The Library of Lost and Found: 02/21/21

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick is about a woman learning to say no. Martha Storm has been working as a library aide and failing repeatedly to get a full time position as a librarian. The library director is an absolute ass and never even reads her application. Something in her snaps when she's not told that an author event has been canceled after she has done all the planning for it.

Martha's home life is also devoted to being an aide to everyone. Her childhood home is full of projects she's working on for others in the town. There's a co-worker's laundry. There's a dragon head from the local school. She has so many of these projects that she has a complicated color coded list to keep track of her progress on all of them.

In the middle of her breakdown, an illustrated book of short stories arrives in her life. She recognizes the stories as ones she wrote with her grandmother. The publication date, though, is years after her grandmother's death. Martha decides to use some of her free time from saying no to track down the truth behind the book.

Mixed into the present day tale of Martha learning to stand up for herself and track down the author of the book, are flashbacks to her childhood. While these parts help to explain her burnout and her reluctance to self-care, they come off as filler. There's enough in the present day plot to fill in the gaps.

Four stars

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