The Book of Lost Friends

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ΓÇó From the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the postΓÇôCivil War South,and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her studentsΓÇÖ lives. ΓÇ£An absorbing historical . . . enthralling.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöLibrary Journal Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual ΓÇ£Lost FriendsΓÇ¥ advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil Waras newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away. Louisiana1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstructionthree young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hanniea freed slave; Laviniathe pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau JaneLaviniaΓÇÖs Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texasfollowing roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Janethe journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperationbut for Hannietorn from her mother and siblings before slaveryΓÇÖs endthe pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas andimprobablyhope. Louisiana1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silvaa subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debtΓÇöuntil she lands in a tinyout-of-step Mississippi River town. AugustineLouisianais suspicious of new ideas and new peopleand Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young womena long-ago journeyand a hidden book that could change everything.