You will jump right into the action at the start of this book as Oliver battles with a giant crab that has escaped from 'The Diving Bell Expeditions of Grace AEthwell'. Page 173 is blank but the caption reads 'mammoth spider crab'. Oliver needs to catch this huge creature and wrangle it back into the book.
"To be fair, being attacked by a giant crab in a library was something he would never have believed before he took up the mantle of librarian. Or rather, assistant librarian, due to the untimely death of the librarian, Hieronymus Finch-Thackeray."
After all this drama things do settle down but only for a short while because a junior lawyer named Phoebe arrives from the firm Wolfsähnlich, Lithic & Lithic. One of their clients has died and left his enormous book collection.
"A voluminous collection of books, in fact. And now that a grant of probate has been issued to the executor, the time has come to divest the estate and all chattels therein."
I love the word used to describe this type of collecting by the late Phillip Thomas - bibliomania. So Oliver visits the house and he begins to sort and cull the collection with help from his friend Agatha. We met Agatha in the first book but just in case you have forgotten she has a dreadful and potentially fatal illness Garnet Band Fever. To prolong her life she transforms into nine cats but she can only do this within the confines of the library and it is dangerous for her to spend too long in her human form. The cats are named Fennex, Arawn, Grey Reaper, Tailless, Harmony, Sentinel, Clod and two others Oliver has not yet named.
Agatha is a huge fan of the crime writer Enid B. B. Weathers but when she reads or re-reads a few pages from her book Murder of Masons, she discovers the story has been changed. This sets Oliver and Agatha on a book hunt - and yes they discover other books that seemed to be changed. This might not matter too much, perhaps they are earlier editions, but then they find a very significant book - 'War, A History of the Alpin Conflict' by M.W. Ebberdew. If this other edition is correct then the border between Hallarum and the Shrouded Alps is in the wrong place - this could lead to anther dreadful war. What can Oliver and Agatha do? And oh no the dreadful Annabel Clowritch, the Member for Upper-Lower Tumbledown Barrows has heard about this book and she is determined to read it and gain control over the remote regions that she is sure now belong to Hallarum.
Here are some text fragments that will give all Teacher-Librarians and librarians in general a smile moment:
"Oliver glanced at the spies closest to him, quickly surmising that there was little in the way of a system. He spotted fiction next to poetry, plays rubbing shoulders with cookbooks."
"even the patrons couldn't sour his mood when they interrupted him ... to say things like, 'Must be nice to have a job where you can sit around all day and read.'"
"Trying to appear nonchalant, he slid a book onto the shelf (despite the fact it was in the wrong section, doing an injury to his librarian soul)."
"The brilliance of a book was that it was always there, waiting to be read, at a time that was convenient."
"He removed his satchel and jacket before slipping the bandolier on over his shirt. He checked that the two stamps and the bookmark were in their pouches and that they were closed securely. He was, after all, going on official librarian business."
I talked about the inventive book titles created by Stuart Wilson in the first book and also the way his writing employs such a rich vocabulary - this book has these same wonderful qualities. I learnt the word 'lambrequins' for example. Also, I loved the care and concern Oliver shows for his friend Agatha. AND it was wonderful to meet Oliver's sisters once again - a couple of them play very important roles in this latest adventure.
Publisher blurb: Oliver has settled into his life as the 113th assistant librarian. He loves his job – even though it sometimes includes battling giant crabs or fending off firedrakes – and his new friend, the mostly-human Agatha, is always on hand to help. But when he discovers a rare edition of a history book with unique wording, he realises the slightest misinterpretation could endanger the entire kingdom. Determined to solve this mystery, he and Agatha leave the library – with the help of an unpredictable transporting book – to establish the truth. But can they prevent Annabel Clowritch, the esteemed Member for Upper-Lower Tumbledown Barrows, from using the text to her own advantage . . . and stop a war?
Lost in a Book is the second title in the series the 113th Assistant Librarian. You do need to read the first book to understand the world of this book and to meet the two main characters - Oliver Wormwood and his best friend Agatha. I don't usually read sequels or continue a series unless I really loved the first installment - and yes I did love it - five stars from me.
I am still wondering why oh why the first book didn't make the 2025 CBCA Younger Readers Book of the Year notables. And sadly I know this second one - Lost in a Book - is not eligible because it does not stand alone (although this rule seems to be quite flexible because seven of the 2025 notables were from a series!).
Readers aged 10+ are sure to enjoy Lost in a Book (you could gift the two books from this series as Christmas presents) but at the end they might feel a little bereft and in need of another similarly adventurous story so I would suggest these:
The Lost History (second book in a series)
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