Comments on: Favourite Books of 2007 from OUP-UK http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/uk_favourites/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Sun, 19 May 2013 05:35:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Lindsey Davis, Assistant Editor, Police and Criminology http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/uk_favourites/#comment-105330 Lindsey Davis, Assistant Editor, Police and Criminology Thu, 20 Dec 2007 12:24:18 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/12/uk_favourites/#comment-105330 One of the best books I have read this year was What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn. It is the author's first novel and something she has every right to be proud of. Both poignant and laugh out loud funny, its narrative switches between characters and times effortlessly. It tells the interweaving stories of a little girl who goes missing, a disaffected twenty-something record-shop worker, and an insomniac security guard, and how their Midlands community has changed over twenty years. Set for the most part in a shopping centre, there is a sense of sadness regarding the increasingly consumerist society the characters inhabit, but the author never polemicises about this at the expense of the story: the portrayal of the characters is never submerged by the theme the author is dealing with. I read the book in one sitting and was both eager to read on and uncover the mystery at the centre of the plot – what happened to the little girl and her stuffed monkey? - but desperate to linger over the characters; I was very sad to leave them behind when I'd finished! As someone from the Midlands I felt O'Flynn really captured the spirit of the people and the place, particularly the pessimistic brand of humour synonymous with the area! O'Flynn is also very clearly a music fan, and any book which refers to Morrissey lyrics can't go far wrong for me! My abiding memory of the book is the way in which O'Flynn successfully evokes a sense of childhood as well as that of being twenty-something and trying to work out what you want to do with your life. Whilst reading the book I got the impression that it had been as enjoyable to write as it had been to read, and would recommend it as a pacey Christmas read this holiday. One of the best books I have read this year was What Was Lost by Catherine O’Flynn. It is the author’s first novel and something she has every right to be proud of. Both poignant and laugh out loud funny, its narrative switches between characters and times effortlessly. It tells the interweaving stories of a little girl who goes missing, a disaffected twenty-something record-shop worker, and an insomniac security guard, and how their Midlands community has changed over twenty years. Set for the most part in a shopping centre, there is a sense of sadness regarding the increasingly consumerist society the characters inhabit, but the author never polemicises about this at the expense of the story: the portrayal of the characters is never submerged by the theme the author is dealing with.

I read the book in one sitting and was both eager to read on and uncover the mystery at the centre of the plot – what happened to the little girl and her stuffed monkey? – but desperate to linger over the characters; I was very sad to leave them behind when I’d finished! As someone from the Midlands I felt O’Flynn really captured the spirit of the people and the place, particularly the pessimistic brand of humour synonymous with the area! O’Flynn is also very clearly a music fan, and any book which refers to Morrissey lyrics can’t go far wrong for me! My abiding memory of the book is the way in which O’Flynn successfully evokes a sense of childhood as well as that of being twenty-something and trying to work out what you want to do with your life. Whilst reading the book I got the impression that it had been as enjoyable to write as it had been to read, and would recommend it as a pacey Christmas read this holiday.

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