The Lost Storyteller

I must admit this was not the book I thought it was when I started reading it as I thought the connecting book held more secrets and maybe a fantasy element. The book is good however the fairy tale element is very powerful and those parts of the story will stay with me. I think in many ways the author missed her vocation as the fairy tale element is by far the most powerful part of the book.
Overall a good read that deals with loss and the impact it has on you and those around you.

A beautiful journey from fairytale to reality, from memory to fact, from childhood to adulthood.
All of us were children once - and yet, we tend to forget how a child sees the world, and how an adult's actions or words can affect them.
Rebecca's father, a famous children's TV-presenter, dissappears when she is little and her family purges every memory of him from their lives. So, when a journalist asks her about him 20 years later, she is reluctant at first; but as her own fuzzy memories are all she has left (and said journalist is rather cute), she lets herself be drawn into the search, helped along by a book of fairy tales her father left for her and which her grandmother only now passes on to her.
What really gripped me about this book was the deep understanding of what losing a parent does to a child, which strange ideas get stuck in their head and how adults make it worse by doing "what's best for the child".
Also, it's about the disentchantment of childhood memories, when set in the wider context of adult understanding and the inner healing that can come with that.

This was an intriguing read. You weren't sure what the premise of the storyline was going to be until way past the halfway mark. The author sets the scene in atmospheric and eerie detail. After Rebecca discovers the book of fairy tales her father wrote for her and she visits the strange estate where he grew up , you wonder if this is going to be a fantasy adventure. The story's are unsettling and melancholic , with a feel of CS Lewis , with an darker adult element.
Rebecca's father Leo disappears from her life when she's young. She has no idea what happened to him and no one in the family mentions him. He was a star of children's television series The Traveller.
When journalist Ellis contacts Rebecca asking about her father , they undertake the task of trying to solve the mystery of what happened to him.
This was an enthralling and immersive read. I could identify with the characters and empathise with their feelings. I don't want to give away any spoilers so won't go into any detail other than to say the author has dealt with some sensitive topics in an honest and plausable way.
I thoroughly recommend this book.

A magical tale of the love between a father and daughter. Rebecca’s father has been missing since she was little and she has few memories of him, but when a reporter starts asking questions she finds herself on a mission to discover what happened and if he is still alive. Through a book of fairy tales written by her father and left with her grandmother Rebecca is able to unravel the mystery. Brilliant book, loved it.