The Lost

The Lost begins as the story of a boy who grew up in a family haunted by the disappearance of six relatives during the Holocaust.

Decades later, Daniel Mendelsohn sets out to find the remaining eyewitnesses to his relatives' fates, a quest that takes him to a dozen countries on four continents.

The book interweaves a world-wandering odyssey with childhood memories and ruminations on biblical texts and Jewish history, transforming the story of one family into a profound meditation on our fragile hold on the past.

It is a gripping, beautifully written literary tour de force that illuminates all that is lost and found in the passage of time.