What Was Lost
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | Catherine O'Flynn |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Tindal Street Press |
| Honors | |
| It is the 1980s, and Kate Meaney is a serious-minded and curious young girl—who spends her time with her toy monkey acting out the role of a junior detective. She notes goings-on at the Green Oaks shopping centre and in her street, particularly the newsagent’s where she is friends with the owner’s son Adrian. When she disappears, Adrian falls under suspicion and is hounded by the press. It’s 2004 and thirty-something Lisa is at work in a cut-price record store, tearing her hair out at customers’ bizarre requests and the even more bizarre behaviour of her colleagues. While at home, the futility of her relationship is slowly becoming apparent. Over shared fishpaste sandwiches, she strikes up a friendship with security guard Kurt—and, following CCTV glimpses of Kate, they become entranced by the lost little girl and her connections with the strange history of Green Oaks itself. | |
The 1980s. Kate Meaney—with her “Top Secret” notebook and Mickey her toy monkey—is busy being a junior detective. She observes goings-on and follows “suspects” at the newly opened Green Oaks shopping centre and in her street, where she is friends with the newsagent’s son, Adrian. But when this curious, independent-spirited young girl disappears, Adrian falls under suspicion and is hounded out of his home by the press.
Then, in 2004, Adrian’s sister Lisa—stuck in a going-nowhere relationship - is working as a deputy manager at Your Music, a cut-price record store. Every day she tears her hair out at the horribly bizarre behaviour of her customers and colleagues. But together with security guard Kurt, she becomes entranced by the little girl they keep glimpsing on the centre’s CCTV. As their after-hours friendship intensifies, they investigate how these sightings might be connected to the unsettling history of Green Oaks itself.
