The Book of Lost and Found: Sweeping, captivating, perfect summer reading

Acknowledgements (#u52d3f5c7-4f6d-528c-82ee-b67f03aefe5c)

About the Author (#u7f094061-b585-538a-9d6c-c046ef944f93)

About the Publisher (#u1f6b76ed-ad57-5c64-8a56-8dfebe066922)

The Portrait (#ulink_4c45fb8a-9b40-54a4-99c5-62138465cdc6)

She hangs in the National Portrait Gallery now. Her smile has not faltered through the years, and her hair still falls just above her jaw, as sleek as cat’s fur. She sits awkwardly: the pose of a moment held for eternity. Her eyes squint slightly, shielded from an invisible sun by her hand.

Who is she? The drawing bears no clue, nor the little square of text beside it.

Friend is a difficult word – it can conceal so much. Who was she, really, to the young man who sat down and sketched her one afternoon, with the spoils of their picnic beside them? Even this most gifted of artists is restricted by his medium to work only in the realm of the visible. Some things must be lost to time.

PART ONE (#ulink_6110e243-c63a-53de-a9fb-3939259703d2)

(#ulink_6110e243-c63a-53de-a9fb-3939259703d2)