The Book of Lost Hours

Gelfuso’s engrossing debut follows the adventures of a Jewish girl who hides in a fantastical realm during WWII and devotes herself to protecting collective memories. It begins in 1938 Germany during Kristallnacht, when 11-year-old Lisavet Levy’s watchmaker father sends her into the time space, where people’s memories are bound in books, to save her from the Nazis. Though he promises to retrieve her, she winds up trapped in the time space with a specter, who teaches her how to access the memories stored in the books. As the war progresses, she discovers that German, American, and Russian timekeepers have gained access to the time space and are each trying to destroy memories of atrocities to shape a version of history that favors their own country. In 1949, Lisavet strikes up a romance with an American timekeeper named Ernest Duquesne and becomes pregnant with his child. A parallel narrative set in 1965 Boston follows Ernest’s 15-year-old niece, Amelia, who’s drawn by a strange woman into the time space to find a book in which Lisavet hid all the memories she saved from burning. Gelfuso seamlessly blends elements of romance and fantasy into the twisty quest narrative, and packs excitement into every page. It’s a delight. Agent: Jennifer Weltz, Jean V. Naggar Literary. (Aug.)

Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated the year in which the character Lisavet Levy strikes up a romance.