Readers know that a great book is like buried treasure. One doesn’t claim it solely for the self and hide it away from the rest of the world. Rather, one shares its existence with everyone, hoping that other readers may find the same escape, the same pleasure, or the same lessons within the pages. Readers also know that you don’t always find a good book…sometimes the book will find you.
On a recent trip to the bookstore, while digging through the discount bargain bins flooded over with books that had been placed there in no particular order or fashion, such a book was found. There was something about this particular book that seemed to silently call out, causing the hand to pick it up and then place it down again several times over as the eyes repeatedly looked away but then were hypnotically returned to it. It would not allow the attention to be distracted then and has not allowed it since.
Several other books were purchased that day, but this particular book was the last to be read. Daily, the synopsis on the inside flap and the quotes of praise on the back cover were reviewed, the book continuing to call out to be read. But, daily the call was ignored. Then, when the other books had been completed and this particular book was sitting alone on the ottoman, with a sigh of discontent, the book was opened yet again as the mind continued to wander, “Why was this book bought?”
Pages were turned and hours melted as the words wove a story through centuries of time, a story with lessons relevant in days of yore, lessons equally relevant today, and lessons that will most certainly be relevant tomorrow. Of all the books purchased that day, this was, without a doubt, the most powerful, compelling, and the most important of them all. The Lost Choice: A Legend Of Personal Discovery was written by Andy Andrews and published four years ago in 2004. Yet, somehow, the voice within this book is strong, timeless, and urging.
The Lost Choice tells the story of an ancient relic, how it became divided into four separate pieces, and how the pieces affect their possessors always for the better, making them better people and teaching them how to help others. Through the ages the pieces of the relic found their way into the hands of people who seemed almost destined to receive their gifts, people such as George Washington Carver, Oskar Schindler, John Adams, Alfred Vanderbilt, and the Chandlers, a Denver, Colorado, family, who help to pull together the mystery of the relic.
During the Chandlers investigation of the mysterious artifact found by their son in the back yard, they learn that those who have possessed the relic have found ways to do the seemingly impossible, for hungry people to be fed, for those in danger to be sheltered, and for people to be given opportunities for better lives. Though the book tells the story of the travels of the pieces of the relic, within the book rests a more important message to their possessors and, indirectly, to the readers: Do the right thing. Be a better person. Improve. Grow. Why wait until tomorrow?
Even though it has been four years since The Lost Choice was published, it still has an incredible story to tell. A compelling page-turner that will bring about a few tears, this is a book any reader could enjoy. But, it probably won’t be a book found in someone’s private library. No, this will not be a favorite book read and then stored upon a shelf to be dusted regularly, perhaps lent to a friend and then returned to its home next to the wall. Instead, this is the kind of book that travels, that finds its way from one reader to another, being handed off from one heart to the next as it makes its way across time, calling out silently to whomever will listen to its message of hope.
Readers don’t typically appreciate Spoiler Alerts, so there are parts of this story that shall not be printed here. But, rest assured, readers everywhere will want to read The Lost Choice, listening intently to the voices that call out from between the covers and from beyond time.
Andy Andrews, The Lost Choice: A Legend Of Personal Discovery, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, TN, 2004.
