The Book of Lost Friends: A Novel

Inspired by actual post-Civil War advertisements attempting to reunite friends and loved ones, Wingate's novel follows three young women on a perilous trek from Louisiana to Texas in search of inheritance and family. Picking up the saga a century later, will first-year teacher Benedetta Silva succeed in drawing connections between their legacy and her poverty-stricken students? 416 pages, softcover from Ballantine.