Dolly and her sister Greta have a tradition of going to the airport's lost luggage auction every year. A year after Greta's death, Dolly goes alone and brings home a case in which she finds a notebook written by someone trying to get out of a rut by doing a year of "firsts," trying new things each month. She decides to do the firsts along with the book in hopes of meeting up with Phoebe, the owner, and returning her lost things. Dolly herself comes out of her rut with the help of the challenges and some friends, including her young neighbor Flo. I've read a handful of this type of book, and the charming young girl is often the highlight of the book. Flo was no exception, with her love of bugs and the way that she and Dolly encouraged each other to keep doing the things they found difficult. This was a good book, charming, although there was somewhat of an incredible coincidence halfway through. 4 stars.

For almost fifty years, sisters Dolly and Greta lived together. But then Greta died, leaving Dolly to fend for herself. She might have continued to survive on frozen meals in her squalid home if it hadn't been for a lost suitcase and notebook she purchased at the annual auction. Someone had planned to visit Paris and complete a dozen firsts. Dolly decides to take on the stranger's challenge in hopes of reuniting the woman with her suitcase. What Dolly finds is more than adventure. She discovers herself, too.
Like the author, I made new friends in Dolly, Phoebe, Flo, and Leroy. I want to read more books about the friends!
I like how the author addressed eating disorders - with compassion and humanity. Setbacks are common and okay.
And like Phoebe occasionally binged on food, Dolly admitted to binging on loneliness. Her humanity touched me.
I appreciated the reminder to let children live their own lives, too. Parents cannot assume that children will have the same challenges or experiences. lt's healthy to get to know our children and let them live their own lives.
The book also serves as a reminder to live my life on my terms and be wholly me. My favorite quote is "The old Dolly might be ready to fight in her own corner again." YES! This book reminded me to stay active and present in my life. We are always capable of trying new things and growing!
While this book could use a bit of polish to remove run-on paragraphs and abrupt, confusing subject changes, it's an overall delightful book that could appeal to a wide range of readers across genders, ages and demographics.

Beautiful, fun read!!
Real curl up on the sofa with a hot drink stuff!

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

I liked the synopsis and cover, but I just couldn’t get into it. I will try again and update soon. This author is a solid writer and I feel the issue with this book is me, and not her.

Sisters Dolly and Gretta had lived together for almost fifty years. Each year they go to a lost luggage auction and exchange the suitcases for Christmas. This year after the death of Greta, Dolly goes alone.

Upon opening the suitcase she bought she discovers a notebook full of things the original owner was planning to do. So, with the encouragement of her friends she embarks on the adventure of tracing the owner by following the list of tasks. Which takes her out of her grief and her comfort zone.

Highly recommend.

Well written and fascinating premise-- but the way the plot develops is a bit too quirky for my taste so I would only recommend this to anyone who likes this kind of quirkiness that makes a big thing of a pet fish. Also, the end is a bit too inevitable. Still, the setup of the lost luggage business is really intriguing.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It was a mixture of humor and grief, so if you like a book that makes you feel a lot of different emotions, this is the book for you.

This is such an enjoyable read. You are presented with a range of characters from across the generations. There is plenty of humour, but also underlying it, Dolly's grief at the loss of her sister and confusion over her life. Dolly's neighbours recognise her kindness and good qualities and stand by her whilst she neglects herself. Having bought the piece of lost luggage, Dolly sets out to find its original owner and follows the tasks that she finds in a notebook, hoping to bump into them. This is a great structure for the story and puts Dolly in some interesting situations.

I really loved the warmth in this story, felt through the friendships we see and the actions of the characters. There are also some serious issues alluded to and these are dealt with sensitively. You also see how each of the characters deal with their own insecurities and how through friendship, they can feel more confident in themselves. There is also an intriguing mystery from the past which takes Dolly by surprise and causes her to re-evaluate everything. Highly recommended.

In short: a story full of emotion and affection
Than ks to the publisher for a copy of the book
#blogtour

This is a story that really takes us through the stages of grief, and helps us find our way back to ourselves. It's a story about love for another, and the things we'd do to keep that love. It's a story about the hard times in life and the troubles that can dog us, but also about second chances, and how much the truth can truly set up free.

Dolly was a wonderful character, if at first lost and so alone. She had depended on the constant presence of her sister Greta for o many years, she didn't know how to be her true self anymore. Don't get me wrong, when they were together, happier times they never knew....but once Greta passes on from this life, Dolly is at a crossroads and discovering things about herself as well as her past that she never knew, she never knew. Uncovering secrets she didn't know were there, reconnecting with the world around her, let alone those from her past, is bringing everything she thought she knew into a new light, and casting shadows on what she held true. Change is hard at any age, but when it affects the memory of someone we loved...it makes it THAT much harder. Good things for Dolly, she's grown her network of friends, and loved ones, even if it was the hardest first step she had to take. It pays off in the end, and softens the blow on the surprises waiting for her dead ahead. Watching her rebuild her true sense of self, knitting the pieces of the past together with those things she's learned from the present, really gave it that extra tangible connection to what she was going through. Seeing her help others while struggling herself was a wonderful reminder that everyone is carrying something with them on this journey we call life...some of our luggage is just more visible than others.

A great read for Women's Fiction and Contemporary Fiction fans with a great cast of characters you'll be glad to call friends by book's end.

Thank You #SamanthaTonge, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for allowing me to read this book,

Samantha has done it again, a wonderful story with interesting characters.
We join Dolly Bell who has spent a year hiding from life on her way to a Lost Luggage auction to bid on a suitcase for Christmas, as she had previously done with her sister Greta. They had gifted each other a case each, every Christmas.
Now on her own with only her goldfish Maurice for company, Dolly would go through the motions.
Stumbling upon a list of firsts written by the mysterious Phoebe set the stage for the story of sadness, self discovery and adventure. It's never too late. A highly recommended read.

Earlier this year, I read Samantha Tonge’s novel Under One Roof, which was a great book, so I was keen to read her new release Lost Luggage – which has a wonderful, irresistible blurb!
The first character we meet is Dolly Bell, which is one of my favourite character names ever! She lives in a village called Knutsmere, not far from Manchester and we find her on the first page in the city at a lost luggage auction. Every year, Dolly and her older sister Greta go to this auction and buy each other a piece of luggage as a Christmas present. But this year, Dolly is alone at 71 and continuing the tradition without her sister present.
She takes her prize home and opens it on Christmas Day. Inside the trunk, she finds a notebook entitled Phoebe Goodbody’s Year of Firsts. She discovers Phoebe planned to “HAVE AN ADVENTURE” every month and the notebook documented those. With the help of her neighbours Leroy (66) and Flo (11), she sets about doing the same challenges, hoping to meet Phoebe so she can return her notebook to her. Will this give Dolly a purpose she lacks in her life?
Dolly is such a wonderful character. You want to reach through the words and give her a hug. I love how her house is described so evocatively. The Royal Family plates especially struck a chord! I could really see everything so clearly and understand more about the sisters from their home. Greta is very much a part of Dolly’s life and home, despite no longer being physically present, and you learn a lot about her too.
The first part of the novel delicately shows the way Dolly has changed due to grief. She doesn’t wash or brush her hair much, she doesn’t care about what clothes she puts on and her house is a mess. She just wants to hide away. You can see her falling apart, bit by bit. It is fascinating to see the changes over the months.
I loved the mixture of different characters here and the fact you had a little girl helping a woman in her seventies, who she wasn’t related to. It was lovely to see how Dolly, Flo and Leroy all help each other out. All three are fantastic characters who you warm to straight away.
The novel has a bit of everything – it’s funny, it’s warm, it’s loving and it’s emotional. It’s also inspirational and incredibly uplifting. Highly recommended.

What a character - I loved Dolly from the very beginning of this wonderful story. Her life with and without Greta was the brilliant basis for this emotion tale. I loved her friendships with Flo and Leroy - their support and encouragement was so valuable to Dolly and she to them.
The idea of the lost luggage auction sounded intriguing - trying to work out the owners lives and imagining their journeys and adventures.
An emotional story full of hope, Lost Luggage covers some difficult topics which are handled sensitively and empathetically and I loved how we saw the change in Dolly, Flo,Leroy and Phoebe. ‘You do you ‘ is such wonderful advice.

Samantha Tonge never fails to impress me with her stories full of community, friendship and characters that just pop right out of the pages and become part of your life in so many ways. She is the master of exploring family/friend dynamics and relationships and I devour every book of hers with great gusto.
Dolly lives a lonely life but has a tradition of going to a lost luggage sale yearly. This time she finds a diary and some belongings from a woman named Phoebe, who has documented her year of trying new things (firsts). Along with an 11 year old and a gay, elderly neighbour, Dolly sets out to try her own year of firsts.
I adored how this involved several generations and three totally different characters, plus Phoebe’s story too. Each character has their own issues and troubles and are carrying their burdens but the way their lives entwine and all their stories become woven together creates such a beautiful tale of friendship and discovery.
For me, Lost Luggage is about a journey – different to each person but impacted by them all the same. It’s about it never being too late, finding yourself and your own way and experiencing new things.
This book made me feel in so many ways. I chuckled, cried and felt warmed at different points but overall it’s such a wonderful and uplifting story for those who love women’s fiction but not necessarily looking for a book heavily based on romance. This is a brilliant, multi-generational novel packed with tender moments and heart-warming bits.
I highly recommend.

#Blogtour #rararesources
At 72 and still grieving the death of her older sister, Greta, Dolly decides to go ahead and keep the pre-Christmas tradition they had. She goes to the annual unclaimed lost luggage sale and bids on a case. This turns out to have belonged to Phoebe and contains among other things, a notebook with Phoebe’s plans for her ‘year of firsts’. In a bid to get Phoebe’s belongings back to her, Dolly decides to follow the activities listed in the notebook.

Dolly’s dear friend and neighbour, Leroy, suffering the effects of heartbreak, returns from a trip to the Caribbean and comes back determined to mould himself into the person he thinks his former lover wants him to be.

Another close neighbour, 11 year old, Flo, who always brings smiles to Dolly, is struggling to participate in the Guides activities her parents want her to.

Dolly, in an effort to motivate Flo to join the Guides, agrees to take on Phoebe’s ‘year of firsts’. She eventually does meet Phoebe, who is facing her own struggles. In this process, Dolly gets a lot of shocks and surprises, but finds her old self.

This story will stay with me for a long time because of the various characters. The author has done a brilliant job of characterisation.

The story is essentially one of healing, finding one’s place in the world and the importance of community. The flow of the story was just wonderful. The conversations, the humour, the interplay between characters of different age groups and backgrounds, moments of grief, and some sensitive subjects are all dealt with so effortlessly and beautifully woven into this memorable story of redemption.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. I liked the synopsis but I just couldn’t connect with it. I may try again in a few months.

Lost Luggage by Samantha Tonge

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

One lost suitcase. Two strangers. And a notebook that will change lives.

For almost fifty years, sisters Dolly and Greta have lived together – getting each other through the good times and the bad.

Except this year, Greta isn’t there and Dolly is feeling lost and alone. In memory of her sister, Dolly heads to the lost luggage auction where she and Greta go each Christmas. But her bid reveals a gift she never imagined.

Amongst the clothes is the notebook of a reclusive woman who has hardly been outside for an entire year, but who isn’t ready to give up on life. The notebook’s contents resonate with Dolly. With the support of her neighbours, retired Leroy and eleven year old Flo, Dolly decides to take on the year of firsts Phoebe had planned.

My Opinion

Another fabulous book by Samantha Tonge. This is an uplifting and emotional book. I read this book over multiple sittings and each time I found myself being drawn back towards the lovely characters.

The way this is written, you will easily connect with the characters - and each of their stories will tug on your heartstrings. Another highly recommended book. Samantha has done it again!

Rating: 4/5

Thank you so much to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of "Lost Luggage", written by Samantha Tonge. It was released on September 22nd, 2022.

Overall, I rated this novel a 4/5 stars!

This book tells the story of two sisters named Dolly and Greta, who used to go to lost luggage auctions every year together and bid on a suitcase. However, in this instance, Dolly is going alone because Greta has passed away. In the suitcase she bids on, she finds Phoebe's notebook, complete with a list of "firsts".

Read if you enjoy:
*plot twists
*3rd person POV
*quirkyness - I've never heard of bidding on lost luggage before, this was amusing to me - and made for an interesting storyline

Trigger Warnings:
*death of a loved one/grief
*eating disorder references
*cancer

Lost Luggage by Samantha Tonge is such a wonderfully uplifting novel about family and secrets, and pushing out of your comfort zone, which had me gripped from the very first page. I was actually aware of the lost luggage auctions that take place, although I’m not sure I would ever feel particularly compelled to buy at the auction. Dolly and her sister Greta had been attending the auctions for years and using the suitcases and trunks for the most fascinating and ingenious repurposing/upcycling in their little home together.

I instantly warmed to Dolly, who was grieving for her sister, and had been a recluse for a year following Greta’s death. I loved how connected she instantly felt to Phoebe, the owner of the trunk, and loved how she set out to attend some of Phoebe’s year of firsts, in the hope that she could locate Phoebe and return some of her precious items.

As with Samantha Tonge’s other novels, the cast of additional characters all brought something very special to the story. I particularly liked the way in which pensioner Dolly connected with her pre-teen neighbour Flo, but Leroy the neighbour on the other side of Dolly’s home was equally vital to the story. With support from Flo and Leroy, Dolly tried the next scheduled ‘firsts’, which were also her own firsts, and it was entertaining the way in which she coped with the balloon debate, and the speed dating.

As the secrets were uncovered, both in the mysterious notebook in Phoebe’s luggage, and in Dolly’s own life, with the help of friends who become her ‘family’, she is given the encouragement she needs to live her life to the full with no regrets.

There were some interesting twists within the story, some of which I anticipated, but the majority managed to take me by surprise. This heart-warming and entertaining story really captured my imagination, and made me want to make my own ‘year of firsts’.

This was one of those special stories that crept up on me. At first, starting at the lost luggage auction I wondered if I would ever really connect with Dolly and then before I knew what was happening I was completely absorbed by the story. If I wasn't reading about Dolly and her adventures of firsts, cheerleaded by her wonderful neighbors, then I was telling anyone who would listen about this story I was reading, as if Dolly was a friend of mine.

The various generations of the main characters and different times of their lives and different struggles made for a really touching and special read. They are all dealing with their own stuff, deeply felt by each of them, but they come together and are really there for one another, growing as individuals, but also having new experiences together. Overall a really uplifting and feel-good story. Highly recommended!

Seventy-two year old Dolly is still immersed in grief following the death of her sister Greta – as Christmas draws closer, her faithful friend Leroy is about to go on a trip to his former Caribbean home, so she feels lonelier than ever. Eleven year old Flo, a close neighbour, is always around to brighten her days – and there’s always Maurice the goldfish – but there are those other days when it’s difficult to keep going. But something she and her sister did every Christmas was visit the annual sale of unclaimed lost luggage – the cases repurposed as items of furniture in their now neglected home – where they sometimes found treasure among the detritus from other people’s lives.

This year, the case she buys belongs to Phoebe – among the clothing (including an expensive gilet she rather likes, and a flashy pair of trainers) she finds a notebook, where Phoebe has recorded her plans for restarting her own life and experiencing a “year of firsts”. She makes it her mission to reunite Phoebe with her notebook, and the only possible way seems to be to involve herself in the activities she’d set out on its pages. And that’s how she finds herself taking the floor in a balloon debate (well coached by Flo – who will keep going to Guides only if Dolly does something equally uncomfortable…) and then spending an awkward evening at a speed-dating event (with even more coaching from the wonderful Flo). And, by the time she finds Phoebe, Dolly’s lonely life has been rather transformed as she finds herself and a new sense of purpose – until that’s almost derailed by an unexpected reminder of her past and a few uncomfortable discoveries.

The characterisation in this book is just superb – the author made it so easy to identify with the seventy-two year old and the eleven year old, and their exchanges are simply wonderful, each of them supporting the other. But it’s a nicely multi-generational tale too – Phoebe’s a younger character, and Flo’s parents (who really don’t seem to see how special she is) feature in the story too. And I really loved Leroy – he’d lost sight of what would really bring him happiness too, and I really enjoyed his journey. As for Dolly’s story – I really don’t want to spoil it for others, but there are moments of sheer joy and others that’ll move you to tears. The friendships are quite wonderful – there’s immense love and support between them all, the family they’ve all chosen to be part of – and the whole story just makes your heart overflow. The writing is excellent – there’s a lovely humour running through the whole story, some perfectly handled emotional moments, and a few particularly difficult issues very sensitively dealt with.

As the story built, every character won their place in my heart – I felt quite a sense of loss when the story ended and I had to finally set the book aside. Just gorgeous – tremendously engaging, heartwarming and very moving, and life-affirming in every way. I loved it.