Book Review: The Lost History of Dreams By: Kris Waldherr

 "'In speaking of love, we speak of intangible things. Like ghosts.' Her tone turned uneasy. 'Thus, that which we love haunts us with possibilites, with denied yearnings like a ghost. The closer we approach, the more they elude.'" 

Book Title: The Lost History of Dreams 

Author: Kris Waldherr 

HARDBACK

Amount: 320 

Release Date: April 9, 2019 

From: Publisher

I was not paid for this review 

Summary (From the Back of the Book): When famed Byronesque poet Hugh de Bonne is found dead in his bath one morning, the task of burying his body falls on his estranged cousin, historian turned post-mortem photographer Robert Highstead. The chapel stipulated in De Bonne's will, a stained-glass folly set on the Shropshire moors, was built over a decade earlier to house the remains of his beloved wife and muse, Ada, and has since remained closed to all outsiders-especially the rabid, cultlike fans of De Bonne's last book, The Lost History of Dreams. 

Only Ada's grief-stricken niece, Isabelle, holds the key-but she refuses to unlock the glass chapel unless Robert agrees to her bargain: before he can lay Hugh to rest, Robert must record the real story behind her aunt's ill-fated marriage over the course of five nights.

Sweeping and darkly atmospheric, The Lost History of Dreams is a Gothic mystery about love and loss that blurs the line between past and present, truth and fiction, and ultimately, life and death. 

Wdebo's Review: This book has been sitting on my shelf for the past year and I was unfortunately only able to get to it now just due to how my last year of grad school was going. When I finally picked it up I found that it definitely took a bit to get into the story. The details of everyone's stories just got quickly thrown in without much background to help pillow it. However, as the story went on more and more ends started to get tied up and was much easier to follow. However, I felt that even though the ending explained a lot of the mystery surrounding certain people it was just not as satisfying as I was hoping for because it felt so rushed. 

For example, Robert's ability to daguerreotype the dead was randomly brought in to show how he was able to bring his dead wife to life but the past of that was never really expanded on. It just seemed like a big topic that was randomly brought out and ignored. I really wish the amount of details and fluff would have been cut down to allow the true important points to develop properly. 

Out of all of the stories that were told I did love Ada and Hugh's the most. Something about it just drew me in more so than all of the other ones. I think it might be the fact it was told in a deliberate story telling aspect that truly made it more enjoyable the other ones. I do have to also note the fact she was able to blend different story telling voices into one was very impressive. 

Cafe Cover Chat: Pretty average cover that is not enticing (C) 

All in all, although this was not the most exciting nor polished story there were some admirable qualities and moments that shined through. 

Grade: C+

Wdebo :)