Lost Property

What a beautiful, unusual book. The author has a wonderful way with words - similes, metaphors, always the right words for the exact moment. It is a gentle book, exploring lives, feelings and relationships. Dot’s mother has Dementia and the sadness this brings is explored so well. It is uplifting as well, working in a Lost Property office has its lighter moments, the strange items that appear that may or may not be reunited with their owner. One such item, a brown hold all is a strand running through the book as Dot tries to get it back to its owner; not because it’s valuable but because it holds memories, also a theme of the book. I am so glad that I read this book and will widely recommend it. Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A real delight to read. Dot, a bright young woman has essentially given up on life and escapes into travel guides and a mindless job to avoid the grief and guilt that plague her life. Through a series of events, Dot gains a needed perspective on her past and learns to forgive herself as well as others. In parts achingly painful and absurdly funny.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

I really enjoyed this novel, which is a gentle tale of loss, grief and the unwinding of memories. Memories we think are exactly as they happened but mean different things to different people. A bit of a slow, start setting the scene, but then it carefully portrays the awfulness of dementia, both for the sufferer and the devastation for those they can’t remember. I really felt for Dot, who had carried guilt with her for far to long, but it’s such a human trait. Well worth a read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The story of Dot, who works in the lost property office in London. She is a quirky character who has a lot going on in her life, with work and her sick mother. She is struggling with the past and the death of her father, and has shut herself off from the world.

A great read, looking forward to more from this author.

With thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest opinion.
What a really lovely book really enjoy it.

A lovely book a book that drew me in from first pages .The characters come alive involve us in their lives.The meaning of lost possessions the emotions behind lost items is really interesting.#netgalley#lostproperty

I was thrilled to be asked to review this book so thank you NetGalley.
The story tells of Dot, who appears to live an uncomplicated single life whilst devoted to her job at TFL’s lost property office. She takes pride in her job - cataloguing and returned lost property - but is the book title referring to something or someone else as Lost Property?
I really enjoyed this book and will look for more by this author in future.

A book for fans of Eleanor Oliphant, this book explores Dot, her family, her job and her friends. I'm unwilling to say much about the plot to avoid spoiling it, but I did enjoy this thoroughly and would recommend it. Trigger warnings: suicide, sexual assault

I love a book which, on opening the first page, immediately engages with you. Lost Property is such a book.
There are no weak characters. Helen Paris draws them with a fine pen.
I loved Dot, I empathised with her, I became so engaged with her that I caught myself saying out loud "Don't do that, Dot". Dot who felt life was passing her by, who was weighed down with guilt relating to her father's suicide. Dot, whose life was not measured out in Alfred Prufrock's coffee spoons, but in travel guides. Dot, who before her father's death had so much ahead of her. Multi-lingual Dot had had the world before her but now saw it reduced to her travel guides.
Her job at in Lost Property was what saved her. Never two days alike. Such a wide diversity of objects, objects of wonder and weirdness, objects whose value was in their sentimental attachment. It is one such object belonging to a widower, a battered leather holdall containing his beloved wife's purse, that gave Dot a sense of purpose as she fixated on seeing Joanie's purse put back into his hands. This episode was a driving force in the novel as Dot's memories became unlocked.
Lost Property is not just an uplifting book but Helen Paris' use of language is in fine literary tradition. Even when immersed in the story, a turn of phrase halts the reader and we become aware that here is a talented wordsmith. I have no hesitation in recommending this book.

This is my first book by Paris and she didn’t disappoint at all and made we want to keep reading to find out what happened. It’s full of sorrow love and light humour and can a women who is lost herself find herself again. I would say it was worth more than five stars to. Highly recommend reading this.
Dot works in the lost property office in London and it started as a temporary job and 10 years later she’s still there and lost her way she never thought she would be single by now. She is set on making sure all the lost property that comes to her office finds its rightful owner but when mr Appleby turns up looking for his late wife’s purse she can see the sorrow in him and unexpected to her she’s set to help him but what more will she find along the way with him and will she be happy in the long run.

Wonderful. I started this book with a feeling that it would be another in the ‘Eleanor Oliphant’ style but it is so much more than that. Dot is at first a strange character, set in her ways and a tad obsessive over her job.
As the book develops, we see the reasons of why she behaves and her innermost fears and memories.. The book explores, family, loss, relationships and ultimately we see the truth they have hidden from each other.
As a debut, it’s so accomplished. Beautifully written and what I love is the humour that is wound through the novel. The way she describes feelings and moments from her past and her present is exceptional.
I would very highly recommend this to read. I really couldn’t put it down as I became so engaged in the story.

What an incredibly lovely, thought-provoking book.

Dot Watson's life has taken some unexpected turns - she set out to work abroad, she was studying her MA in Paris, the world was her oyster. Fast forward a few years and Dot is working in the Lost Property Office at Baker Street, taking pride in reuniting lost items with their owners, but with very little life outside her work. She lives with her mother, who has just moved to a home as she has dementia, she is harrassed by her bossy sister and she dislikes the changes being introduced by her new, predatory manager.

Dot's life might be anyone's, and the way she suffers, reliving past traumas, is heartbreaking. She is a good person, with a lovely down to earth manner not often encountered in today's world. The reader wants everything to come right for Dot. But is this a fairy tale, or real life?

I really enjoyed the book, had a lump in my throat in parts, and chuckled aloud at others. Brilliant.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers and Doubleday for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lost property - lovely uplifting story. With great characters and a compelling story line. Definitely worth a read.

I loved Dot and her lonely little life, centered around work and with really difficult personal interactions- she is a real human in the paper world of a novel.
The descriptions of her work, the lost property and the people she tries to reunite with their belongings are fantastic , as is her "other life" travel book obsession, visiting on paper the places she wishes she were brave enough to go to in real life.
Dot is an inspiration waiting to happen and when she does it is beautiful!

Loved this book. Have walked past the Lost Property office many times when near Baker St station. The book has given new meaning to the building and its staff.

This is a well written gentle tale of loss, grief and memories. It very carefully portrays the great sadness that dementia brings to the sufferer and to those around them. A lovely read.
My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great debut novel. It has an interesting plot, a motley crew of characters, and it is written in a beautiful prose. Even the structure has an interesting twist: each chapter begins with a "Dijon" label, similar to the ones they fill in at the lost property office where the heroine works.
I loved Dot, the main character. At first sight she seemed only a misfit, but later on you realise that she is broken. She has been carrying the burden of not only the grief over the loss of his father, but of the guilt as well for a very long time. And it is heartbreaking to see her interactions with her mother who is a dementia sufferer.
When she meets Mr Appleby who cannot get over the loss of his wife, Dot starts to remember and revaluate certain details of her own past. She slowly finds her way back to people and finds strength to start again.
My only objection is that at places I found Dot's musings and trepidations a little lengthy.
I recommend this book to everyone who likes good contemporary fiction. I will look out for the next works of the author.

Lost Property is not the book I was expecting.

I gained so much from reading this novel.

This is a story that is poignant and purposeful.

In this tale we follow Dot, this is a woman who cares deeply for her family, for her friends and in fact for anyone who should have the luck to cross paths with her.

She works for TFL in lost property, carefully sorting out and looking after items that have unfortunately been parted from their owners. I instantly felt warmth when reading about Dot, her nature was so gentle and giving.

What started out as quite a slow yet witty story turned into something a lot more necessary (in my opinion) as we get more detail about Dot's own personal life, the moments in time in which she's experienced. From her mum's gradual change with dementia, to the mental health issues that her late dad suffered so silently with.

I got the sense that this novel is disguised as something simpler but wrapped within those more carefree moments are deep, meaningful memories. And what I learnt as I read was that how each of us remember things is entirely different, what one person could deem as a good memory, another could have captured moments that were perhaps not quite as positive.

But however we see our past, it doesn't make any of those feelings less important or significant.

Dot inspired me.

Her attitude towards life was refreshing and it was a joy to see her feelings of guilt and grief being transformed into something more hopeful. The journey she takes herself on is one of self discovery and what she discovers is something that money can't buy. clarity and forgiveness (to herself).

A uniquely, compelling debut read that left me wonderfully satisfied.

Oh my what a wonderful book, the way the words were used to describe the way that Dot was feeling and making you feel completely contained within the story was glorious. I was lucky to get a copy of this book from Netgalley and was completely absorbed in the story from the outset, sometimes you can tell the way a book will go, but Helen Paris keeps you guessing and making you take different turns all the time, she can write in such a beautiful way it was a joy to read and I was sad when I finished it ( even though I wanted to know how Dot's life would pan out!). Dot deals with a lot on her journey through the book, she has to look deep into her past and face things she has buried for a long time, but her focus is reuniting a lost precious bag with its owner and this leads her on her journey to happiness. I thoroughly recommend this book.

Wonderful, just wonderful. This super life story, takes you on a journey to another time ans place. I love the main characters and loved the way the story unfolds. Life can be so cruel, it’s so nice when you can find someone to make each day a little bit better. This book captures real life so well.

What a story!! Very unique!! I thoroughly enjoyed it!! Dot may have worked in 'Lost Property' but everything about Dot, is 'Lost'!! Very cleverly written!! If you want something different, this is it, I totally recommend it!!

Thank you Helen Paris. I am so pleased to have found Dot and her Lost Property world. I often read that a novel shouldn't have a prologue and the first sentence should grab the reader's attention, So a statement about the seasonality of loss seemed underwhelming and demure but ultimately also a perfect way to begin the tremulous layering of Dot's world. I felt like I had been given a privileged private invitation, one that I earned by trust, by being her understanding friend, staying with her, so that she dared to reveal a bit more each chapter building an exquisite subdued tension as she slowly found herself and her family and love.

This is such a great and very clever book, an interesting premise and beautifully well written,. Highly recommended

I was sent a copy of Lost Property by Helen Paris to read and review by NetGalley. What a wonderful book! Beautifully written with just the right balance of humour and emotion. Written in the first person, Dot, the protagonist is a very likeable character which meant I was totally invested in her story from the outset. Brilliantly observed, this is a journey through memories, love and loss but is such a joy to read I recommend it wholeheartedly. I will certainly be on the look out for any future publications from this very accomplished writer.

This was a wonderful, unexpected read!
I was expecting a ROM-COM style book, and there were certainly elements of this, but Paris delivers so much more. There were very funny moments, but the humour was needed, and it was provided at just the right time.
The job at Lost Property could not have been more perfect for Dot. It was fascinating to see how her story played out through the items that were handed in or searched for.
This book was utterly heartbreaking at times, Dot's relationship with her parents and sister made for very painful reading, and these have impacted Dot's life in so many ways. The guilt she feels since her father's death is palpable, and this spoke to me so much. My eldest sister passed away last year, and Dot's feelings echoed my own in so many ways.
It was a truly life-affirming read, and I have adored championing Dot and cheering her on through her journey.
Poignant and heartbreaking, I feel like I have lost a friend now I have finished the book.
The audiobook was acted brilliantly, and the narrator was perfect to portray Dot, capturing the humour and pain expertly.
Thanks to Random House UK and NetGalley for the ARCs to review.