Book of Lost Things / John Connolly 342 p. Fiary Tale

12 year-old David turns to books for comfort after his mother dies.  When his father remarries, David is angry at Rose and his half-brother.  With the bombings of WWII, they move to Rose's house.  There the books talk to David.  When he slips through the hole in the sunken garden, he enters a make believe world that is melded with his imagination.  Talking wolves, trolls, harpies, Snow White are encountered as he makes his quest to see the king for the king's Book of Lost Things is thought to help him return home.  Connolly has incorporated many traditional fairy tales with twists into this story of coming-of-age and maturity.