A great historical novel about two events I've never heard of before. ( )

Essie finds friendship and fascination with Harriet a girl who comes to work in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Harriet is lost - her life is not what we seem. Essie, 16, has looked after her younger born when her mother goes into depression after losing her husband and a child. Flashbacks in the book describe Zelda - growing up until she goes missing! Other characters in the book are Freyda and Jimmy. Interesting story but not sure whether it would appeal to todays teenage girls. ( )

For 16-year-old Essie Rosenfeld, life in New York City revolves around a slowly-moving spiral of home, caring for her young sister and working tirelessly at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where she earns just enough money to help support her family — and still have a few coins leftover for her true passion: hat-making.

It’s 1911 and the Rosenfelds, still grieving the loss of Essie’s father, are struggling to stay afloat. Essie’s mother has deteoriated into a shell of a woman, leaving her eldest daughter to care for Zelda, the baby she was carrying when her husband died. Exhausted and bitter, Mrs. Rosenfeld pushes her duties onto her eldest — who fights, also, to keep her younger brother in line.

It’s in the midst of this push-and-pull chaos that Essie meets Harriet, a young woman who arrives at the factory looking as out-of-place as a diamond on the factory floor. Essie is told to teach Harriet what she knows about the construction of shirtwaists — and Harriet, scared but desperate for employment, does her best to keep up. As their friendship grows, Harriet and Essie begin to lift one another from the frightened malaise that has taken over their lives — and maybe, possibly, give them the strength to move forward. Until the unimaginable happens.

Jacqueline Davies’ Lost is everything I just described, but also so much more than that. We can sit and classify the novel in a variety of ways — historical fiction; young adult — but nothing can truly come close to what actually happens here. I started the book at 8 p.m. on a weeknight, intending to just read until I got drowsy, and put it back down at 2 a.m. when I knew full well I’d have to be up in four hours. I read it straight through — without pause. And if I had it to read all over again, I’d probably do the same.

More than anything, the novel felt like an exploration of grief . . . and as such, you’d expect it to be depressing, plodding and painful. But Davies writes with a light hand, showing us shades of Essie and revealing facts over time — never letting us get muddled down in the shadowy details. Each character became so real to me, vivid and beyond description — and even those I wanted to dislike, like Essie’s mother, were sympathetic figures. While Zelda was wild and “spoiled,” I couldn’t help but fall in love with her, too — especially since Essie clearly loved her beyond reproach. The love that Mrs. Rosenfeld couldn’t provide fell to Essie to give, and she had it in spades.

The juxtaposition between the boring, dull work Essie performed in the factory and the whimsical, imaginative and fun of her hat-making was interesting, too, and was the perfect way to showcase how talented Essie was — though her life in New York kept her mired in anything but creative pursuits. It was impossible not to want a hat from Essie — the devoted sister, the dutiful daughter. And, as in Harriet’s case, the loyal friend.

As a modern woman, factory life is impossible for me to imagine: the incredibly long hours in a hot, dirty factory, often without breaks; the painful, time-consuming work; the terrible lighting conditions; sharing a work space with so many other tired, exhausted women, and for so little pay. I work in a comfortable, air-conditioned office, where I’m compensated well for my work. I have a college degree. I get a lunch break. And at the end of the day? Well, if I ever got tired of what I do — or felt like I was being treated unfairly — I could leave. Get a new job. Move.

For someone like Essie? Well, that was out of the question. And when Harriet comes onto the scene — Harriet, the enigma — you realize just how out of the question it was for her, too. Learning about Harriet throughout the course of the novel, including the own secrets she wore close to her heart, was fascinating.

In fact, that’s a good word for Lost: fascinating. Full of rich imagery and unforgettable passages. And though it’s hard for me to classify in a few simple words, I’d recommend it very highly to fans of historical fiction and young adult — or anyone looking for a heartbreaking story. Not a novel I’ll soon forget. ( )

Wonderful fiction about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and the women (girls) who worked there. The part about the missing heiress seemed a little weak, but the working conditions and the Zelda's home life felt authentic. Painless way to learn about a part of American history! ( )

An interesting story about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Manhattan in the early 1900's. Essie is a poor Jew who has to start working at age 16. She also is her younger sister's de facto mother. Her mother, widowed while pregnant, did not have the energy for another child. Something was nagging Essie about her little sister throughout the book, and while the reader understands that the sister died recently, Essie chooses to believe that she is simply hiding. Meanwhile, Essie makes friends with a new girl at the factory who is obviously much more refined than the others. While the book has a lot going for it, I have quibbles about several things. The memories of the little sister made her seem more like a very annoying and out of control little girl rather than an endearing high spirited child, as she is supposed to seem. The outcome of the fire is pretty obvious. Clearly, the new girl is going to die in the fire because her life situation is hopeless. Essie, though, lives and all of the bad things in her life get wrapped up pretty neatly after the fire. It was all resolved just a little too well. ( )