Lost & Found

“Garner writes of myth with lyricism and sensitivity, she is steeped in the gift for being able to control the surreal with startling force.”

Amanda Craig, The Times

Lost & Found is my own retelling of 15 treasured folk tales that have nurtured and sustained me; terrified and enthralled me in equal measure. I am collaborating with Young Wood Engraver of the Year Phoebe Connolly to create an illustrated, beautifully crafted book that is true to tradition and also speaks directly to the modern world.

As a child, the diverse cast of folk tale characters – the foes and the friends – were my own extraordinary companions as I explored the fields and woods of my local village. The folk tales both enriched the landscape and also enabled me to travel beyond it. I could follow Trickster Jack through his adventures above the world I knew and beneath it; I could ride on the back of the Black Bull of Noroway, across the mountains as I solved the riddles of the three castles; I could fly above the never-ending pine forests of Russia sitting beside iron-toothed Baba Yaga the bony-legged witch, riding in her pestle and mortar. I would always get back safely in the end, but I would return home changed.

Included in the collection are stories such as...

The Riddle of the Crossroads • The Twisted Oak • The Wits of the Whetstone • The Roots of Fortune • Johnnie He Not • The Black Bull's Bride • Stealing the Moon • The Troll King's Sister • Just Jimmy and more...

Folk tales take us beyond our own boundaries into unknown lands. Yet within these adventures, riddles and enchantments we find our common ground. Motifs repeat across stories, subtly varied according to the cultural values and also the landscape of their place of origin, but are still familiar and they speak to our shared humanity. They are tools for living which have survived because they are as relevant now as they ever were.

Some of the folk tales are taken from those books of my childhood, others are remembered and rediscovered. Some I first heard spoken, during evenings spent in the company of a wonderful community of storytellers that I have been lucky enough to meet in my adult life. They have always been generous in sharing their source material, true to the oral tradition: the old tales are meant to be passed on to whoever might have use for them. Other stories I sought out as I wrote my novels. When stuck at a plot point or needing to find the root of a tricky character it is always the folk tales that I return to and they always show me the way out of the woods. 

The title Lost & Found reflects a common thread within this collection: the heroes and heroines of the stories who stray from the safer paths in life and find themselves in unknown worlds, which lurk just behind the surface of the world we know. The mysterious objects that are discovered within these adventures, whose purpose is revealed when true magic is most needed. The truth of the inner self that is found when all hope and love seems to be lost.

The title also reflects the process of development and research. I have identified the 15 tales that I want to tell, but I will be going back to the source material, stitching together fragments and variations into my own individual tapestry of words. Whilst the structure and content will remain true to the tradition, I will be following my personal path through the stories – exploring character, context and cultural background whilst still retaining the sense of wonder and otherness that is so central to these narratives. 

This collection of tales remembered, rediscovered and retold, is another link in the chain between storyteller, listener and our shared ancestors. Tales from the past, told to enrich the present and to be carried forward into the future.

About the Book

• Hardback with jacket
• 272pp
• 15 black & white illustrations