Zwölf Jahre ist es her, seit Dorothy, kurz Dot oder Dots, Watson einen Verlust erlitten hat. Die Schuldgefühle verfolgen sie bis heute. Inzwischen arbeitet sie in einem Fundbüro der Londoner Verkehrsbetriebe und führt mit Anfang 30 ein zurückgezogenes Leben. Als John Appleby, ein älterer Mann, bei ihr eine Geldbörse seiner verstorbenen Frau als vermisst meldet, löst sein Kummer etwas bei Dot aus…

„Das Fundbüro der verlorenen Träume“ ist der Debütroman von Helen Frances Paris.

Meine Meinung:
Die Geschichte wird eingerahmt von einem kurzen Prolog und ebenso knappen Epilog. Dazwischen besteht der Roman aus 29 Kapiteln mit einer angenehmen Länge. Jedes der Kapitel beginnt mit einem kleinen Steckbrief zu einem Fundstück - eine schöne Idee.

Erzählt wird in der Ich-Perspektive aus der Sicht von Dot. Sprachlich ist der Roman unauffällig, aber anschaulich, atmosphärisch und nicht zu platt.

Im Fokus der Geschichte steht Dot. Die Protagonistin wird mit psychologischer Tiefe und viel Authentizität dargestellt. Sie ist keine typische Sympathieträgerin, aber eine interessante Figur, deren Gedanken und Gefühle sich sehr gut nachvollziehen lassen. Darüber hinaus sind im Roman noch weitere recht spezielle Charaktere zu finden, was zur Unterhaltsamkeit beiträgt.

Zwar enthält der Roman auch eine Liebesgeschichte. Inhaltlich ist er aber vielschichtig und durchaus tiefgründig. Mit Themen wie Tod, Verlust und Einsamkeit legt der Roman seinen Schwerpunkt auf Dramatik und menschliche Probleme. Das erzeugt naturgemäß eine eher schwerfällige Stimmung, machte das Buch für mich aber bewegend. Die Botschaft der Geschichte hat mich überzeugt. Alles in allem setzt das Buch Impulse zum Nachdenken.

Auf rund 350 Seiten kommt trotz des gemächlichen Erzähltempos keine Langeweile auf. Gut gefallen hat mir auch das nicht weichgespülte Ende.

Der deutsche Titel klingt im Gegensatz zum englischsprachigen Original („Lost Property“) pathetischer und etwas kitschig. Er würde besser zu einer seichteren Lektüre passen. Das Cover ist hübsch gestaltet, könnte aber ebenfalls falsche Erwartungen wecken.

Mein Fazit:
„Das Fundbüro der verlorenen Träume“ von Helen Frances Paris ist ein berührender Roman mit Tiefgang.

In Paris in 1924, Hector is part of the Lost Generation. He spends time writing in bars or meeting Ernest Hemingway and others there or at salons at Gertrude Stein's place. A string of murders of literary magazine editors occurs. Stein has decided to have the mystery writers gathering at her salons discover who is committing the murders especially since one murder occurred at one of her salons. Who did it? Who finds the murderer?

I enjoyed this book. It started slow for me since it is part of a series and was not the first story so I had to do a little catch up. It picked up a lot as the story started going with the murders and the Nada movement getting involved. I liked how Hector started following clues and how he checked with Hemingway on his (Hector's) love life. That was a bit messy. Hector's train of thought was interesting to follow as he was putting the clues together as to who was guilty. He looked at everyone. The police followed his line of thinking as well as Simon, the detective, who consulted with him.

I liked the mixture of real people with fictional ones. I liked Hector and Brinke. Molly was a little aloof. Hemingway and Stein gave flavor to the story as Hector and Brinke were very involved with them. As the story concluded, I did not figure out who did all the murders until most of it was explained to me. With the last scene of the book, I wonder what happened with Hector. Did he fulfill his promises?

3.5 Stars

This story did a good job of keeping me on edge. I had some correct ideas about what was going on so I wanted to kick her for not realizing. Some of the plot bothered me, but I could not put it down. If you want to be sucked in, this is a good one for that.

This can’t be a B.A. Paris book, no way! What a huge letdown! I can’t believe I actually finished this book. I don’t think I liked a single one of these characters. I thought the main couple was childish and simple, Livia needs to realize that not everything is about her. I kept thinking there had to be a major twist or a huge reveal or something major coming up as I read, for I knew this book wasn’t like her other books but it couldn’t be like this, could it?

To compensate for the wedding that she never had, Livia sets her sights on having a 40th birthday party blow-out. The idea of this party consumes her, I mean totally consumes her. Every beautiful item that Livia sees, up to the day of her party, she ponders on whether she could use that item for her party. Every item! From food, to clothes, to furnishings, Livia has these thoughts running through her head for years. You know Livia, you are an adult now, act like one. Adam, her husband, is a yes man. He loves Livia dearly and would do anything to make his wife happy but I think he needs to learn to be adult also. Adam also has a very close bond with their daughter, Marnie. His relationship with their son, Josh is a different story. I felt sorry for Josh a few times as I read this story, it seems like he was trying and he did make some compromises. I thought the children played an interesting role in this book.

There are a few other individuals in the story but everyone comes together with Livia’s 40th birthday party which should be a five-star production, since she’s had years to plan it, but the secrets that individuals are holding put a damper on the festivities. It frustrated me that these secrets ballooned. They didn’t seem to amount to much, when compared to the drama the individuals who kept the secrets were making them out to be. It was that anticipation of their reveal, that energy and that mysterious reaction that was going to be brought out by the characters not sharing the information until the last possible moment, that keeps the pages moving forward. I’m a huge fan of B.A. Paris but this one is not my favorite B.A. Paris book. 2.5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for my copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

En Route London to Paris - Peter Brown

Peter Brown; plein air; really good; nice bloke. Prolific, too - I've still got three unread catalogues on my shelf and haven't checked his website for new ones for months. Here I found the Brit paintings better than the France paintings, generally speaking. No idea why.