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Lost and Found
Lost and Found
Aug 18, 2025 11:36 AM

Author:Lucy Cavendish

Lost and Found

Samantha Smythe has a busy summer ahead of her with her three active young sons. Her au pair is more interested in the contents of the fridge than in the children, her husband is off drinking champagne for breakfast in London, and the famous footballer who has moved into the village seems to think Samantha is the answer to his problems.

Then, out of the blue, Samantha's childhood friend Naomi turns up on the doorstep with her daughter in tow. It's been years since Samantha and Naomi have seen each other and it's not long before they fall back into their old ways. Samantha would do anything for Naomi but when she's left to look after her little girl as well has her own chaotic family, she has to ask herself what she is prepared to do to save a friendship.

Everyone has a long lost friend but what happens when the past comes back and turns your life upside down? Can things ever go back to the way they were?

Reviews

brilliant

—— Hot Stars

This anthology is the next best thing to a comedy cabaret

—— The Observer

very funny stuff

—— Closer

Chikwava has created an utterly compelling anti-hero... Mesmerising

—— Guardian

A writer to watch. Brian Chikwava's language is lively and witty and it turns the London you know upside down

—— Maggie Gee

Page by page, line by line, Brian has created a perfectly original and true narrative voice. ..Full of surprises, delicious little tics, and real fire-in-the-belly creativity ..but importantly, the voice comes off as effortless, and therefore true....it's a major accomplishment

—— Tod Wodicka author of All Shall Be Well...

Chikwava's sharp irreverent levity...Harare North's wit and suggestiveness'

—— Mary Fitzgerald , New Statesman

a shocking indictment of the way we treat those who come here seeking a better life

—— Steve Bloomfield , Independent on Sunday

Chikwava looks to have few problems hooking the reader

—— Trevor Lewis , Sunday Times

Chikwava gives his anti-hero an unforgettable voice; a fine balance between tragedy and comedy

—— Kate Saunders , The Times

Chikwava's unreliable narrator is animated with an unforgettable voice in this poetic and tragicomic tale

—— The Times

Hilarious and terrifying

—— Sarah Fakray , Dazed and Confused

It's a wry delight

—— Esquire

This fantastically energetic debut offers a dark, funny vision of the underbelly of London populated by illegal immigrants...Harare North's politics are subversive and cynical and Brian Chikwava's sharp style draws attention to the meanings not just behind the euphemisms that cloak human tragedy under Mugabe's regime but the hypocrisies found in England's capital

—— Tina Jackson , Metro

Chikwava has a distinctive style, a complex mix of grit and humour with a voice that is persuasive enough to unsettle the reader and force them to uncomfortably inhabit 'the other' and (somewhat guiltily) reassess certain assumptions

—— Time Out

The narrator is an astute observer of London immigrant life. Chickwava can be funny as well, finding humour in the worst situations

—— Emily Firetog , Irish Times

The comedy ranges from wry to very earthy, while the strikingly poetic use of African-derived imagery gives the novel much more than just a 'generic immigrant' feel... Harare North was a joy to read and comes highly recommenced for all in search of original voices in modern fiction

—— www.thebookbag.com

Witty and effortlessly fluid. His books are laugh-out-loud funny

—— Arabella Weir

The funniest writer ever to put words to paper

—— Hugh Laurie

The greatest comic writer ever

—— Douglas Adams

P.G. Wodehouse wrote the best English comic novels of the century

—— Sebastian Faulks

Sublime comic genius

—— Ben Elton

Wodehouse's idyllic world can never stale. He will continue to release future generations from captivity that may be more irksome than our own. He has made a world for us to live in and delight in

—— Evelyn Waugh

He exhausts superlatives

—— Stephen Fry

The handsome bindings are only the cherry on top of what is already a cake without compare

—— Evening Standard
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