Dot Watson was living her dream in Paris, then her world came crashing down. Now twelve years later she works in the London Transport Lost Property Office where her life can be ordered and she can remain in control of her own life.

But when she meets a lonely old man who has lost his late wife’s purse, Dot recognises his grief and so begins her journey of where she belongs in the world of lost things.


I devoured this in one sitting, it gave me Eleanor Oliphant vibes and I’m here for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and consider myself fortunate to have been provided a pre-publication version via NetGalley. A charming novel where the protagonist, a young woman named Dot, works in the London Transport Lost Property Office. Her work life consists of diligently cataloguing misplaced items and interacting with the public. Her private life involves relationships and complexities with which many readers will identify. The Lost Property Office becomes something of a metaphor for wider aspects of Dot’s life involving her family, friends and acquaintances.

The early chapters are largely set in the Lost Property Office and provide insights into Dot’s daily life. I found this part of the book to be delightful; funny and clever, particularly to anyone familiar with London and the charms of the public transport system. Vivid and colourful descriptions abound. For example, the well known and distinctive London Transport seating fabrics are well observed, adding authenticity and charm to the storyline. A quirky beginning which sets the scene for events to follow.

The book becomes more poignant, exploring Dot’s relationships with her work colleagues, her sister and in particular her parents. Her mother is a widow and has recently entered a Rest Home, suffering from dementia. The tone of the book gradually moves towards bitter-sweet. Remembering the past, dealing with the present, Dot develops a better understanding of her parents and aspects of the family life she experienced growing up. Past and present issues are recounted and explored with taste and tolerance. They are sure to resonate with the growing numbers of people who are dealing with similar issues of ageing parents and associated declines in their mental health and well-being.

The storyline moves forward in a coherent and meaningful manner; aways entertaining, often touching and heartfelt. The final chapters provide explanations, closure and ultimately optimism for the future.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting novel. I found it to be well written, believable and charming. The background of the Lost Property Office provides a wonderful metaphor for several difficult aspects of work, life and relationships that are prevalent today. This is a book that will resonate with many readers. I wish the author success with its publication. I look forward to reading more from Helen Paris.

Dot works at the London Transport Lost Property Office, where she has been for 12 years. Obsessed with making sure everything is catalogued correctly she is disappointed by some of her new colleagues approach to the job. There is one reported lost item, a holdall, that she particularly takes to heart to try to return to its owner and part of the story is centred around this.
I found this a very difficult book to rate and can see that it will be a "Marmite" type that some will love, others not so much. There are some very deep moments around dementia and suicide, but counterbalanced with humour. As the story develops you begin to see Dot's past and how it shaped her and her descent into depression, but also see how she gets help from people that she doesn't expect.
Overall for me one of those "different" stories that stretch you into areas that you're not really comfortable with, but well worth the time spent.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

Dot works in the Lost Property Office, she likes order and everything in its place. What Dot doesn’t realise is that she too is lost. As the story unfolds we see another side to Dot, she lived in Paris, loved travelling and dancing but somewhere she has gone off course. A moving story of love, family and sadness. Poignant and thought provoking this is a book to be remembered.

I'm always delighted when a book turns out to be more than I expected, and Lost Property is one such book. Having heard the main character compared to the marvellous Eleanor Oliphant, I was anticipating a charming piece of 'Up Lit', a genre I was hitherto unaware of. And it definitely fits into that category – it is uplifting, witty, amusing, quirky, and so on. But it is also dark at times and ventures boldly and without warning into rather serious territory. (Trigger warnings for suicide and sexual assault, by the way. And I'm sorry if that's a spoiler, but TWs are more of a warning than a spoiler.)

Our quirky and intellectual main character, Dot, is working in the Lost Property department of TfL (that's Transport for London, for anyone outside the metropolis), cataloguing the items left behind by passengers on London's trains, buses, and the Underground. We gradually learn that Dot's life took an unexpected turn several years earlier, which led to her working at this seemingly mundane job. She takes pride in her work, however, and enjoys the thrill of reuniting lost items with their owners. She feels alienated from her sister, her father died some years prior, and her mother has just been moved into a care home as she is suffering from dementia. The story follows Dot on her journey to come to terms with her past while learning that things are not always as we see them, and things that we thought were once lost can indeed be found again.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an ARC of this rather splendid book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this book, which I did very much, but it was rather a different story to what I thought it was going to be. The descriptions in the book are quite detailed and well thought out, sometimes very funny and sometimes harrowing. Without doubt Dot is a very troubled individual who has gone through many things in her life that have affected her very deeply but who shows resilience and is much tougher than I initially gave her credit for.

The book is darker than I thought it was going to be too and made me think quite deeply about life in a few places which was a surprise because I thought it was just going to be more of a ‘feel good’ story based more on her relationship with Mr Appleby who has lost his bag along with his late wife’s purse. But this just seems to open up many feelings in Dot who battles with the relationships she has with her mother suffering from dementia and her sister. There really is a little for everyone in this book and although for me was a bit of a slow start, it soon ramped up as a very deep and emotional story that I was very pleased I read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was a really charming read.
Lost Property is the story of Dot, who works for the TfL Property Office, taking in lost items with the hope of returning them to their rightful owners. The idea of loss is a theme that runs throughout the book, and explores Dot's own life and family and the loss that they feel.
This book was not at all as I expected and the story didn't go as predicted, based on the cover and from what I had read. However, that is a plus point and something I enjoyed. Half way through, the story really takes hold, and the idea of love and loss is really explored as we go on Dot's journey, where she also seems to be lost and caught up in memories of her family.

Dot in lost property. Well at first I thought this was going to be a novel I couldn't put down but however, I sadly admit that I found it difficult to read. I felt it was rather repetitive in places documenting her daily life. However, I could relate to the dementia issue having experienced this with my own mum. Hiding in the lost property office was identical to Dot hiding herself away. It was comfortable and convenient and like most of us it take something to make a change. Luckily Dot does make decisions that she is able to control without people controlling her.

The main character is Dot who works at Lost Property for TFL in Baker Street. Dot is a complex character who you get to understand more as the book progresses and the more I heard her backstory, the more I understood her and the more I began to like her. I felt in terms of character Dot was comparable to Eleanor Oliphant and I am still undecided whether I actually liked her or not.
I was surprised by some of the decisions Dot made and the story got a bit trippy at one point which I personally found odd and it made it harder to read but in hindsight it did allow the story to progress. I'm glad I continued and completed the book as it got better towards the end as the story all fell into place.
The book covers relatable but complex topics. It is a good reminder that there is more to people than what you see on the surface.
In conclusion it was a pleasant enough book that would be perfect for a book club to read as there is lots to discuss and I personally feel the need for a de-brief after reading it.

Quite a quirky sort of book.

Dot works in the Lost Property Department for London Transport and helps people find items they've lost and hopefully someone else has handed in.  She's quite a regimented sort of person and follows the rules, and wishes other people would to.

As the story slowly unfolds we find out that Dot is punishing herself by staying in quite a dead end job when she is very clever and could be doing a multitude of other things, including travelling the world.  Instead she's hiding out in her job, visting her mother who has dementia, and  when she feels overwhelmed she hides out from everyone, her work colleagues and her sister.

I couldn't really warm to Dot at first, I found her a bit annoying.  But by about halfway or so through the book started to warm to her more.  I did find it annoying that she blamed herself for a family incident that wasn't her fault at all.  But by the end of the book she had turned her life around and taken control of her life which was lovely to see as she was a very caring character and did deserve a happy life, which she got in the end.

This was not the book I was expecting. I struggled with the writing style - The author is obviously very keen on words and their origins and unfortunately seems intent on using as many as possible all at once. I still felt at the end of the book that I don’t quite know who Dot Watson is - Is she a rather lovable, sad type along the lines of Eleanor Oliphant or someone who people warm to but loses her way? The parts about her family were there best for me - tinged with sadness. I don’t do well reading about dementia storylines. I couldn’t get to grips with the hold-all storyline but wanted to - I just felt there was so many sentences getting in the way of us being told exactly why Dot was so desperate to reunite the belongings with their owner. Especially as she appeared to leave the job so easily for someone who cared so much.

Dot works in the lost property office in London. Here is the home of all the lost things from buses, taxis and trains that the city has to hold. Dot's life's work is to reunite the missing items with their owners before the 3 month deadline is up and the items are sent off to an auction house. People come and go through the office, members of the public and staff that work there, the one constant being Dot.

Dot stays because Dot is lost. Dot gave up her life to come back home after the death of her father. Now her mother is in a care home because she has dementia. Dot's perfect sister Phillipa always makes Dot feel like a failure and now Phillipa plans to sell their mothers house to help pay for her care. This leaves Dot homeless and fearing for the future.

Mr Appleby comes into the lost property office one day looking for a missing bag. He has lost the bag that he takes to the cemetery when tending his wife's grave. Inside is her purse, some tulip bulbs and a trowel. Dot prays that the bag will be handed in and when it eventually turns up she goes above and beyond to try to make sure he gets his bag back.

This is a beautifully told story about loss and the importance of finding yourself. I loved this story and couldn't put it down. Considering the subject matter it isn't bleak or depressing and rather leaves you feeling uplifted and hopeful.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written book. Dot Watson works in the tfl lost property department. For the past twelve years her life has centred around caring for lost items and reuniting them with their owners. As the story unfolds we uncover Dot's own past, which itself involves a major loss. As Dot becomes especially involved with a significant item of lost property belonging to an elderly gentleman, she starts to unravel.
This is an emotional journey shared by Dot and the reader. A story of love and loss. The writing is very insightful and at times poetic. The characters are charming and well-drawn. I read this book in one sitting, it was so engaging.

Thank you for allowing me to read this book. I must admit I was expecting a rather uplifting and heartwarming book about items being returned to their rightful owners and also perhaps a happy ending for the protagonist. I was expecting it to be an easy read but I was looking forward to that.

I found it deeper and more profound than I was expecting and was pleased about this. I liked the main character and found her empathy with others particularly touching. I enjoyed the happiness she could impart by returning items to their owners and felt her betrayal to the customers when she had to start charging them for the pleasure.

Perhaps the only slightly unbelievable part of the story was her finding her true love with her Mother's carer. Somehow this was almost too cliche, almost as though the author wanted to find her a happy ending and this was the only way she could do so.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book.

Helen Paris uses language beautifully in Lost Property, It's a sensitive look at guilt and grief and regrets but also shows how a life can be rebuilt. Sometimes all it takes is an unlikely trigger.

I really enjoyed Dot's story as she organises her own 'lost property' as well as everyone else's. The novel moves through twists and turns, with the arrival of a Mr Appleby in search of his holdall proving pivotal for Dot as it sets her on a path to deal with the events that have led her giving up a promising life of travel and languages to a rather mundane and unexciting existence.

The story weaves in themes of unspoken tensions in the dynamics of Dot's family, love and loss and dealing with grief. By beginning to confront the sad events in her past and her mother's illness, Dot begins to see her path forward, and view the future with hope rather than despair. A novel that should give us all hope, and one I'd be happy to recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have a bit of mixed feelings about this book.
I can't say I enjoyed it, but on the other hand I can't say i hated it.
Firstly, it's definitely not what I expected (and I'm not sure in a good way). After reading the blurb I expected sort of feel-good-story about Dot finding herself and making sense of her life while trying hard to help and older man to find his late wife's purse. What I got was a story of grief, losing a parent, death, missed opportunities. It definitely wasn't a feel good story.

The story is filled with irrelevant details which kind of blurr the plot and more often than not I found myself thinking "what's going on here?".
Writing wasn't bad but I struggled at times to go on and few times I was thinking of DNFing it. The last 1/4 of the book, when all the pieces started to fall in place, was interesting and I enjoyed it (much more than the rest of the book).

Trigger warnings: loss of a parent, suicide

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC of the book.

I enjoyed it but in all honestly, I never really connected with the main character, Dot. The Lost Property Office and the lost items were engaging enough but Dot's story was just not one for me.

Looking forward to seeing what Helen Paris publishes next, though as I loved her writing style.

Lost Property by Helen Paris a poignant and thought provoking four-star read that gets some what lost along the way. This was a great story overall, it will sweep you up, but at times it does get swept too far, it could have been me just drifting, but I don’t know. This was is much more emotional than I was expecting and that could be why I drifted as I wasn’t expecting that and went into it thinking there would be some drama, but not the drama that actually happened. It was an interesting story about the process of lost items and that was a nice theme through the whole thing loss. If you are after a deep emotional story, with some interesting details pick this up.

I ADORED this book! I felt like I was living the life of Dot and became totally immersed in the world that Paris has created. Lost Property made me reflect on loss and love and using the mechanism of a lost property department was a perfect way to explore these themes. I didn't want the book to end but was very satisfied when it did. A wonderful tale of complex family dynamics but infused with humour.