HOW TO BE LOST
To their neighbors in suburban Holt, New York, the Winters family has it all: a grand home, a trio of radiant daughters, and a sense that they are safe in their affluent corner of America.
But when five-year-old Ellie disappears, the fault lines within the Winters family are exposed. Joseph, once a successful businessman, succumbs to his demons. Isabelle retreats into memories of her debutante days in Savannah, Georgia. And Ellie’s bereft sisters grow apart: Madeline reluctantly stays home, while Caroline runs away.
Fifteen years later, Caroline, now a New Orleans cocktail waitress, sees a photograph of a woman in People Magazine. Convinced that it is Ellie all grown up, Caroline embarks on a search for her missing sister, armed with Xerox copies of the photograph, an amateur detective guide, and a cooler of Dixie beer. As Caroline travels through the New Mexico desert, the mountains of Colorado, and the smoky underworld of Montana, she devotes herself to salvaging her broken family.
With dark humor and gorgeous prose, Amanda Eyre Ward brings us a spellbinding novel about the stories we are given, and the stories we embrace.
“I’m often asked if this book is really about my own family. For me, writing is a way of living other lives. I have a hard time making decisions, and in my fiction I like to explore the 'what ifs': what if one of my sisters had disappeared? What if I ran away to New Orleans and became a cocktail waitress? What if I stole a car and drove to Montana, leaving tonight? That said, I do have two sisters, and I grew up in suburban New York...”
— Amanda on How To Be Lost
REVIEWS
”Set against the backdrop of a kidnapping, and with its appreciation of human quirkiness (Caroline is fond of gas-station hot dogs and dreams of dating men who smell like pine trees), How to Be Lost invites comparison to The Lovely Bones. In the end, it's not the plot but Ward's depiction of family, with its attendant love and guilt, that will keep you turning pages.”
— From People Magazine
”In this novel about a missing sister, Ward explores ruptured relationships with clarity and hope.”
— From Glamour Magazine - Fall's coziest reads
”Ward's smart, sharp second novel is a read-in-one-sitting treat, a delightfully satisfying blend of hip humor and poignant longing, and an unsentimental yet inspiring testimony to the power of hope over reason and love over loss.”
— From Booklist
“Ward tracks a young woman's search for her missing sister-and herself-with economy and compassion in this believable and moving tale of hope's ability to best the most unforgiving of sorrows a perfect vehicle to explore how belief can be as important as truth.”
— From Publishers Weekly
”An obsession with, or desire to forget, a long-missing child keeps a family trapped like flies in amber. Not surprisingly, things don't turn out as planned, but not far from the end Ward turns the tables, bringing together two other seemingly unrelated narrative strands into a walloping knockout of a finisher that would seem like a cheap trick if it weren't so thrilling. The author plays a smooth game, not showing her hand until the absolute right time. A voyage of discovery cloaked in suburban ennui: engaging and hard to let go.”
— From Kirkus
“Amanda Eyre Ward defies chick lit, with a vengeance . . .
Ward's economical style, her dead-on-depiction of barely fictionalized Rye, New York, and her refusal to temper these determinedly flawed characters make Caroline's odyssey one worth following. The narrative is so engrossing, so propelling, you're surprised to come upon the last page. At the end of the day, it's a damn good story.”