The Library of Lost and Found

An introverted librarian opens a book into a fantasy world that also reveals secrets from her grandmother’s past in this pleasing novel from Patrick (Rise and Shine). In addition to volunteering at the library, Martha Storm also helps the people in her small, unnamed seaside village with small tasks. With her parents long dead, she lives in her childhood home, surrounded by her neighbor’s stuff that she has promised to mend and store. One evening, after returning from the library, she finds a small package at her door containing a book of fantastical short stories. Inside is a handwritten inscription from her grandmother Zelda, who died under mysterious circumstances years before the date of the inscription. Martha sets off to discover where the mysterious book came from and what happened to her grandmother, the one person who ever encouraged her to explore her creativity. Along with a handful of quirky supporting characters—including divorcée Brenda, bookseller and fellow book lover Owen, and lovesick Suki—Martha breaks out of her shell as she starts to piece together her grandmother’s life in the small village. With a happy ending that is hinted from the beginning, Patrick’s novel is just the kind of charming story Martha loves to read. (Mar.)