A book reveals a story

A common theme permeates the two Phaedra Patrick novels I have read so far: Physical objects open windows into the past that, in turn, open doors to the future.

In The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, it is a charm bracelet that belonged to his late wife that allows Arthur Pepper to discover the life she gave up to marry him, making it easier to face life without her. Now in The Library of Lost and Found, it is a mysterious book that allows its finder to understand her oppressive family history and begin living for herself.

Martha Storm grew up with a dominating father,  a mother who always yielded to his wishes and a younger sister, Lillian, who was always loved best. Her sister got married and had two children, while Martha broke off her engagement to become her parents' caretaker until their deaths. Now she volunteers at the local library. She regularly applies for full-time employment, but the head librarian prefers hiring younger women. Besides, if Martha is already the most productive member of the staff, why hire her?

Everyone takes advantage of Martha, including her sister who appreciates her free babysitting services. Others count on Martha to do their laundry, their mending and whatever other chores they don't want to do themselves.  Martha doesn't know how to say no.

Then someone hands her a ragged book full of stories written by Martha herself in her youth and by her beloved grandmother, Zelda. She has never before seen the book, which was published by Zelda some years after she supposedly died. And so Martha begins using the book to track down her grandmother, now actually dying, and discover all the family secrets that had been hid from her for so many years.

As with Arthur Pepper, there is a lot of contrivance here. It can be difficult believe that everyone she knows would take advantage of Martha as easily as they do and then suddenly change their behavior as dramatically as they do by the end of the story. But if one takes the novel as a magical fairy tale, much like the stories Martha wrote as a child and that ended up in her book, one will find much to enjoy.