As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Inspired by C.S.Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, “The Lost Story” by Meg Shaffer is a unique fairytale that adds complexity and diversity to the characters. In this tale, the author has taken the idea of Narnia and asked what would happen if they came back and one person didn’t remember the details of their adventure. She also adds a beautiful love story to that idea and explores the impact to both characters, Jeremy and Rafe. I loved the complicated relationship between the pair and the structure of the story.

One of the elements that makes this so unique is the story structure within, the storyteller not the expected person, adding layers and ideas about how imagination can build worlds. I also love the details to the world but also the relationship between Jeremy and Rafe. Not only was this story engaging but I loved how their friendship is explored as all the secrets eventually pour out, some not even Jeremy knows. The story is intriguing and enchanting.

If you like stories about portals to other worlds or want a more adult version of the Chronicles of Narnia, this unique fairytale featuring two lost boys might be what you’re looking for. Not only does it explore real world explanations for two boys to lose themselves but also the consequences once they do return. It shows what two people will do to get back the people they love. I love the amazing story and would love more. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 horses.