The Lost Girls: A Novel [Hardcover]

Laurie Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004

Exploring the contradictory human desire for freedom and flight, and safety and security, a novel drawing on the themes of "Peter Pan" explores the experiences of a modern-day Wendy and five generations of daughters--the "lost girls.".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What do you do when your mother raises you to believe that fairy tales are real? And why do women fall in love with men who refuse to grow up? Fox's second novel (after the well-received My Sister from the Black Lagoon), asks both questions as she traces the intimate relationship of five generations of women with Peter Pan, the protagonist of J.M. Barrie's classic tale. The women are the descendants of the original Wendy Darling, and they must balance their magical experiences with modern-day reality. The narrator, Wendy Darling Braverman, is the great-granddaughter of the original Wendy, who tells her that she - like her mother and grandmother before her - will one night be awakened by a boy with whom she will fall madly in love. Peter Pan does appear to Wendy one evening when she's 13, and brings her to Neverland to take care of him and the Lost Boys. Wendy grows to adore the charming, elusive Peter, who flirts and tantalizes, but never gives Wendy the love she craves. Back in the real world, Wendy grows up filled with longing and angst, channeling her imagination into the writing of children's stories. Her husband, Freeman, a musician with a passion for cartoon sounds and avoiding employment, is yet another man-child with no desire to grow up. When Wendy and Freeman's own rebellious teenage daughter becomes dangerously entangled in the Peter Pan mythology, Wendy is forced to re-examine her deepest secrets and the meaning of the Darling legacy. Fox's inventive conceit is overdeveloped and her coy stylings grow tiresome, but her clever interrogation of a self-destructive romantic tendency makes this an interesting experiment.
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From Booklist

Wendy Amelia Darling Braverman Ullman is the fourth descendant of the Wendy--now an old lady, Great Nana--who inspired J. M. Barrie and, through the years, was lover and muse to various poets, artists, and other ne'er-do-wells. She captivates the new Wendy with her sparkling eyes, jewelry, and stories of the Boy, whom she says Wendy will surely meet. Peter comes very late, though, and Wendy, 13, has since lived through her parents' divorce, her bohemian mother's fads and infatuations, and her glamorous father's only occasional acknowledgment of his pensive daughter. When Peter appears in button-fly jeans and spiky hair, Wendy begins to understand how strange and special it is to be a girl in her family. Wendy does visit Neverland (the fairies are bitchy), then adulthood and marriage to a loopy musician, and when her daughter becomes a brilliant, sarcastic Goth teenager, she visits Great Nana, too. A wry mixture of Fay Weldon and Alice Hoffman, magical and scary, full of the possibilities and heartbreak of growing up. Roberta Johnson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1ST edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074321790X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743217903
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,056,582 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurie Fox is the author of the autobiographical novel, My Sister from the Black Lagoon (Simon & Schuster; Publishers Weekly starred review; full-page New York Times Book Review), The Lost Girls (Simon & Schuster; featured in USA Today) and the "interactive" haiku poetry book, Sexy Hieroglyphics (Chronicle Books). In turn, she has published two chapbooks, Sweeping Beauty: Notes on Cinderella and I Love Walt (both from Illuminati), and her poetry has been included in several literary journals. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz in Creative Writing and Theatre, Laurie has written and performed in many theatre and performance art works. A former bookseller of both new and antiquarian books, Laurie was a longtime creative writing teacher and freelance editor. She is presently working on a new novel as well as completing the book for a musical, "anotherwhere" (a sample of the songs can be heard on MySpace.com/anotherwhere. A native of Los Angeles, Laurie currently resides in Berkeley, CA, in author Philip K. Dick's teenaged home. And yes, she does dream of electric sheep!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart Spinning Fun, February 24, 2005

By 

JAY BREMYER (McPherson, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lost Girls: A Novel (Hardcover)

I just finished _The Lost Girls_ and absolutely love the book. I
don't remember ever laughing this delightedly, this often, and yet feeling,at the same time, the profundity of the analysis of the human condition -- all around.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a unique book, June 26, 2005

By 

danielle (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Girls: A Novel (Hardcover)

The Lost Girls features Wendy Darling Braverman, the same Wendy from the beloved Peter Pan story. All the Darling women have to be whisked away to the Neverland in their teenage years, and they all fall in love with the whimsical boy, Peter Pan. Wendy thinks she will not grow up, but eventually she does, and so continues the Darling women legacy that began with her great-great grandmother, Great-Nana. Wendy struggles with her love for Peter in Neverland and learning how to live and grow up in the real world, and her ambivalence puts strain on her new family of an eccentric sound-loving husband and her Goth daughter. Wendy and her daughter Berry both have to deal with growing up, wild imaginations, and learning how to cultivate a healthy mother-daughter relationship. This book has outstanding characters, including her author mother who writes about men who cannot grow up and her great-great grandmother with an impressive bosom and a knack for telling stories. Wendy's grandmother is missing in action for the longest time, but she eventually makes a charming reappearance in Wendy's life. I really have not come upon many books like The Lost Girls, with this blunt but interesting prose writing. Adorable and cute, although the book tends to ramble and leave me wondering where the narrative was going. Interesting book indeed!

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Lost Girls is a Delightful Book!!!!, January 25, 2004

By 

Ellie Blacklion (Evergreen, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Girls: A Novel (Hardcover)

A whimsical and darling story with a luminous ending. You won't want it to end. Read it over a weekend, didn't want to leave the warm and engaging characters or the lyrical and magical world Laurie Fox created in these pages. Her writing is assured and poetic -- treat yourself to this book!