Lost [Hardcover]

Jacqueline Davies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

Essie can tell from the moment she lays eyes on Harriet Abbott: this is a woman who has taken a wrong turn in life. Why else would an educated, well-dressed, clearly upper-crust girl end up in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory setting sleeves for six dollars a day? But Harriet isn’t the only one who is lost. Essie wanders between the opposing emotions of her love for the young would-be lawyer who lives next door and her hatred for her mother who seems determined to take away every bit of happiness that Essie hopes to find. As the unlikely friendship between Essie and Harriet grows, so does the weight of the question hanging between them: Who is lost? And who will be found?

This is a powerful novel about friendship, loss, and the resiliency of the human spirit, set against the backdrop of the teeming crowds and scrappy landscape of the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1900s.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Essie lives a hardscrabble life with her widowed mother and younger siblings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1900s. The grim specter of poverty always hovers, yet Essie’s spirit, her talent for creating beautiful hats, and her bountiful love for her little sister Zelda help to imbue their lives with joy and positive energy. As chapters alternate between earlier and later settings, we follow Essie to work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The plot builds—and so does a gradual awareness of cracks in Essie’s grasp of reality. She is in denial about an accident that has taken Zelda’s life, and she pursues a friendship with the mysterious Harriet Abbott, who shows up to work at the Triangle but does not seem at all like a typical working girl. Davies weaves two historic events—the disappearance of a wealthy heiress escaping family scandal and the catastrophic Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, graphically depicted—into a lively tale of striving, unspeakable loss, and an eventual life-affirming resolution. Grades 7-10. --Anne O'Malley

About the Author

Jacqueline Davies is the talented author of both novels and picture books. Jacqueline lives in Needham, Massachusetts, with her three children.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 242 pages
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Childrens Books (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761455353
• ISBN-13: 978-0761455356
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacqueline Davies is the talented author of both novels and picture books. Jacqueline lives in Needham, Massachusetts, with her three children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Characters Bring a Time and Place Alive, June 16, 2009

By 

Anne Broyles (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost (Hardcover)

This beautifully-written book offers both compelling characters in Essie, Zelda and Harriet, and a fascinating time and setting (Lower East Side Manhattan, early 1900s). On a deeper level, LOST is Essie's journey from grief and denial to wholeness and the future's possibilities.

LOST's personalized view of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy toward the book's end is gripping and an important part of the plot, but even without this historic event or the sub-plot of a missing heiress, LOST would stand as Essie's story.

On an aesthetic note, the novel is beautifully bound with alternating chapters (Essie's remembrances of her sister) printed on pages that look like patchy walls of a tenement flat. The book's cover is exquisite and the jacket flaps' contrast ink matches the pink endpapers--simple design details that make reading this book even more of a pleasure.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great historical fiction for all ages, June 14, 2011

By 

atibamanii (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost (Hardcover)

I've always been drawn to stories about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in NYC, March 26, 1911, that killed 141 people, mostly seamstress girls. I don't know why. Maybe a previous life?

Jacqueline Davies has written a historical fiction that interweaves this tragedy with another tragedy at the time for which I was unaware. On January 26, 1911 The New York Times reported on the disappearance of a Dorothy Harriet Camille Arnold, the daughter of a wealthy family and niece of a former Supreme Court justice. Although the story was reported on this date, the family had mysteriously waited six weeks to report the disappearance to police. This story was mysterious from the beginning, and received a lot of press, none stating that Miss Arnold had been located until April, 1921, when the then head of The Bureau of Missing Persons in NYC reported that the police had solved the case!

The main character of the story works at Triangle but the storyline does not concentrate on her job. Instead readers are lead through the tragedy of her family using flashbacks. It is difficult in the beginning to follow the story; however, once you get the rhythm, you can't wait for the next flashback. With a "surprise" ending, I'm certain that the author meant for the tension to rise, but I figured out the "surprise" rather early.

In spite of this, I truly enjoyed the book that depicts the life of immigrants in NYC in the early 20th century and gives you an excellent "feel" of NYC at the time. The author expertly presents a plausible interaction between a fictional character and a real one. She also does an awesome job of pointing out the contrasts between the disparate lives of a young immigrant woman with a woman from a rich and well-connected family that is timeless.

Although this book is considered Young Adult fiction, just like almost all YA Fiction it is an excellent read for all ages, especially those with an intense interest in history.

I give this 4 Stars.

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a historical novel, September 13, 2010

By 

Andrea (Bowdoin, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost (Hardcover)

A fantastic story interweaving the tragety of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the daytime, unexplainable vanishing of a wealthy socialite, and the abject poverty of New York in the early 1900s. There is so much more to this than just the personal stories of the characters and the history. All of that is there, but it somehow adds up to more than just the "snapshot" you often get with a historical novel. The losses the main character endures are enough to break your heart, but her determination and perserverance stay with you long past the end of the book. Very highly recommended!