The Book of Lost Hours

DEBUT Eleven-year-old Lisavet has no way of returning home after her watchmaker father shoves her through a strange portal as the Nazis draw near on the eve of Kristallnacht. Trapped for ages to wander the shelves of the time space—an eerie place where people’s memories are recorded in books, and talented timekeepers can travel into those memories—Lisavet finds purpose in saving memories that others want to burn. When she falls in love with a handsome young man working for the U.S. government, Lisavet is faced with a devastating choice. Year later, in 1962, a young woman named Amelia is thrust into the time space after her uncle’s death. While attempting to unravel his secrets, Amelia discovers that people will kill to control the place and the memories it contains. Gelfuso’s sci-fi/historical fiction mash-up delivers excitement, but it could have more clearly shown how what happens in the time space impacts the real world, to help establish the story’s stakes and the characters’ motivations.