Fans of Selden Edwards's debut novel, The Little Book, will quickly recognize some key names in The Lost Prince. At the center of the novel is Eleanor Putnam, who returns home to Boston from Vienna in 1898 with a mysterious journal that is both a gift and a curse. The time-bending story includes friendships between Eleanor and J.P. Morgan, Carl Jung and Gustav Mahler--and a struggle with destiny versus free will that craftily sets fateful acts in motion while sweeping readers into a passionate love affair.
Selden opens the novel in 1918 Boston, then quickly jumps back 20 years to Vienna; the movement among times and settings requires patience, but all shall be revealed, and "aha!" moments are worth the wait. Ever-gracious Eleanor is smart and privileged, but also bears a secret burden of knowing (or determining?) the future. She foresees the world wars; she's certain the Titanic will sink. While Eleanor marries Frank Burden and fulfills her destiny, she mourns the "love of her life" and obsesses about attracting a young Austrian teacher named Arnauld Esterhazy to a prestigious Boston boys' school. Selden enhances the intriguing character development with much historical detail, touching upon the politics and battles of the First World War, the fate of the Habsburgs, the differences between Freud and Jung's theories and the social mores of the era.
Though The Lost Prince stands alone, as a sequel to The Little Book it's even richer. --Cheryl Krocker McKeon, bookseller