The Lost Story: A Novel

“They didn’t have fairy tales in West Virginia. They were lucky to have a Target.”

This humorous observation by Maggie, the nurse who discovers Rafe and Jeremy in the woods, shows that people often tend to believe that fairy tales belong only to a particular milieu, not their own, supposedly mundane, reality. However, the novel emphasizes that magical stories can exist in any place, whether it is the forests of Europe or of West Virginia. Shaffer uses these specific references to ground her novel in its geographical context while also introducing the theme of Reconciling a Magical Past With Present Reality.

“She never forgot the moment when the universe allowed her to brush her fingertips along the spider-lace edges of a true-blue fairy tale.”

An instance of Shaffer’s use of figurative language, this metaphor implicitly compares Maggie experiencing magic to her running her fingers along the finest lace. The sensation is delicate and fleeting but leaves an impact. Shaffer plays on the senses of sight and touch to flesh out her delicate comparison.

“‘This cage would rent for two thousand a month in Brooklyn.’

‘It is not a cage. It is Fritz’s sanctuary.’

‘You think the rats that live in sewers resent the one-percenter rats that live in castles?’

‘At the vet’s clinic we always said, “You can’t save them all, but today we’ll save one.”’”

Not only does the quippy conversation between Jeremy and Emilie infuse humor in the narrative, but it also elaborates the text’s emphasis on friendship and helping whoever one can. Jeremy may tease Emilie about her pampering of Fritz, calling Fritz a “one-percenter rat,” but Emilie reminds him that it is better to save one rat at a time rather than do nothing.