Releasing January 10, 2023 from Tordotcom
Wayward Children series #8
A new novella in the Wayward Children series is always a pleasure, and Antoinette’s story is no exception. This one can easily work as a standalone and introduction to the series.
Lost in the Moment and Found is one of the heavier novellas in this series. McGuire lets the reader know in an author’s note at the start that this book deals with grooming and child abuse — though the heroine, Antsy, escapes before anything can happen, it’s the main focus of the first third of the book and is difficult and heartbreaking to read.
The book begins when Antoinette (Antsy) is a young girl and her father dies suddenly. Her mother remarries, and Antsy is frightened of her new stepfather. She eventually runs away, and opens a door to a mysterious shop where she means an elderly woman and a talking magpie.
Antsy is a great character, wise beyond her years in some ways but somehow still full of childish naivité in others. The world she finds isn’t as colourful or overly magical as other worlds in this series, which set the pace a bit slower for me, but it was still interesting reading about Antsy uncovering its secrets.
I liked the way the themes of this book tied in so well to the heartbreak of child abuse: Antsy loses so much of her childhood. The story ends on a bittersweet but hopeful note in the best fairy tale way, and I appreciated reading a story where a child was able to rescue herself. It’s not representative of the real world, but that’s the point.
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Thank you to Netgalley and Tordotcom for my review copy of this book
Leanne Olson 
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