Hayley Gelfuso  |  Fiction

2025, 391pages

In The Book of Lost Hours there is a place that looks like a library.  It is where people have died and can create a book of their memories for storage before they completely crossover.  Certain people, just a few, are "timekeepers" who can cross into and out of time space and consult these books.  Some of the timekeepers are dead, some are still alive.

We first meet Lisavet, who has been a timekeeper, at 19, for nine years, but after some Renaissance visiting in Europe, she seems to be stuck in 1938 Germany.  Then we meet Amelia who is 16 and a brand-new timekeeper, learning the ropes.

100 pages in, neither young timekeeper has returned to the present day..  I find this un-grounding ... like they are lost in the past in time space.  At 100 pages in, there is no plot, but since Lisavet just met Amelia's uncle, Ernest Duquesne, you know a plot is coming.  I am finding the book not captivating, confusing, and boring.

So, I have quit.

October 2025