Sangu Mandanna was four years old when she was chased by an elephant, wrote her first story about it, and decided this was what she wanted to do with her life. Seventeen years later, she read Frankenstein. It sent her into a writing frenzy that became The Lost Girl, a novel about death and love and the tie that binds the two together. Sangu lives in England with her husband and son.
"Both an interrogation of bioethics and a mesmerizing quest for identity, this debut succeeds through its careful development of the oh-so-human Eva and those around her. A provocative and page-turning thriller/romance that gets at the heart of what it means to be human." -- Kirkus Reviews"Mandanna's debut novel is lovely and at times heartbreaking .... A thoughtful study of both a girl's search for her identity and the human reaction to death." -- Publishers Weekly"THE LOST GIRL was the most honest portrait of grief and loss that I've read in a long time. Filled with heartache, love, and things that would stir Mary Shelley's ghost, this is a story not to be missed." -- Lauren DeStefano, New York Times bestselling author of The Chemical Garden trilogy"The breathtakingly complex character development is set against a sinister, Frankensteinian underworld that promises plenty of philosophically fraught conflict and intricate backstory. [A] compelling meditation on the nature of humanity, consciousness, and self-ownership." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"[An] absorbing novel .... The story is moving without being sentimental, and Eva's attempts to evade her captors provide action that will broaden the book's appeal to both sexes." -- ALA Booklist
Gr 8 Up-Eva is an "echo." She was created to take the place of a girl named Amarra, who lives in India with her family. Should Amarra die, Eva will replace her so that her family will not have to suffer her loss. This means that Eva must study the girl, know her likes and dislikes, and experience as much of her existence as she can, right down to getting the same tattoo. But Eva has a life of her own in England, including a guardian who loves her and a boy who may be more than a friend. When she is called to take Amarra's place, she begins a journey of self-discovery and danger. Echoes are illegal in India, and one wrong move could mean the end of not only Eva's life, but also disaster for Amarra's family. She must avoid vigilantes who kill echoes, play her part in her new family, and pretend to love Amarra's boyfriend, Ray. While this book has an intriguing premise, it gets lost in the details, both in terms of the specifics of how echoes are pieced together by the "weavers" and the implausibility that Amarra's friends and the media in India would not be aware of her death. How is it that Ray, who was driving the car when she was killed, wasn't questioned by the police? This question and others show the many plot holes. The frequent climaxes frustrate more than add intensity, leaving the ambiguous ending lackluster.-Necia Blundy, Marlborough Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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