''What Was Lost'' is the 2007

début novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

Catherine O'Flynn Catherine O'Flynn (born 1970) is a British writer. She has published three novels for adults, and two for children as well as various articles and short stories. Her debut novel, '' What Was Lost'', which won a number of book prizes including the ...

. The novel is about a girl who goes missing in a

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

in 1984, and the people who try to discover what happened to her twenty years later. ''What Was Lost'' won the First Novel Award at the 2007

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

, and was shortlisted for the overall Costa Book of the Year Award.Brown, Mark, 2008-01-03
Dogged postie wins first novel prize
''Guardian''.

Development of the novel

O'Flynn found inspiration for ''What Was Lost'' while she was working as an assistant manager in a record shop. She found ideas for her book from her job in the

Merry Hill Shopping Centre Merry Hill (formerly Intu Merry Hill, Westfield Merry Hill and The Merry Hill Shopping Centre) is a large Shopping center, shopping complex in Brierley Hill near Dudley, England. It was developed between 1985 and 1990, with several subsequent ...

near

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

in the West Midlands.Alberge, Dalya, 2008-01-03
Rejected author has last laugh
''Times''. ''What Was Lost'' was rejected by 20 agents and publishers before being accepted for publication by

Tindal Street Press Tindal Street Press was a Birmingham-based independent publisher of contemporary literary fiction, with a particular focus on writers born, or living, in Birmingham and the West Midlands. According to its website, it was "a publicly funded organ ...

, a small

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

publisher.

Plot summary

''What Was Lost'' is a mystery story about a missing girl. It is also a portrait of a changing community over twenty years.Anderson, Hephzibah, 2007-01-27
Now you see her, now you don't
''Guardian''. It examines modern life's emptiness, and society's obsession with shopping.Much-rejected first novel wins Costa award
2008-01-03, CBC. ''What Was Lost'' is set in the city of Birmingham, England. The main events of the novel take place in Green Oaks shopping centre. The first part of the novel is set in 1984. A 10-year-old girl called Kate Meaney frequently plays in the newly opened Green Oaks. She pretends to be a detective, observing and following people. She carries her toy monkey Mickey and a notebook with her. Kate vanishes and Adrian, the 22-year-old son of a newsagent, is the prime suspect in her disappearance. He is hounded by the press and the police. Unable to handle the pressure, he disappears.Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.
/ref> The novel's narrative moves forward to 2004. Kurt is a security guard at Green Oaks. He has a sleeping disorder. Lisa is the deputy manager of a music store. She is unhappy because of the strange behaviour of her colleagues and customers and because of her relationship with her partner. She becomes friends with Kurt. A girl holding a soft toy is seen in a

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

security monitor. Kurt and Lisa follow the girl through Green Oaks and investigate how she is connected to Green Oaks' unsettling history. It is revealed that both Kurt and Lisa have connections to the case of the missing girl.March 2007 - What Was Lost
BBC - Five Live.

Awards and nominations

''What Was Lost'' was the winner of the 2007

Costa Book Award for First Novel The Costa Book Award for First Novel, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2006), was an annual literary award for authors' debut novels, part of the Costa Book Awards which were discontinued in 2022, the 2021 awards being the last made. ...

. O'Flynn received a prize.Costa Book Award list announced
2008-01-02, BBC. It was shortlisted for the overall Costa Book of the Year Award. The Costa Book Awards' judging panel, chaired by

Joanna Trollope Joanna Trollope ( ; born 9 December 1943) is an English writer. She has also written under the pseudonym of Caroline Harvey. Her novel ''Parson Harding's Daughter'' won in 1980 the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Ass ...

, praised the novel for "blending humour and pathos in a cleverly constructed and absorbing mystery." They described the novel as inventive, compelling, and poignant. ''What Was Lost'' was longlisted for the 2007

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

and the

Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

. It was shortlisted for the

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspa ...

. It won the Jelf Group First Novel Award for which O'Flynn received a prize of . It was

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

's Book of the Month in March 2007.Flood, Alison, 2007-10-31
O'Flynn wins Jelf Group award
theBookseller.com.

References

{{reflist

External links

2007 British novels British mystery novels Novels set in Birmingham, West Midlands Fiction set in 1984 Fiction set in 2004 2007 debut novels Novels about missing people Novels set in the 1980s Novels set in the 2000s