A chance encounter that changes everything.
Dot Watson has lost her way. Wracked with guilt and struggling with grief, she has tucked herself away in the London Transport Lost Property office, finding solace in the process of cataloguing misplaced things. It's not glamorous or exciting, but it's solitary - just the way Dot likes it.
That is, until elderly Mr Appleby walks through the door in search of his late wife's purse and Dot immediately feels a connection to him. Determined to help, she sets off on an extraordinary journey, one that could lead Dot to reclaim her life and find where she truly belongs...
Comment: One more case of me not remembering why I've added this book to the pile. Must have seen something positive about it somewhere...
In this book we meet Dot Watson, who works for the lost and found section of the public transports system in London (or its official nomination which I might have forgotten) and she takes her work very seriously, unlike some of her co workers. Things at work have been predictable just like she prefers, while at home she is still mourning her father and dealing with the fact her mother is now at an hospice home, considering her dementia. Things with her sister haven't been great either, but Dot carries on with all these things until the day her boss announces he is leaving and the replacement is someone who shouldn't be given the this task. One thing leads to the other and, suddenly, Dot has a lot to ponder and finally deal with... but will she be able to do so?
I was ready to enjoy this story and discover what would make it a good one, but I must say that it wasn't, in general, as great as I imagined, even though there are some elements that on its own were quite compelling and interesting.
Dot is a fascinating character, quite layered and with plenty to analyze if one thinks about all the little things that make her who she is. Dot is still mourning her father, who she worshiped, in a way, even in detriment of her mother, who always seemed to prefer her sister Phillipa way more. In a way, this made Dot see her father as "her" parent, while Phillipa was their mother's, and that is why she took it so hard when her father died, which we learn at some point, wasn't due to age or an accident.
Now, her mother is in a home, which is the best for her health but there is a need to sell the house, although Dot lives there but she isn't ready to move on, although one of Dot's most treasured possession is her collection of touristic guides to other places she dreams of one day visiting. However, her work is pretty stagnated, even though she takes pride in what she does.In fact, she feels it's her duty to preserve the lost things so that one day the owners can get them again. I suppose I could go on with the metaphor of what this symbolizes for Dot, but it got to a point in the story, right when something sudden happens, that made me realize I really wasn't that eager to learn about Dot's layers.
Things started to feel a little boring to me, if I want to be honest. The writing style is clearly one we would find in any woman's fiction story, and I do tend to like these sometimes, but the juxtaposition between what Dot is going through and processing, and what happens in her life just felt too much and I struggled to focus on what elements should be more important. The themes aren't new and I think all had its appeal, but the development didn't win me over completely.
Dot is a great person and I could certainly understand why she felt she got to an impossible point, once she learns something she never imagined, about who her father really was in their family. Psychologically, this was a fascinating story and made Dot way more interesting to follow, but what surrounds her, and the whole job stuff just failed to make an impression on me. Sometimes, I felt that she could have had any other job that for her journey as a character, it wouldn't change much.
There are secrets being unveiled and there is even a slight romantic interest, mostly only alluded at, not really pertinent, but the mix of all these elements never felt truly rewarding for the amount of time we spend having them part of the plot. I also think the blurb implies at a story that will ultimately be a "feel good" one, and in reality there are more moments with sad/melancholic situations and emotions, than the other way around. It's not as if I mind it, exactly, but then the choice of certain scenes and situations feels irrelevant.
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