The Book of Lost Things is a fiction novel by John Connolly. The book follows the story of young boy named David who struggles with his mother's death and father's remarriage. When a World War II bomber plane crashes into his garden, he ends up in the fantasy world of his books and must find the king in the hopes that he can return him to his home. The novel takes a different look at traditional fairy tales and follows every child's journey into adulthood.
The story begins in London, England, during World War II. The main character, David, is introduced during his mother's slow death. His father remarries to a woman named Rose and the two have another child whom they name Georgie. While David tries to adapt to this new family situation, he begins to hear his books whispering to him and he often faints. He soon finds himself lured to another world hidden in a crack in the sunken garden of the family's new home. While exploring this new fantasy world, David has many adventures and lives out his own fairy tale.
The title refers to a book that King Jonathan keeps which holds many things from "our world." Also, the title can be taken metaphorically due to the relationship between David and his loss of childhood; his plunge into the adult world.
When David is outside playing in the woods, he looks back towards his house and sees a mysterious figure in his room. His father helps him search the house, but all they find is a magpie which is released outside. The next day, Rose and David have a big fight and David longs to escape from his new surroundings. As he lies in bed that night, he hears his dead mother calling to him and he follows her voice outside to the sunken garden. While he explores the garden for his mother, he notices lights in the sky and realizes that a German bomber is falling straight towards the garden. With no where else to go, he climbs into a crack in the walls of the garden.
By climbing into the wall, David is somehow magically transported into a fantasy world where he meets the Woodsman. The two begin walking towards the Woodsman's home, but end up in a mad dash to safety from wolves and Loups. They meet the leader of the wolves, a Loup named Leroi. After a brief show-down and entering the safety of the Woodsman's home, it is explained that there are certain wolves who have begun to transform partially into humans and are called Loups. The first Loup was Leroi and under his leadership the wolves and Loups have grown into large packs. But there is not enough food in the forest to feed them all, which is why they were trying to attack David.
After unsuccessfully trying to return to his world back through the portal, it is decided that the best thing for David to do is to seek out the king and his Book of Lost Things. David and the Woodsman travel to the edge of the forest. As the two of them approach a canyon guarded by trolls and harpies, a large group of wolves and Loups appear out of the forest and attempt to capture David. After figuring out the trolls' riddle, David is able to cross one of the two bridges over the canyon. However, the Woodsman remains on the bridge to keep the wolves at bay but is eventually overcome and dragged into the forest. While several wolves die on the other bridge from harpies or falling through rigged slats, the Woodsman is overcome and carried away. David then cuts the bridge's ropes, which keeps the wolves from crossing over to his side.
While wandering down a road, David runs upon seven dwarfs who speak often of "rights" and "liberties" and "resisting oppression". The seven comrades (as the dwarfs refer to one another) take David to their home where he meets Snow White. This Snow White, however, is anything but pleasant and charming. After being poisoned by the dwarfs with a poison apple, the dwarfs were sentenced to care for the demanding and cruel Snow White.
David spends the night with Snow White and the seven dwarfs. He finds out that Snow White has almost eaten the dwarfs out of house and home. However, he also learns that the dwarfs are secretly mining diamonds, of which Snow White knows nothing. While parting, the dwarfs ask that David send any eligible suitors their way so that they can pay them off to marry Snow White.
Continuing down the road, David wanders off the path to eat some apples. While up in the apple tree, he witnesses a hunter kill a deer. But the deer was no ordinary deer, she had the head of a young girl. The hunter finds David in the tree and takes him captive. Once in the hunter's house, he learns that this huntress (as the hunter is a woman) captures young children and animals to fuse their bodies together. She says that with the body of an animal, humans make a better sport of hunting for her.
While waiting to meet his fate, David comes up with a plan. When the huntress attempts to put David's head on a fox's body, he tells the huntress that she would be a better hunter if she were a centaur. She considers this and eventually agrees. She shows David how to cut off her torso and the horse's head and how to fuse them together using a special salve. However, when David cuts off her torso, he disarms her by cutting off her hand and running away. When he leaves her home, he finds that many of her experiments have wandered back and they begin attacking her while he escapes.
After escaping the deceitful huntress, David begins to grow tired of walking through the forest for many hours until he comes across a soldier named Roland. Roland, kindheartedly allows David to ride with him on his horse Scylla and accompany him on a quest to the Fortress of Thorns. However, they come across a battle field where many men were killed, and a tank from David's world sits there, almost as if it fell from the sky. Here, David officially meets the Crooked Man. The Crooked Man promises David the life he had before his mother's death, after spitting into the ground, which reflects what looks like his father, Rose and Georgie dancing happily. The image transforms into that of Rose and David's father having sex, David looks away and is so overcome with anger that he cuts the Crooked Man with his sword. Unheard far in the distance triumphant howls rise into the air as the wolves find another bridge to cross the canyon.
Roland and David spend the night in an abandoned church, Roland explains that the king tried unsuccessfully to make the people of the land follow the 'new religion'. During the night David wakes up to find Roland whispering to a silver locket containing the picture of a handsome young man. Embarrassed, David goes back to sleep. The next morning David asks Roland about his quest and Roland explains that he is searching for his friend Raphael who, to prove his bravery, left to find a woman bound to sleep by an enchantress and release her from her curse. Roland and David leave the church and are followed unbeknownst to them by a wolf scout. The wolf is about to attack them when the Crooked Man appears and kills it, he cuts off its snout as a mark to the rest of the pack that he is also following David.
Roland and David meet a group of hunters who take them back to their settlement for food and rest. A man named Fletcher lets Roland and David spend the night in his stable and eat with his family. Fletcher tells them of a terrible Beast which has been causing havoc across the land. Roland speaks with the village elders and they agree that the best plan is for the women and children to leave the village and shelter in caves in the nearby hills, while the men stay behind to lure the Beast into the village walls then set the entire village on fire and thus burn the Beast alive. The women and children leave the village and the men begin preparations for the fight against the Beast, a cow is tethered outside the village to lure the Beast to them. On the third night of waiting the Beast finally comes to them; it has a long yellow ridged body like that of a worm, clusters of black eyes like a spider, a large lipless mouth with row upon row of sharp teeth, two arms either side of its jaws with three hooked claws and two rows of black spiny legs. Roland tries to lure the Beast into the village but it seems strangely attracted to David and begins to follow him instead. David leads the Beast to the village square where they have dug channels full of oil so as to set the Beast alight. The Beast suddenly stops and its stomach begins to bulge, David realises that the Beast is in fact female and is giving birth. The Beast's offspring tear through its stomach and begin to consume her. Roland then fires a lighted arrow into the oil and the Beast and her offspring burn to death.
The next morning the villagers return to what is left of their home. Fletcher explains to Roland and David that it would be better if they leave quickly for some of the villagers are suspicious of the fact that the Beast chose to follow David. Fletcher gives David one of the Beast's claws as a reminder of how brave he is. Roland and David leave the village.
After riding for a while David and Roland rest by a stream. David wanders away and is suddenly pulled underground by the Crooked Man. The Crooked Man mocks David, telling him that Roland wants him to be his new "friend" to replace Raphael and that he watches him sleep at night and thinks he is beautiful, that he wants to be closer than close to him. He also tells David that all he has to do to go home is to say Georgie's name aloud. David is just about to do so when Roland digs him out from the earth. David is very upset but when Roland tries to comfort him he remembers what the Crooked Man said about him and recoils.
Meanwhile, back at the settlement, Leroi and his army of wolves and Loups have arrived. Fletcher stands before them defiantly, refusing to "cower before an animal". Leroi understands his gesture and draws his finger across his throat, signifying that he and his army will return to the village for revenge after they have dealt with the king.
David and Roland continue on their journey but the atmosphere between them is tense. Roland tells David that he has guessed what the Crooked Man said about him and explains his love for Raphael and that he merely considers David to be his friend. He and David reach the Fortress of Thorns, it is a great castle covered entirely by creeping vines with massive thorns and is surrounded by the bodies of knights that the enchantress has killed. There seems to be no entrance to the fortress so David and Roland sit outside waiting, at nightfall the vines pull back to reveal a gateway. Roland leaves David with Scylla and enters the castle alone. David waits for hours but Roland does not return, finally he decides that the only thing he can do is go into the Fortress of Thorns looking for him.
Inside, there are more dead bodies of knights but none are Roland. Each room that David passes seems to be enchanted in the hopes of causing adventurers to stray off the path to the tower where the sleeping woman lies; one contains and delicious feast which turns out to be poisoned when David sees an ant die from eating the food, another is a replica of his old room in Rose's house in which David sees a vision of his mother telling him that his father and Rose have forgotten about him and showing him how life would return to normal once he has climbed the stairs to the tower and set her free. David climbs to the chamber at the top of the tower; inside, the walls are covered with the same vines with their huge thorns as the rest of the castle, impaled upon some of the thorns are the bodies of Roland and Raphael. In the middle of the chamber is a stone alter upon which lies the sleeping lady, it is his mother. David kisses her on the cheek and she opens her eyes, but they are completely black and the woman has changed appearance to look like Rose. David tries to run from her but she floats after him, the woman catches him and tries to kiss him but David scratches her face with the Beast's claw which Fletcher gave him. David runs and stands close to the wall, the woman, now angered hurtles towards him but David throws himself to the floor and she impales herself upon the thorns. Her body deteriorates from being young and beautiful to old and ugly, then she crumbles to dust. David carries the bodies of Roland and Raphael down from where they hang on the wall and lays them side by side on the stone alter, he then descends from the tower and rides away on Scylla in the direction of the king's castle.
On the way to the king's castle David kills two thieves who try to steal Scylla and some wolves catch up to him but the Crooked Man appears and protects him. When he reaches the castle the king sends some soldiers out to meet him halfway. The captain of the guards Duncan takes him to meet the king and after a brief conversation, David is taken to his room, situated in the gallery above the throne room, to eat and rest. During the night David is woken by voices coming from below in the throne room. When David goes to investigate he sees the Crooked Man sitting in the king's throne talking to the king who sits on the steps below him, holding the Book of Lost Things. The king talks of a dreadful mistake he made as a child and of how he just wants to die. After their conversation the Crooked Man disappears behind a tapestry and the king returns the book to its place in an alcove before leaving. David sneaks down into the throne room and opens the Book of Lost Things, and finds it merely to be a child's scrapbook with some diary entries telling of the writer's hatred for a little girl who came to live with him and his family, and eventually mentioning that he has decided to get rid of her. The book belongs to Jonathan Tulvey, Rose's uncle who disappeared with his adopted sister Anna. David realises that Jonathan is the king.
Davis looks behind the tapestry which the Crooked Man disappeared behind and finds a door which opens onto a passageway which leads David to the Crooked Man's home. Inside, is a large hour glass with little sand left in the top bulb and a glass jar on a shelf containing the ghost of a little girl. It is Anna. She tells David of how one night Jonathan led her down to the garden and through the hole in the wall into this world where the Crooked Man was waiting for them, Jonathan spoke Anna's name out loud of the Crooked Man who then grabbed her and took her back to his home where he tore out her heart and ate it then stored her soul in the jar. She also tells David that the Crooked Man is looking for another child to take Jonathan's place before the sand in the hour glass runs out. David takes the jar containing Anna back to his room where she asks him to place her on the balcony so she can be in the sunlight, once out on the balcony David sees that Leroi and his army have arrived at the castle.
Inside his lair, the Crooked Man is slowly dying and he knows that there is not much time left so he must do something drastic. He travels through his network of tunnels until he is outside of the castle where the wolves are searching unsuccessfully for a way in. The Crooked Man kills one of the wolves, thus alerting the others to his presence, they chase him and he leads them to the entrance of the tunnel which he disappears into before they can catch him. As the tunnel is their only way into the castle, Leroi orders his troops into it.
Meanwhile, back in the castle the king is trying to convince David to accept the Crooked Man's offer but David tells him that he knows that he is Jonathan and what he did to Anna and he would never do the same. The Crooked Man appears and tries to convince David, telling him that David's world is full of pain and suffering and if he accepts his offer than David will live a long life without these. But their conversation is cut short when the wolves and the Loups emerge from behind the tapestry and begin to massacre the guards. The Crooked Man backs David into a corner and tries to force Georgie's name from him, telling him he will save him from the Loups if he says it. David sees Leroi emerge from the tunnel and kill the king but not before gloatingly telling David that he is next. David tells the Crooked Man that Georgie's name is brother and the Crooked Man falls the the floor, his body rotting as the last grains of sand fall through the hour glass. On David's balcony Anna gives a happy sigh as she fades away. So overcome with rage, the Crooked Man tears his own body in half, revealing all manner of disgusting insects inside. Leroi is bearing down on David now and is just about to kill him when he and the other Loups begin to crumble like statues. David realises that because Jonathan was terrified of wolves in his own world and in bringing that fear into this world the Loups were born, the Loups cannot survive without Jonathan because they were his fear not David's. Leroi and the Loups crumble away to dust and the ordinary wolves run away.
The Woodsman suddenly appears by David's side and tells him that he survived the fight at the bridges after he managed the fight off the wolves and barricade himself in a nearby abandoned house. David and the Woodsman leave the castle and begin to travel back to the wood which he arrived in. When they arrives they find the tree already open and waiting for him. After saying goodbye to the Woodsman and Scylla, David climbs into the portal. David wakes up swarthed in bandages in a hospital bed, Rose is sitting sleeping next to him, he wakes her up and apologises for his behaviour to her before falling into a deep sleep.
Years pass, and as they do they are sometimes filled with pain and unhappiness, just as the Crooked Man prophesied; David grows up happily with Georgie until Rose and David's father divorce; David goes to university while his father lives alone in a little cottage by a stream until one day when he dies of a heart failure while out fishing; Georgie joins the army but dies in a war in the east; David marries a woman named Alyson but she dies in childbirth and their son (named George in honour of his uncle) dies soon after; Rose grows old and weak so David takes care of her, when she dies she leaves the house to David. He moves in the house and begins writing stories, starting with a book about his adventure which he named The Book of Lost Things. Finally, David himself grows old and sick and one night he gets out of bed and walks down to the garden where he climbs through the hole in the wall and back through the portal to the magical land. The Woodsman is there waiting for him and he walks him to a cottage. Scylla is grazing in a field outside and she greets David happily, waiting for him at the cottage door is Alyson with their son George.
Characters in The Book of Lost Things
- David - The protagonist boy of twelve. He loves books and stories that are held within them. After his mother's death and father's remarriage, David is magically transported into another world and must seek out King Jonathan and his Book of Lost Things so as to find a way to return home.
- David's Mother - She dies at the beginning of the novel and serves as inspiration for David to enter into the "other world," because he is tricked by the Crooked Man to believe she is there and in need of rescue.
- David's Father - His wife (David's mother) dies at the beginning of the novel. Later, he marries Rose and they have another child named Georgie.
- Rose - David's stepmother. She was the administrator of the "not-so-hospital" in which David's mother died.
- Georgie - David's half-brother, son of Rose and David's father.
- Dr. Moberley - David's psychiatrist.
- The Crooked Man - The antagonist of the story. He seduces David into the other world and is both David's protector and enemy. He is loosely based on the character Rumpelstiltskin.
- Jonathan Tulvey - Rose's Uncle, the king of the other world.
- Anna - Jonathan's "adopted" sister.
- The Woodsman - David becomes friend with him around page 80 and the woodman promises him to get to the king. Based on the woodsman from Little Red Riding Hood
- Leroi & the Loups - Loups came into being when a young woman wearing a red cape, (Little Red Riding Hood), seduced a wolf. Their child was the first Loup and now goes by the name Leroi. There are many wolves who have begun to transform into humans. Some have near human faces, walk on two legs, and wear human clothes. However, Leroi is the most advanced and the leader of all; his dream is to overthrow King Jonathan and take his place.
- Roland the Soldier, based on the french poet, Childe Roland.
- Raphael, a soldier who was a friend and also a romantic interest of Roland.
- The Harpies, based on Greek mythology
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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