2026 Compton Crook Award
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK!
For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, ‘astounding debut’ (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author) novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history.
One fateful evening, eleven-year-old Lisavet Levy finds herself trapped in the time space—a vast, enchanted library where memories of the dead are bound into books. As she grows up among the stacks, she discovers that government agents are infiltrating and destroying books to maintain their preferred version of history. Determined to salvage what seh can, Lisavet creates her own book of memories...until an American agent, Ernest Duquesne, arrives to stop her, setting off a battle over memory and truth that could change history itself.
In 1965, sixteen-year-old Amelia Duquesne is mourning the disappearance of her uncle Ernest when an enigmatic CIA agent seeks her help in tracking down a book of memories her uncle had once sought. But as Amelia visits the time space for the first time, she realizes that the past—and the truth—might not be as linear as she’d like to believe ‘in this intriguing novel’ (Booklist).
Genre: Paranormal Romance
For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, ‘astounding debut’ (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author) novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history.
One fateful evening, eleven-year-old Lisavet Levy finds herself trapped in the time space—a vast, enchanted library where memories of the dead are bound into books. As she grows up among the stacks, she discovers that government agents are infiltrating and destroying books to maintain their preferred version of history. Determined to salvage what seh can, Lisavet creates her own book of memories...until an American agent, Ernest Duquesne, arrives to stop her, setting off a battle over memory and truth that could change history itself.
In 1965, sixteen-year-old Amelia Duquesne is mourning the disappearance of her uncle Ernest when an enigmatic CIA agent seeks her help in tracking down a book of memories her uncle had once sought. But as Amelia visits the time space for the first time, she realizes that the past—and the truth—might not be as linear as she’d like to believe ‘in this intriguing novel’ (Booklist).
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Praise for this book
"There's a version of me, somewhere in another timeline, who never read The Book of Lost Hours, and I feel sorry for them. Hayley Gelfuso has written the kind of novel that doesn't just bend time - it stops it, folds it, and tucks a love letter inside. You don't read this book so much as vanish into it, and when you return, your heart is not the same as when you left. An astounding debut!" - Jamie Ford
"The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso is a magnificent and complex feat of imagination, a love story that defies the boundaries of time, memory, and reality. From the very first wild page, you'll be swept into a world where the past isn't just remembered - it's lived, fought for, and protected at all costs. Luminous and haunting, Gelfuso's prose takes us on a journey through a tale of love that transcends time and space, an exploration of how far we'll go to hold on to what matters most. The Book of Lost Hours is a testament to the power of memory, the fragility of truth, and the enduring strength of the human heart. You'll never look at time the same way again." - Patti Callahan Henry
"A meditation on time, memory, and history, encased in a heart-pounding, cold-war spy thriller, wound tight around a sweeping story of love, family, and fate, The Book of Lost Hours performs actual magic - time itself stops as it draws you in. An undeniable debut by a glittering new talent." - Daria Lavelle
"The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso is a magnificent and complex feat of imagination, a love story that defies the boundaries of time, memory, and reality. From the very first wild page, you'll be swept into a world where the past isn't just remembered - it's lived, fought for, and protected at all costs. Luminous and haunting, Gelfuso's prose takes us on a journey through a tale of love that transcends time and space, an exploration of how far we'll go to hold on to what matters most. The Book of Lost Hours is a testament to the power of memory, the fragility of truth, and the enduring strength of the human heart. You'll never look at time the same way again." - Patti Callahan Henry
"A meditation on time, memory, and history, encased in a heart-pounding, cold-war spy thriller, wound tight around a sweeping story of love, family, and fate, The Book of Lost Hours performs actual magic - time itself stops as it draws you in. An undeniable debut by a glittering new talent." - Daria Lavelle
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