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Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Once Was Lost tells the story of Samara (Sam), a girl who has a pastor as a father, and has grown up with the idea of a loving God. Lately, however a string of problems have brought her to question her faith. Her mother has been put into rehab, a tough enough situation without an entire congregation scrutinising it as they seem to scrutinise everything else in her life.. Then a girl from the congregation goes missing, and Sam's father seems to want to spend all his time with the family of the missing girl rather than his own family.

As a pastor's daughter, Sam faces challenges that her peers don't. Thinks aren't helped by the way her father retreats into his shell at home. Her mother is in rehab because she has already buckled under the pressure to be the perfect pastor's wife, and therefore it is no wonder that when the thirteen year old girl goes missing, Samara can't handle the wrongness in her world and seeks answers.

Sara Zarr wonderfully crafts this young adults novel around her own experience growing up in a church as an honorary pastor's daughter in an American neighbourhood where a girl was kidnapped, and like the rest of the state she followed the story religiously. The story is not just a crime story or a story about a crisis of faith in God, but a story about a girl who has lost faith in her family, in the goodness of people and the safety of her world. Yes there is mystery but primarily it is about family, identity and growing up. There are lots of threads to the story which make it more realistic and believable and although it deals with difficult topics it doesn't go into gory detail.

Once Was Lost is not a book of perfect heroes or heroines but one that reflects life, the pressures that people have and the imperfections they have. It also reflects the very real attitude of society to look for guilty parties and point fingers without knowing all the facts. It is a very interesting and thought provoking read.

RRP $19.99
Published and distributed by Hachette NZ
 

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