Lost & Found

January 12, 2015
This novel by Australian travel writer and first-time novelist Davis attempts to use whimsy as a delivery mechanism for a meditation on loss and loneliness among the very young and very old. Seven-year-old Millie Bird is obsessed with death, inscribing her encounters with dead things in a "Book of Dead Things." Entry twenty-eight is "MY DAD." As a result of losing her husband and Millie's father, it's not long before Millie's unstable mother drops her at a Perth department store by the "Ginormous Women's Underwear" section and never returns. Millie spends a couple of nights hiding out in the store, seemingly undetected by anyone except a mannequin she treats as a companion and an old man she approaches in the store's café who identifies himself as "Karl the Touch Typist." Karl is battling his own grief after the loss of his wife. Finally caught by store security, Millie, with Karl's help, escapes authorities and makes her way home, where an elderly neighbor, Agatha Pantha, an unpleasant shut-in following her husband's death, somehow decides it would be better to accompany Millie to find her mother in Melbourne than to call the police. Karl catches up with them and the unlikely trio travels across Australia. Ultimately, this journey toward understanding and accepting death is too predictable, offering little aside from the quirks of its characters.

Three exceptional narrators take turns delivering the chapters of this quirky audiobook about death. Helen Walsh is perfect as feisty 7-year-old Millie Bird, who calls herself "Captain Funeral" after her father dies and her mother abandons her. Millie seeks the help of her widowed shut-in neighbor, Agatha Panther, who is portrayed by Nicolette McKenzie with a husky voice that is perfect for barking insults out the window as she sits in her "chair of discontent." Millie is also assisted by "Karl the touch typist," an elderly widower vividly portrayed by Nigel Carrington. As the three unlikely partners travel across Australia in a madcap adventure looking for Millie's mother, the outstanding narrators take listeners on a roller-coaster ride of laughter, sadness, and contemplation. M.M.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine