The Lost Manuscript

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A manuscript discovered in a hotel room leads to correspondence between the author and the reader.

This epistolary novel begins with a letter from Anne-Lise Briard, who discovers a manuscript in her French hotel room. She returns the item to the author, who writes back that he has not been to that hotel. He lost the pages on an airplane in Canada decades before, but the story was unfinished.

The mystery of who finished the tale seizes Anne-Lise, so she begins a quest to find the people who have come into contact with the manuscript in the years after its loss. Each letter slowly unfolds the story of the manuscript throughout the 30 years between its original loss and Anne-Lise's discovery.

When compared to a wonderful epistolary novel like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, this book falls short. It could perhaps be because the story is not as fraught with danger and tragedy as the World War II tale. It also requires some suspension of disbelief to think that people are still hand-writing letters in 2016.

Most of the narrators have French accents, which adds to the authenticity of the letters being read. Unfortunately, this also means that some of the pronunciation of English words is at times odd. There is less emotion across the board than you would expect from a traditional narrative, probably because each chapter is a letter instead of description and dialogue. The audiobook is short enough to complete on a road trip or a workday.

Recommended for Francophiles and fans of epistolary novels.

Cathy Bonidan is a teacher in Brittany, France. She has been writing French-language novels since her teenage years.

Publisher: Dreamscape Media (audio); St. Martin's Press (print)

Narrators: Élodie Yung, Rupert Degas, Cecile Delepiere, Jean Brassard

Running Time: 5 hours, 22 minutes

Length: 288 pages

Release Date: January 12, 2021

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I received an electronic audio recording of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.