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The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay
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The Secret of Lost Things

$18.86

Retail price: $20.95

Discount: 9%

This title is not eligible for purchase with membership credits. Why?

Narrator Vanessa Benjamin

This audiobook uses AI narration.

Weโ€™re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.

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Length 11 hours 20 minutes
Language English
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Eighteen years old and completely alone, Rosemary arrives in New York from Tasmania with little more than a love of books and eagerness to explore the city sheโ€™s read so much about. She begins her search for independence with appealing enthusiasm, and the moment she steps into the Arcade bookstore, she knows she has found a home. The gruff owner, Mr. Pike, gives her a job sorting through piles of books and helping the rest of the staff, a group as odd as the characters in a Dickens novel. But when a letter arrives from someone seeking to โ€œplaceโ€ a lost manuscript by Herman Melville, the simmering ambitions and rivalries of the Arcade staff rise to a boiling point.

The Secret of Lost Things is at once a literary adventure and an evocative portrait of life in a bookstore very reminiscent of the world-famous Strand.

Sheridan Hay earned an MFA in writing and literature from Bennington. She worked in bookstores and in trade publishing in both her native Australia and in New York, where she has lived for the past twenty years

Vanessa Benjamin (a.k.a. Roe Kendall) is a native of the British Isles. Some twenty-five years ago she moved to the United States with her family and set down roots in Maryland. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, receiving their silver medal as well as the Sir Emile Littler and Caryl Brahms awards. Benjamin has performed on stage in the Washington, DC, area for several years and at many venues and has performed at the Kennedy Center as Mrs. Schubert in the long-running show Shear Madness. An accomplished actress and narrator, she has recorded over two hundred books. Her work as a freelance voice-over artist and narrator has led her in many interesting directions, from technical government materials to eighteenth-century romance novels to hotel advertising, but narrating books is what she really enjoys. โ€œI really love playing all the parts when I narrate a book. Itโ€™s an adventure, a challenge, and above all I feel that I learn something new with each book I read. I do a lot of reading for the Library of Congressโ€™ Blind and Physically Handicapped program, and it is so rewarding for me especially when I get a letter from a patron; itโ€™s a great service for the listener.โ€

Illustration of person sitting

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With credit bundles, you choose the number of credits and your recipient picks their audiobooks—all in support of local bookstores.

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Limited-time offer

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Nowโ€™s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new one credit per month membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, weโ€™ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.

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Reviews

“Hay’s writing is lively and relaxed…the best way for a novelist to celebrate books is to write a good one. And The Secret of Lost Things is just that.”

“Hay does a good job with innocent, intelligent Rosemary’s attempts to deal with sinister doings and…captures Rosemary’s nostalgic memories of Tasmania…”

“Benjamin’s clear, luminous voice draws listeners in, adding a touch of mystery to this appealing audio.”

“Rosemary’s journey from naiveté to self-knowledge is realistically portrayed and compelling, as are Hay’s loving depictions of 1980s-era New York City and the wonder of a young woman discovering it for the first time.”

“A triangle of unrequited love and a tussle over an apocryphal Melville manuscript enliven Hay’s bildungsroman.”

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Give audiobooks, support local bookstores! Start gifting