What Was Lost [Paperback]

What Was Lost starts with a very bold move - a narrative told by a small girl who works as a private detective, helped by her cuddly monkey Mickey. It is a brave writer indeed who starts with such a ridiculous premise. But Catherine O'Flynn pulls it off and as the first section develops, it becomes clear that the girl - Kate Meaney - has a troubled homelife and a burning desire to escape it. She duly spends time engaged in surveillance at Green Oaks, the newly built shopping centre.

Then, in a sudden jump of twenty years, the narrative focuses on Lisa, the duty manager at a record store in Green Oaks. It becomes clear that Kate disappeared all those years ago, and whilst she has been largely forgotten, she has started to haunt the memories of those few people to have noticed her in her last days. Self evidently, the narrative eventually reveals Kate's fate.

The star of the show, though, is Green Oaks itself. Shopping centres are brilliant places (like airports). Shiny and colourful on the public side, but with a hidden belly of service corridors, stockrooms, offices, security systems and such like. They have a ready made cast, both of people working there or people passing through: customers, thieves, drifters, lunatics... Some chapters end with rather brilliant - and irrelevant - monologues from some of those who spend time in and around the shopping centre. A particular gem is the mystery shopper. Then there are also the dialogues between staff and challenging customers - for example, the chap who has had a classical music cassette on order for 23 months and has been strung along by the store assistant just for fun. This element of the novel plays like a Magnus Mills work - utterly deadpan in the absurdity of the situation. For all the characters in What Was Lost, the shopping centre is more than a place to shop - it has seized their lives.

The plot and character development play second fiddle to the daily soap opera of Green Oaks. The character development in particular is not as strong in the present day narrative than in the 1984 element. Kate Meaney, Adrian and Teresa come through with precision and clarity, even though they are largely confined to the first 60 or so pages. Lisa, Kurt, Gavin et al don't seem to have such strong characterization. Perhaps the action got in the way. And purists could, doubtless, complain that there is too much reliance on coincidence. But that would be curmudgeonly.

Overall, though, this is a hugely enjoyable, satirical look at the life of a shopping centre, with a good dose of creepy mystery thrown in. It is well written and beautifully timed. What was lost is a classy piece of writing that deserves the prize nominations it has received.

I just finished reading this book today and I almost cried. Corny, I know but it's indicative of a great book when the reader is reluctant to let the characters 'go' at the end. 'What was lost' is about how various characters are drawn together by the disappearance of a little girl. It's really about the misery of human existence when you let resignation and indifference set in. Great characterisation, which is something I adore in fiction and good TV/Film. It reminds me of 'Purple Hibiscus' in the sense that it can articulate in such a beautiful way the banalities of everyday life but not make them sound mundane and inconsequential. I guess it's these things that kill the soul slowly if we're not careful.

As has already been pointed out there is a good dose of acerbic wit. From underhanded subtle quips about 'Daily Mail' readers, observations of sadistic primary school teachers to the careful descriptions of customers in all their idiosyncratic glory.

I think the denouement of the book came together beautifully. Despite the macabre twist there are little hints of hope for the future of some of the more tormented characters.

There are many readable novels out there. Still it takes a book like this, executed in such a simple but effective way, seemingly effortless, to remind you there are some writers who belong in a class of their own. I hope Ms O'Flynn's future offerings live up to the promise.

What Was Lost is the story of the disappearance of Kate Meaney, a most appealing ten year old who spends her free time learning to be a detective. The story starts in the early 1980s as she spends much of her out of school time at Green Oaks shopping centre in Birmingham. Here she watches and makes notes on suspicious looking people and events.

As the story progresses, Green Oaks itself becomes the glue of the novel as most of the action takes place here. The Shopping Centre seems to have a life of its own and the author succeeds in giving a real flavour of the place through some of the people who work there and are tied up in Kate Meaney's story whether in the early 80s or 20 years later.

I found the story gripping and warm and wanted to hear more about the people involved. I would thoroughly recommend this book.