By Meg Shaffer
The Lost Story
The Wishing Game
The Lost Story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2024 by 8th Circle LLC
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
Ballantine Books & colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Shaffer, Meg, author.
Title: The lost story: a novel / Meg Shaffer.
Description: First edition. | New York: Ballantine Books, 2024.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023056255 (print) | LCCN 2023056256 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593598870 (hardcover; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780593598887 (e-book)
Subjects: LCGFT: Portal fantasy fiction. | Novels.
Classification: LCC PS3618.E5726 L67 2024 (print) | LCC PS3618.E5726 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23/eng/20231211
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023056255
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023056256
Ebook ISBN 9780593598887
Crow art by jan stopka/Adobe Stock
Star art by Happy-Lucky/Adobe Stock
Map by Andrew Shaffer
Cover design and illustration: Holly Ovenden
Cover art direction: Cassie Vu
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Contents
Dedication
Map
Epigraph
Prologue
Storyteller Corner: A Recipe for a Fairy Tale
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Storyteller Corner: Cry Wolf
Chapter Three
Storyteller Corner: The Holy Grail
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Storyteller Corner: In Fairness…
Chapter Six
Storyteller Corner: Elsewhere
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Storyteller Corner: The West Virginia Lost Boys
Chapter Nine
Storyteller Corner: Moms
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
The story follows the journey of a young writer, who, after suffering personal loss and professional setbacks, is invited to participate in an unusual competition called "The Contest of Lost Stories." The contest, organized by a reclusive and mysterious billionaire, involves restoring forgotten tales and bringing them back to life through storytelling.
