All the Lost Places is a dual timeline novel made more complex by the fact the past timeline (1807) is partly quotes from a series of children’s books and partly narrative, with a very blurred line between what is part of the fictional stories and what is part of this story.
In the past timeline (starting in 1804), baby Sebastien is rescued from the canals of Venice and raised by a ragtag bunch of adults – a lacemaker, a glassblower, a fisherman, and a printer.
As Sebastien grows to adulthood, he longs to discover his true identity.
In the more recent timeline (1907), Daniel Goodman knows exactly who he is: a convicted thief who has served his prison sentence and now wants to make right with all his victims, including his mother. He takes a job as an artist and translator, which sends him to Venice, Italy, to draw the buildings and find and translate the final volume of a series of stories. The reader joins Daniel in his journey to sort fact from fiction as he translates the books and searches for the missing ending.
I loved the setting.
Amanda Dykes brings Venice to life, skilfully mixing the story with the city’s history in an ongoing mix of literal and figurative, a literary writing style that felt more lyrical than most novels I read.
Unfortunately, I did sometimes find the writing style slowed me down and affected my appreciation of the story.
All the Lost places is a book to read slowly and carefully, not one to rush through in an effort to find out whodunit or will the guy get the girl. If you rush, you risk losing the plot (literally), and have to flick back a few pages to work out what is happening.
Recommended for readers looking for novels with international settings, and for fans of Rachel McMillan, Nicole Deese, and other authors who write rich prose in a literary style.
Thanks to Bethany House and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Amanda Dykes
Amanda Dykes‘s debut novel, Whose Waves These Are, is the winner of the prestigious 2020 Christy Award Book of the Year, a Booklist 2019 Top Ten Romance debut, and the winner of an INSPY Award. She’s also the author of Yours Is the Night and Set the Stars Alight, a 2021 Christy Award finalist.
A former English teacher, she has a soft spot for classic literature and happy endings. She is a drinker of tea, a dweller of Truth, and a spinner of hope-filled tales, grateful for the grace of a God who loves extravagantly.
Find Amanda Dykes online at:
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About All the Lost Places
When all of Venice is unmasked, one man’s identity remains a mystery . . .
When a baby is discovered floating in a basket along the quiet canals of Venice, a guild of artisans takes him in and raises him as a son, skilled in each of their trades. Although the boy, Sebastien Trovato, has wrestled with questions of his origins, it isn’t until a woman washes ashore on his lagoon island that answers begin to emerge. In hunting down his story, Sebastien must make a choice that could alter not just his own future, but also that of the beloved floating city.
1904
Daniel Goodman is given a fresh start in life as the century turns. Hoping to redeem a past laden with regrets, he is sent on an assignment from California to Venice to procure and translate a rare book. There, he discovers a city of colliding hope and decay, much like his own life, and a mystery wrapped in the pages of that filigree-covered volume. With the help of Vittoria, a bookshop keeper, Daniel finds himself in a web of shadows, secrets, and discoveries carefully kept within the stones and canals of the ancient city . . . and in the mystery of the man whose story the book does not finish: Sebastien Trovato.
