Thank you Libro.fm / Dreamscape Media for the ALC and Lavender Public Relations/Flatiron Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Everything Lost Returns in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Flatiron Books / Dreamscape Media
Published: February 17, 2026
Summary:
The poignant, utterly original story of two women separated across time but united by the arrival of Halley’s comet, as blazing and as daring as their stories.
1986. The Earthshine Soap Company has given Nona Dixon everything, from making her the brand’s first Earthshine Girl to launching her acting career. It also threatens to be the very thing that causes her to unravel when a group of Jane Does file a class action lawsuit accusing the company of putting harmful
ingredients into their products. When Nona begins investigating Bertie Tuttle, the company’s third- generation owner, she uncovers a complicated history involving her benefactor and a mysterious woman named Opal Doucet.
1910. Seventy-six years earlier, Opal Doucet, a rural doctor’s wife, is pregnant, on the run, and desperate to get to Paris and to the charismatic spiritualist who supposedly communed with her first love. To save money, Opal goes to work in the Earthshine Soap factory as an Earthshine Girl where she uses her knowledge of medicine, and the spiritualist’s teachings, to prescribe cures to the women who’ve come down with mystery ailments. As she and Bertie Tuttle secretly partner in a labor strike intended to improve the working conditions at the factory, Opal must decide the cost of her own freedom.
Gorgeously written and intricately constructed, Everything Lost Returns is a story of desire and friendship, guilt and redemption, and the power we have, in our own small way, to change the course of history.
My thoughts:
I am always drawn to unique historical fiction pieces and this one fit that and more. It was such a fantastic story that I also found to be incredibly thought-provoking, which I loved! This is another book that I was drawn to because of the Halley’s Comet storyline…again, that is something that just appealed to me and I loved the way the author worked it into the story. I also loved how the author connected the two women – I’m always a fan of a well-written dual narrative and this one really worked well here, having the women be decades apart and connected by the Earthshine Soap Company and the Comet.
There’s an element of mystery woven in, as well as themes of women supporting women, & finding courage when it feels hard to do so. For this alone, I think it would make a great book club pick – there is just so much to discuss – strong women, resilience, female friendship – all themes we as women readers tend to crave and need right now!
Audio thoughts:
Shana Pennington-Baird, a new-to-me narrator, does a great job with this audiobook. I never felt lost between timelines or moving from character to character.
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