Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Rafe is a reclusive artist who still bears scars inside and out but has no memory of what happened during those months. Meanwhile, Jeremy has become a famed missing persons’ investigator. With his uncanny abilities, he is the one person who can help vet tech Emilie Wendell find her sister, who vanished in the very same forest as Rafe and Jeremy.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth about the disappearances, for while the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. He believes it is there that they will find Emilie’s sister. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons. But the time for burying secrets comes to an end as the quest for Emilie’s sister begins. The former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories.

Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy must return to the enchanted world they called home for six months—for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

Let’s cut right to the chase: The Lost Story is a break-out 5-star read for me!

I went into this reading adventure without expectations. I hadn’t read the author’s previous novel, and didn’t know a whole lot about The Lost Story, other than blurbs about this being a Narnia for grown-ups.

And yes, that’s kind of true… and it’s also its own wonderful experience entirely.

In The Lost Story, the central mystery focuses on two lost-then-found boys. As teens, Rafe and Jeremy disappeared on a school outing to Red Crow State Forest in West Virginia, only to reappear — suddenly, and without explanation — six months later. For Rafe, the missing months are simply gone from his memory. Jeremy sticks to an undetailed story: they were lost, managed to survive, and then were rescued.

Fifteen or so years later, the boys are men in their mid-thirties. Jeremy has achieved fame as a missing person finder, carrying out seemingly impossible rescues in hopeless situations. Rafe, on the other hand, lives alone in a cabin in the woods, preferring to cut himself off from the world. Jeremy and Rafe have had no contact since their return, despite formerly being best of friends.

They’re brought back into one another’s lives when Emilie contacts Jeremy, asking for help in locating her long-lost sister Shannon — a person Emilie only recently learned even existed. Shannon was lost in the same woods as Jeremy and Rafe, but years earlier, and was long ago presumed dead. But Emilie feels a desperate need to know more. and Jeremy agrees to help her — only if Rafe joins in as well.

As the trio journeys from Red Crow into a magical realm beyond their own, their story hits traditional quest beats while also offering an original take on the magical portal genre. One fascinating element is the fact that the characters are adults. We’ve learned from Narnia and other fantasy classics that children are best suited to these portal journeys — a sense of innocence is essential to crossing over and being being open to the reality of alternate worlds. Seeing adult characters embrace the magic, even while acknowledging the unlikelihood of it all, adds a unique flavor to the tale.

Where to even begin to explain just how wonderful this book is? I don’t want to reveal much up front, but as the synopsis makes clear, there are other worlds involved, and the answers to the mysteries of these disappearances involve magic and otherworldly forces.

When you begin to question your sanity, remind yourself that the fact that something impossible happened doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

There’s joy and sorrow, love and friendship, adventure and danger — all this and more awaits Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie as they set out on their quest. The quest itself is filled with wonder and beauty, but even more special is the relationships discovered and revealed as the characters move fully into a world beyond their own.

Reading The Lost Story is a beautiful, funny, emotional, transporting experience. I never expected to fall for this book the way I did. I just wish I could live in Jeremy, Rafe, and Emilie’s world a bit longer. Highly recommended.

Fun side note: After finishing The Lost Story, I read the author bio and discovered that Meg Shaffer is married to author Andrew Shaffer, who has written some supremely silly parodies and novels (including the Obama/Biden mystery books). I can only imagine how entertaining their dinner table conversations must be!