The Lost. Sarah Beth Durst

      

      BRILLIANTLY RIVETING. *

      THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND STIRRING. **

      Award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst has been praised for her captivating novels that merge the darkly imagined with very real themes of self-discovery and destiny. In The Lost, we’ll discover just what it means to lose one’s way….

      It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassible dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she’s going to have to figure out just what she’s missing—and what she’s running from—before she can leave. So now Lauren’s on a new search for a purpose and a destiny. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll be found….

      Against the backdrop of this desolate and mystical town, Sarah Beth Durst writes an arresting, fantastical novel of one woman’s impossible journey…and her quest to find her fate.

      *Booklist, starred review, on Vessel **Kirkus Reviews, starred review, on Vessel

      Praise for Sarah Beth Durst

      Vessel

      Andre Norton Award Finalist 2012

      Kirkus Best Teen Books 2012

      “Durst offers a meditation on leadership and power and a vivid story set outside the typical Western European fantasy milieu. From the gripping first line, a fast-paced, thought-provoking and stirring story of sacrifice.”

      —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

      “Readers will feel the desert heat, the earth-numbing droughts, the vicious sandstorms and resulting sandwolves, and the bizarre sensations of a goddess living within the body of its human vessel. Brilliantly riveting.”

      —Booklist (starred review)

      Enchanted Ivy

      “Every page of Enchanted Ivy weaves a delightful, seductive spell. Lily is a true heroine—smart, intrepid, and utterly human. I’d give anything to travel to the world of Sarah Beth Durst’s imagination!”

      —Jeri Smith-Ready, award-winning author of Shade

      “With her deft prose and runaway imagination, [Durst] creates a tale filled with rich characters, wonderful story-telling,

      and puzzle pieces that fall together perfectly.”

      —Chicago Examiner

      The Lost

      Sarah Beth Durst

       www.mirabooks.co.uk

      For my mother,

      Mary Lee Bartlett

      Contents

       Poem

       Chapter One

       Chapter Two

       Chapter Three

       Chapter Four

       Chapter Five

       Poem

       Chapter Six

       Chapter Seven

       Chapter Eight

       Chapter Nine

       Chapter Ten

       Chapter Eleven

       Poem

       Chapter Twelve

       Chapter Thirteen

       Chapter Fourteen

       Chapter Fifteen

       Chapter Sixteen

       Chapter Seventeen

       Poem

       Chapter Eighteen

       Chapter Nineteen

       Chapter Twenty

       Chapter Twenty-One

       Poem

       Chapter Twenty-Two

       Chapter Twenty-Three

       Chapter Twenty-Four

       Chapter Twenty-Five

       Chapter Twenty-Six

       Chapter Twenty-Seven

       Poem

       Chapter Twenty-Eight

       Chapter Twenty-Nine

       Acknowledgments

      Things I lost:

      a stick of Chapstick

      a few quarters

      one turquoise earring, a gift

      my old college roommate’s new phone number

      my left sandal

      Mr.