Short #BookReviews: The Shop of Lost Things

Lost in the Moment and Found, by Seanan McGuire(Tordotcom)

When her father dies, Antsy—too young and playful for herfull name, Antoinette—faces a grim choice: to risk the increasingly creepyattentions of her stepfather, or to run away. Chance and fear drive her througha mysterious door—excuse me, Door—to a Shop of Lost Things. It’s a wondrousplace, the epitome of the magical antique store, filled with strange objectsfrom magical lands. Soon Antsy herself is visiting those places, beginning witha market where blue-furred people trade in luscious pastries. Soon Antsysuspects all is not benign in the Shop as she ages prematurely. There is a costto going through a magical Door, a cost in time she can never get back.

With masterful skill, Seanan McGuire takes us on apoint-of-view evolution from a bewildered young girl, struggling to come toterms with the loss of the father she adored and the increasingly creepyadvances of her new stepfather; to the child adventurer, thrilled by theadventures and mysteries unfolding before her; to the too-soon-grownup,grappling with the loss of innocence and the impossibility of ever going homeagain. The continuity of voice comes across in perfect balance to its maturation.As usual, McGuire imbues her story with compassion, understanding, and rip-roaringaction. And the twist at the end had me both teary-eyed and cheering.