Welcome to The Lost Book!

The Lost Book is a collaborative adventure in storytelling. It's taking place online and anyone can join in. At its heart is an animated web series: the adventures of investigative journalist, and BookCrosser, Aileen Adler, who is trying to solve the crime of a missing book. Episode 3, the second of five episodes to be written by the public, was launched this month. It gave Scotswoman Aileen her first glimpse of the book thief, thanks to her dog Watson's keen nose - watch the story so far. Right now we're working on the plot for episode 4 with help from all the visitors to the website - it will be launched on Friday, 15 May 2009.

Where the story goes next remains in your hands. You can suggest plot developments by visiting www.thelostbook.net now. Each month between now and July the storylines will be pulled together into the next episode, animated and published online.

There are loads of ways you can get involved and it won't cost you anything. Please help us to write the story for the web series - make suggestions or vote on other people's ideas. You can also join our special guest writer Jasper Fforde and reconstruct a stolen book in our weekly microstory competition. You can enter our soundtrack competition by creating your own music for the web series. You can even produce your own animation.

And, you can read this book, tell us what you thought of it, give it away, and follow its journey.

The Lost Book is a partner project to the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust's 2009 reading campaign, The Lost World Read 2009, which is using free books, online resources and events to get people reading The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle. The Lost World Read is the largest collaborative reading project ever seen in the UK. We're extending the reading campaign, thanks to the generosity of project sponsors Canongate, by giving away other free books throughout The Lost Book.

Lilian's Story is Kate Grenville's first novel. Lilian Una Singer starts life at the beginning of the twentieth century as the daughter of a prosperous middle-class Australian family. She ends it as a cheerfully eccentric bag-lady living on the streets, quoting Shakespeare. Grenville has won both the Orange Prize for Fiction (for The Idea of Perfection in 2001) and the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (in 2006, for The Secret River, which was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize).

So join in, wherever you are, and have fun!

Update: The Lost Book ran until July 2009 and is now finished - apart from lots of books like this one that are still travelling and finding new readers!

This book is going to travel around the world as a bookray. PM at any time, with your shipping preferences, to join. The book is a paperback (20mm thick, 280pp, 250g).

Bookray
Nell-Lu, UK
j4neyo, UK (Int)
Bookworm-lady, Spain (Europe)
arturogrande, UK (Int) - asked to be skipped
karen07814, UK (Int)
Rrrcaron, USA (USA)
tostle, USA (Int assumed)

Bookray complete!

Engaging story of a middle-class girl in the early twentieth century, and her attempts to outgrow the boundaries of her expected roles. Lilian has a passionate nature, a fierce intellect, and she believes that "everything matters". She fights convention throughout her life and is rewarded eventually by a type of freedom and recognition.

Reserved for the next person on the bookray.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Travelling to j4neyo - happy reading!

Arrived safely through the post. Looking forward to reading this book.

Can't say that I enjoyed this book due to the subject matter, but it was beautifully written.

Have PM'd Bookworm-lady to send it on.

Posted to Bookworm-lady in Spain this morning

I've got it! Thanks for passing this on, j4neyyo, I am looking forward to reading it.
And, as usual, thanks to TheLostBook and Canongate for their generosity! You can count on my postcard from Spain! ;)

Arturogrande has asked to be skipped; I will ask for Karen07814' s address, in order to pass it on.
Eva

I have got Karen's address for a long time now... the book will soon be on its way to her.
Eva

Sent today to Karen, in U.K.
Sorry for the long delay, and I hope you like your bookmark!
Eva

It's over to me, thank you for the bookmark, bookworm-lady

Over to you for a free read

Received this book in the mail awhile ago. Will get to it soon.

Finally finished. Was a good read, a bit disturbing but good none the less. Sending on to the next reader...

off to Erishkigal...happy travels, book!

This well-traveled book was sent from Utah so it could be part of our book festival in Hawaii - thank you!

(Larger photo here.)

To be released at our third annual pop-up Skygate OBCZ during the 2013 Hawaii Book and Music Festival.

Released for Secretariat's 2013 Never Judge a Book By Its Cover Challenge (week 19).

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I'm so glad you've found this book!

Won't you please make a journal entry to let the book's previous readers know that it's safely in your hands? How did you find it? What did you think of it? What are you going to do with it next?

BookCrossing: making the whole world a library!