The Lost Hours

by Karen White

Book Overview

The New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels delivers a gripping tale of family, fate, and forgiveness. When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched. Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper's dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather's death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451226496
• ISBN13: 9780451226495
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The Lost Hours an intricate Story

If you like in depth intricate storyline, this one is for you. I enjoyed it , although slow at some points. I liked the story of three friends and nòw one friend left to tell the story of how their lives are bound together

Very good book

good book but don't quite know why it was called The Lost Hours Get it tho and enjoy

a wonderful read

I loved this book, I had never read Karen White before and was worried that this book would turn out to be a light/cookbook style mystery/romance. Boy was I wrong! The book had great depth of characters, an intriging and bittersweet plot, and the ability to bring you into the book's southern setting by way of sight, sound and smell. This is one of the few books that I HAD to read through, and couldn't put it down. The only critism I had was the author changed perspective frequently, and it kind of threw me off, but not enough to keep me from completely enjoying the book, and immediately ordering other Karen White titles.

POIGNANT and MOVING!...Author of EXPLOSION IN PARIS...

Piper Mills' search for answers to her long time questions leads to exciting, mysterious clues to family secrets. Karen's books stick with you!!! POIGNANT and MOVING! I loved it!

From Steve at J. Kaye's Book Blog

"The Lost Hours", by Karen White, is a three generational murder mystery set in Savannah, Georgia. Piper Mills, orphaned at six, went to live with her grandparents in Savannah. She learned to ride horses and became an Olympic hopeful. Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper's dreams of Olympic glory, and her own zest for life. Her grandfather dies, and she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn't exist, and caring for her grandmother in a nursing home. Piper remembers a box belonging to her grandmother that she and her grandfather had buried in the backyard when she was 12. Inside the box are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace--and a newspaper article from 1939 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace's charms tell the story of three friends during the 1930s-- each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. And there lies the mystery. What murder separated the 3 friends? `The Lost Hours" is a fast-paced, introspective, and drama filled story that takes us to Savannah of Jim Crow and the KKK of the 1930s. Plantations, gardens, horses, equal-rights, Alzheimer's, old-age, children and sibling deaths, and family traditions are all elements of this nicely woven emotional story. Lovely settings, a bit of history, great drama make this a fast and enjoyable read and a bit of reflection on my own family secrets.

The Lost Hours hits a home run

In Karen White's latest novel The Lost Hours she gives us another sampling of her excellent storytelling where her imagery vivid dialogue makes her words come alive for us in full tecchnicolor glory. She tells a unique tale of the South with characters that are as damaged as they are salvageable and very human. As always there's a story within a story, and a compelling and heartbreaking mystery to solve. The story will leave you with that warm cozy feeling you get with a hot cocoa on a cold winter's day or a bouquet of spring flowers. This novel will appeal to lovers of Southern literature, drama, romance or just fans of incredibly talented writers.

Engrossing, powerful story of family secrets

Engrossing, powerful, and mysterious, "The Lost Hours" by Karen White is sure to win this talented author more awards. When Piper Mills was only six years old, her parents died and she moved in with her grandparents in Savannah. Years later, her grandmother gave her a mysterious box that Piper and her grandfather buried in the backyard; an event that would soon be forgotten. After the death of her grandparents, and now a grown woman, Piper seeks the answers to questions she never had the courage to ask while her grandmother was alive. Digging up the mysterious box from the garden, Piper sets forth on a journey that uncovers her family's secrets and tells a story of past hurts, regrets, and the need for forgiveness. After reading Karen White's "The House on Tradd Street", I was eager to read her next novel. White definitely did not disappoint. "The Lost Hours" combines Southern living and style with friendship, tragedy, and a quest for the truth. As with "The House on Tradd Street", this novel's characters move the story forward. Told from multiple points of view, the reader is totally captivated by the story of three girlfriends who are separated by a monumental tragedy and the granddaughter seeking to learn more about the grandmother she never really knew. "The Lost Hours" is a powerful story that involves Alzheimer's disease, race relations in the 1930's, a charm necklace, a scrapboook and a love of horses. Piper was an accomplished equestrian, until a horrific accident left her scarred and afraid to get back in the saddle again. In addition to Piper, readers will find a host of interesting and multifaceted characters. Helen, a blind daughter living at Asphodel Meadows, who has a flair for fashion; Tucker, Helen's brother, who has left his medical practice after a family tragedy; and Mr. Morton, Piper's family's attorney who pretends he's deaf, but really hears every word you say. Perhaps the best part of "The Lost Hours" is how White is able to combine all these people, their pasts and their presents, to create an emotional story that will leave you satisfied, but also feeling sorry that you've read the last page. "The Lost Hours" will make you run out and buy every book written by Karen White.