Introduction

An irresistible debut novel about the wisdom of the very young, the mischief of the very old, and the magic that happens when no one else is looking



Millie Bird, seven years old and ever hopeful, always wears red gumboots to match her curly hair. Her struggling mother, grieving the death of Millie’s father, leaves her in the big ladies’ underwear department of a local store and never returns.



Agatha Pantha, eighty-two, has not left her house—or spoken to another human being—since she was widowed seven years ago. She fills the silence by yelling at passersby, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule.



Karl the Touch Typist, eighty-seven, once used his fingers to type out love notes on his wife’s skin. Now that she’s gone, he types his words out into the air as he speaks. Karl’s been committed to a nursing home, but in a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes. Now he’s on the lam.



Brought together at a fateful moment, the three embark upon a road trip across Western Australia to find Millie’s mother. Along the way, Karl wants to find out how to be a man again; Agatha just wants everything to go back to how it was.



Together they will discover that old age is not the same as death, that the young can be wise, and that letting yourself feel sad once in a while just might be the key to a happy life.

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Discussion Questions

1. ‘Millie’s dog Rambo was her Very First Dead Thing . . . It was only when she dragged Rambo up to the house in her schoolbag that her mother thought to tell her how the world worked.’ What did you think of her mother’s explanation? Was the loss of a pet your first experience of death? How was this handled in your family?


2. Millie’s mother had already planned a trip to Melbourne and the USA before she abandoned her child in a department store. What do you think was going through her mind as she did so? How do you feel about what she did?

3. ‘Mum didn’t let me go to Dad’s funeral.’ ‘Well that was probably the best thing for you.’ Why do you think her mother wouldn’t allow Millie to attend the funeral? Would it have been better for both Millie and her mother if they could have shared their grief? Should children be less protected from death and loss, and more educated about it?

4. ‘Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.’ (Thoreau) It is their loss, and being lost, that unites Millie, Karl and Agatha. How do they begin to find themselves?


5. ‘When her husband died, neighbours suddenly dropped by unannounced, appearing on her doorstep from behind huge, hulking casseroles full of dead animals, and pity . . . They talked with their faces only centimetres away from hers. I understand, they all said, because Susie/Fido/Henry died last year/last week/ten years ago because she/he/it had lung cancer/was hit by a car/wasn’t really dead but was dead to her because he was living with a twenty-six-year-old on the Gold Coast.’
Do you understand why Agatha baulks at this display of
‘sympathy’? How could her neighbours have assisted her more sensitively? What has been your experience – both giving and receiving sympathy?


6. Philosopher Thomas Attig says that through grieving we relearn the worlds of our experience. How do Karl and Agatha experience relearning their worlds? How does Millie – and her mother?


7. Both Karl and Agatha have lost their spouses of many years.
How do you think Agatha’s marriage compares to Karl’s?


8. Grief is the central theme in Lost & Found. What other themes are present and how are they depicted?


9. The Road Trip is a popular premise for books and movies.
Why is this so? Do you think it is effective in this novel?

10. In a book about grief and loss there are still many amusing moments. What made you laugh out loud?


11. ‘She says SORRYMUMSORRYMUMSORRYMUM in her head.’ Why do you think that Millie felt the need to keep apologising to her mother? When you read The Night Before the First Day of Waiting towards the end of the book, how did you feel?


12. The German writer Christa Wolf said, ‘What is it that makes us the people we become? A list of book titles would be a good beginning.’ Is Lost &Found a book that has changed your perspective in any way? Are there any memorable lines that you will take away with you? Anything which made you take Agatha’s advice to Write That Down?


13. Brooke Davis, the author of this novel, is a young woman in her thirties. How authentically do you think she has portrayed both Agatha and Karl in their eighties, and Millie at seven and a half?


14. If you could interview the author, what questions would you like to ask her?


15. Imagine you could have a conversation with one of the char- acters – who would you choose and what would you talk about?

16. How effective were the secondary characters – Helen and Stan, Stella, Jeremy and Melissa, Derek? Do you wish that you knew any of their back stories?


17. What sort of mother will Millie become? How will her parenting be shaped by her experiences following the death of her father?


18. What do you think will happen when Millie and her mother find each other again?


19. What expectations did you have of this book before you started reading it? Have they been met?


20. Did you find the ending of the novel satisfactory?

Weblinks

»	Author Brooke Davis' web site
»	Publisher's Book Info

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