Title: The Edge of Lost

Author: Kristina McMorris

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation

Format: Paperback

Pages: 340

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY BESTSELLER

From bestselling author Kristina McMorris comes an ambitious and heartrending story of immigrants, deception, and second chances.

On a cold night in October 1937, searchlights cut through the darkness around Alcatraz. A prison guard’s only daughter—one of the youngest civilians who lives on the island—has gone missing. Tending the warden’s greenhouse, convicted bank robber Tommy Capello waits anxiously. Only he knows the truth about the little girl’s whereabouts, and that both of their lives depend on the search’s outcome.

Almost two decades earlier and thousands of miles away, a young boy named Shanley Keagan ekes out a living as an aspiring vaudevillian in Dublin pubs. Talented and shrewd, Shan dreams of shedding his dingy existence and finding his real father in America. The chance finally comes to cross the Atlantic, but when tragedy strikes, Shan must summon all his ingenuity to forge a new life in a volatile and foreign world.

Skilfully weaving these two stories, Kristina McMorris delivers a compelling novel that moves from Ireland to New York to San Francisco Bay. As her finely crafted characters discover the true nature of loyalty, sacrifice, and betrayal, they are forced to confront the lies we tell—and believe—in order to survive.

Review:

This book was really interesting, but not as great as I was expecting. I found that the book started off a bit slow, and then progressed well with lots of action, and then died off again, and then became exciting etc. There were some lulls in the story that unfortunately made me like the book, not love it, but hopefully I am not discouraging your from checking it out and forming your own opinions.

The book starts out in Ireland with a young boy who’s living with his alcoholic uncle. He dreams of going to America, and eventually he gets his chance. But his is not an easy journey, and he goes through many trials and hardships as he tries to learn who he is and where he belongs. I’m not going to say much more plot wise, as it could spoil some major developments in the book, but it basically looks at this boys/eventually mans life and his struggles.

The author does do a great job of building empathy for the character, so that you as the reader are feeling what the protagonist is feeling, and the characters themselves are really interesting, with a good variety of people of the 1920s New York.

Like I said, I encourage you to read this book and form your own opinions, as many aspects were quite intriguing. And there’s a connection to Alcatraz!!

Happy reading!