TheBookofLostFriends #LisaWingate #BallantineBooksandRandomHousePublishing

** spoiler alert ** THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS
BY LISA WINGATE

Benedetta Silva arrives in Augustine, Louisiana to perform her first teaching job. The first thing that happens to her is that she thinks she has hit a child that didn't obey the stop sign that the crossing guard held out shouting STOP! Becccccnedetta is hit by a big pipe truck that is at fault but it careens down the road doing a hit and run. That is Benedetta's introduction to the town where she has gotten her first teaching position. She notices abject poverty everywhere. From the boy she sees with a distended stomach caused from not being able to get enough nutrition from a lack of food; To the chipping gray paint on the cinder block walls and the windows blacked out by coats of black paint on the glass. It is 1987 and the school is run down with an industrial feel like it was built in the 1950's but the worse for the wear. Everywhere she looks she sees poverty. She thought that this first teaching job was going to be an easy stint in a subsidized school with the incentive being an easy way of paying off her large student loans she has accrued from college. The most striking thing she notices is that her students by the way they have chosen their desks are SELF SEGREGATING!

Benedetta Silva reminds me of the author of this beautiful and heartbreaking historical fiction. The way that the brand new teacher reminds me of Lisa Wingate is that they both believe that reading and literature has the power to change people's lives for the better. In the novel Ms. Silva is stunned when she takes out the copies of the classic called, "Animal Farm," she sees that the pages have yellowed from never being used before. When a disinterested student asks Ms. Silva what is she supposed to do with her copy of, "Animal Farm," Ms. Silva tells her to open up the book and read it. That reading is an individual experience by which we all see in literature through the lens of our own personal perceptions and experiences which makes literature subjective. This is where I imagine the voice of Lisa Wingate who has won numerous awards for her opus of work. She writes my favorite kind of historical fiction because of one simple principle: it is more history than fiction.

"The Lost Friends," column printed in the Southwestern newsletter read from pastors in the churches is free of charge to subscribers. By subscribers I am referring to those souls who have paid in advance to receive the Southwestern's publication on a regular basis. To all of those in 1875, after the emancipation of the slaves who were freed by Abraham Lincoln who paid an astronomical price. Who was assassinated in Ford's theater while watching a play with Mary Todd Lincoln. He believed that all men were created equal and this fact isn't anything new to us today. In this novel twelve years later during the period of reconstruction Hannie Gossett is now eighteen years old. She was a former slave of the Gosswood Grove plantation owned by William Gossett and she has the same recurring dream of being six years old. Her mother Mittie had nine children by which Hannie was the middle child. Mittie told her nine children that they all shared the same bloodlines of princes and princesses in Africa. Mittie placed three glass blue beads in a small sack from an inherited necklace for all of her children including her sister Jenny and her four children.

At eighteen Hannie walks in her sleep while dreaming the same dream of during the war her "Master," William Gossett during plans of seeking refuge in Texas to form a new plantation the group was stolen by the evil and vile Jeptha Loach. He was the nephew of the equally cruel Mrs. Gossett. Hannie witnessed each brother and sister and her Aunt Jenny, (Mittie's sister), and three of her four cousins being ripped away and sold off each to the four winds or to places unknown. There was just Hannie, her mother Mittie and the youngest daughter of Aunt Jenny named Mary Angel. The plan was to keep all of the slaves together hidden on a new plantation in Texas. Hidden away from the soldiers of the Yankee federal soldier's of the North who would have forced William Gossett to give the family their freedom. When Mrs. Gossett's nephew stole the close knit group he lied and said he had permission to place them a couple at a time on the auction block.

Hannie thinks Mrs Gossett and her nephew are the devil. The whole Loach family are a bunch of the most rotten apples. Jep Loach who sold off Mittie's children and her sister Jenny's three children gets drunk after he sells a couple at a time. So Hannie and Mittie chant the names and places where each member was sold off as to remember where to find them all when the first of them gets freed. In East Texas Hannie thinks she has witnessed the worst. Mittie tells Hannie that Mr. William Gossett, their true owner is going to stop paying for Jep Loach to stay out of uniform for his transgressions and theft. Suddenly, the door flings open and another vigilante trader says two have to go today to be sold separately. Mittie begs that the three of them must be sold together in one lot. She begs for mercy explaining that her whole family and her sister and her three children were stolen. That they all have been stolen from Master William Gossett of Goswood Grove. Mittie begs that her niece Mary Angel is sickly and just a baby and for him to tell his master that the last three herself, Mary Angel and Hannie are stolen property and must stay together. Hannie is remembering all this as she is dreaming and she remembers the fifteen tiny poke sacks, hung with jute strings they stole out of the wagon. Inside each bag there was placed the three blue glass beads off the necklace that was Grandmama's most prized possession.
"You hold this close by li'l pea. If that's the only thing you do you keep it. This is the sign of your
people. We lay our eyes on each other again in this life, no matter how long it be from now, this is
how we, each of us, knows the other one. If long time pass, and you get up big, by the beads we still
gonna know you. Listen at me. You hear Aunt Mittie, now?" "We put this string back together
someday, all of us. In this world, God willing, or in the next."

This is a favorite read of all time. It is brilliantly written of a bygone era that I feel each of us is familiar with but this story was a standout for me in its poignancy and beauty. My favorite quote of this historical novel is these unforgettable universal sentences that sum up the humanity in all of us:
"We die once when the last breath leaves our bodies. We die a second time when the last
person speaks our name." From an old proverb taken from this novel.
"The first death is beyond our control, but the second one we can strive to prevent."
This really resonated with me and if you found any meaning in it, then I can assure you that you will love this historical novel inspired by true events and history. I am going to buy the physical hard copy when this haunting gem crafted by the talented Lisa Wingate is on sale in bookstores on April 7, 2020.
There is a Good Reads Giveaway of this novel going on right now, March 24th for all of you fans that are interested. I highly recommend that you read this slowly and give this lovely narrative a chance.

Thank you to Net Galley, Lisa Wingate and Ballantine Books a division of Random House Publishing for providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own and are not biased based on my receiving an early eARC.

#NetGalley #TheBookofLostFriends #LisaWingate #BallantineBooksandRandomHousePublishing

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate was a winning story taking place in two centuries. The first, shortly after the Civil War, and the second in 1987, in the same town. Many of the people in the second era were descendants of those in the first. The earlier tale documents the trip to Texas from Louisiana of three young women, girls, who were trailing the father of two of them, and an ex-slave, who was descended from the other girl's grandfather. One girl was the legitimate, white daughter of the master; one the illegitimate daughter of the master and his mixed race mistress, and one an ex-slave who was sharecropping with several others, working out the contract for ownership of their plot of land. The three of them set out to find the master in Texas, each looking to solidify her economics position. The 1987 story is about an out-of-town school teacher who struggles to motivate her students, all poor, many black, in a school where everyone has given up.

I had a little trouble getting into the story, but once I was, wow! There are ins and outs beyond words, as there often are when one takes a look at 4 or 5 generations. Especially in the south, especially where slavery is concerned. The students come up with the project on their won so there was plenty of buy-in. The girls in the 19th century eventually grew up and returned from Texas with a heck of a story to tell: one of intrigue, lies, prejudice, sex (not explicit), romance, and loyalty. The Book of Lost Friends was a fabulous read and well done, considering were skipped back and forth so much. It is always a positive when people come to care about the past, recent, or not. I recommend it.

I received a free ARC of The Book of Lost Friends from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions and interpretations contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #thebookoflostfriends

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

Brief Summary: Told in alternating storylines: Hannie is a former slave on a journey to Texas with the daughters of her former master to verify her family’s rights via inheritance to the land. Along the way, she starts collections ads from people looking to reunite with lost loved ones after the Civil War. Benny is a teacher in 1987 who takes a position at a low income rural public school in Augustine, LA to help with educational debt reduction. She comes up with a plan to study local history to invest her students in learning. I loved Before We Were Yours and was really excited to be invited to read an ARC. I am excited to tell you that I liked this book even better than her previous.

Highlights: Lisa Wingate is talented. She has a knack for taking little known aspects of history and bringing them to life in a way you won’t forget. I honestly didn’t know how people found lost loved ones after the Civil War nor the emotional wear and tear involved. I’m really impressed by how she brought the dual storylines together. I am inspired to visit her research places in New Orleans and Louisiana personally. I was fascinated by the plantation “family” culture. I also loved the lengths Benny went to for her students. As an early career professional, I saw aspects of myself in her.

Explanation of Rating 5 plus stars! I couldn’t get to the end of the book fast enough! I can’t say enough for this book and don’t think it’s getting the social media love it deserves. I’m hoping to join one of Wingate’s virtual events.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Ballentine Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I already bought a hard copy for my personal library to support the author.

The Book of Lost Friends is not a book that you just close the cover and move on from. It is a book from which one must slowly emerge. One must ease their heartstrings away from Hannie, Juneau Jane, Missy, and Benny; to do otherwise would leave a tear that would be difficult to mend. The story bridges generations from 1875 to 1987, awakening those latter generations to the stories of their ancestors and their own self-worth, making it possible for them to begin to define themselves rather than to be defined by others. May it also teach us about our own value, to encourage us to take great risks in order to improve the world for present and future generations.

Lisa Wingate has created another story that is likely destined to top bestseller lists. I could not recommend it more highly. I am very grateful to have received a copy from Ballantine, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review, and received no monetary compensation.