SYNOPSIS
The novel introduces young protagonist David as he accompanies his sickly mother, who is slowly dying. David's shown to be extremely eccentric as he performs a series of strict daily rituals that he believes help to prolong his mother's life. His failure to prolong his mother's life by her eventual death riddles him guilty as he thinks he had to have slipped up in his routines, thus killing her himself. His father begins to accompany a new woman, Rose, who was the nurse to David's mother during her stay in the hospital. David takes an immense disliking towards Rose and collapses in a sudden fit when he witnesses the couple kissing, thus beginning the first of many attacks. David's father and Rose marry and move to Rose's home in the country side to escape the city, which is a large target for WWII bombers. David, unhappy with the movie, is stationed in a room near an alcove filled with whispering books. It's during this time that David's father seeks help for him after his son continues to suffer from attacks. During these appointments with his therapist David is mostly asked about his father and Rose, a subject he wishes to avoid. Rose soon becomes pregnant and after the birth of his brother Gerogie, David realizes that he can hear books whispering to one another but he refuses to tell the therapist this in fear of being sent to an institution. Throughout David's stay in his new house he continues to feel paranoid about a shadowed figure lurking in the house, even causing a scene when he sees said figure in his room only for it to be magpie. One evening David, after having an immense fight with Rose and his father, hears his mother's voice calling to him from the Sunken Garden (an area in the backyard where the ground is sunken in). David follows his mother's voice, who pleads with him to save her as she's trapped in a land and can't get out. During his exploration of the backyard David's frozen by a German bomber from the war. Realizing that the bomber is crashing towards him, and with nowhere to go, David hides in a crack in the garden wall. It's here that David is transported to another realm. Confused and frightened by the flaming pilot, who had crashed into the other world as well, David is united with the Woodsmen who is making his daily rounds. The two form a brief friendship as the Woodsmen listens to David's tale and takes him back to his cabin, narrowly escaping the much fear Loups after a confrontation with their leader. After failing to return through the portal he came in the Woodsmen declares that David needs to see the King of the realm, as he has a book that would be able to help David. However, as the two set out on his journey they're engaged in a battle with the Loups whilst crossing a troll bridge. The Woodsman sacrifices himself so David may cross, ordering David to cut the robes to the bridge and thus delaying the Loups. Frightened and alone, David continues his journey and runs into the Seven Dwarf's from Snow White and indulges them as they bicker and complain about rights and oppression. The dwarf's explain of their hatred for Snow White and many attempts to kill her, and after staying with them for a day he finds how gluttonous, selfish, and demanding she is. David parts from the Dwarf's and disregards their warnings to stay on the marked path. He strays from the path, tempted by a tree of apples, and climbs up to quench his hunger when a deer girl scrambled to the tree begging for help. David is unable to help her though, as a huntress comes only moments later and shoots the deer girl. The Huntress notices a fallen core from the tree that David had thrown and captures him, taking him to her home and revealing of her vivisection and splicing. She tells him of her game to create hybrid species for her to hunt down in the woods and of her plan to do the same for David. David, outsmarting her, suggests that she should splice herself with her horse so she could be an unstoppable force. He agrees to help her and during the process he betrays her, running out of the house just as the Huntress' failed experiments emerge from the woods to kill her. Now on the path again David continues on, only to run into a knight named Roland. The duo decide to travel together on Roland's personal quest, and on the way there encounter a battlefield with glimpses of David's world in it. It's here that David first encounters the Crooked man, in guise of an elderly man, who shows him vile images of his father, Rose, and Georgie extremely happy without him. He offers to return David's mother's life but this only angers David, who cuts him with his sword. The pair sleep in an abandoned church and David learns more about the King and his mad ways, including how he tried to force an odd religion on them. After discovering Roland whispering to a picture in his locket Roland reveals he's on a quest to find his friend Raphael, who hadn't returned from a mission. The pair leave the church and are introduced to Fletcher and his village who tells them of the Beast that has plagued their lands and is killing anything that crosses its path. The Beast is coming to the village now and David helps to devise a plan that evacuates the women and children to safety, leaving the men in the village to fight of the beast. The plan goes awry when the man hesitate to burn their village in accordance to the plan and the Beast follows David, revealing itself to be female as a horde of her offspring burst from her body. The villagers kill the offspring and David and Roland leave, with Fletcher handing David a claw from the beast for his courage. During their travels David is pulled underground by the Crooked Man who claims that Roland is gay and longs for David, attempting to drive a wedge between them. After a brief confrontation David and Roland sort out the misunderstanding and arrive at the Fortress of Thorns, the place where Raphael had been. After Roland enters the castle alone and fails to return David embarks a journey inside to look for him, coming across many odd rooms and eventually finds Roland and Raphael strung from the ceiling, impaled by thorns. After nearly kissing the sleeping woman (who David believes to be his mother) a battle between David and the woman. David rises victoriously and flees from the Castle with Roland's horse. He eventually reaches the castle and is brought forth by the King's guards, who says the King has been expecting him. During the night he leaves his room to overhear the King and the Crooked man talking. The King reveals his wish to finally die, guilt ridden by a mistake he made as a child and tortured by the Crooked Man. The pair disperse and David sneaks down to find the Book of Lost Things, which reveals the King to be Jonathan. Jonathan, Rose's uncle who disappeared with his adopted sister Anna some time ago. David then follows the path where the Crooked man had gone and found himself in the lair of the devil himself. He discovers Anna, trapped in a small vial and incredibly weakened, who explains that Jonathan sold her out to the Crooked man who proceeded to rip and eat her heart out, imprisoning her in the realm forever. David rescues Anna and places to vial next to a well lit window just as the Loup's arrive, having been hunting down David and due to their wishes to kill the King to seize control of the Kingdom for themselves. A battle ensues as the King and his guards battle of the Loup's, and the Crooked man tries to convince David to take Jonathan's place as King. He reasons that he's helped David throughout his journey by killing Loup's who have come close to killing him and helping to guide him through the lands. David holds his resolve however and kills the Crooked man moments after the King is killed by Leroi, leader of the Loup's. The Loup's suddenly fall after Jonathan's death and are revealed to be his biggest feat incarnate, and without him to power them they can no longer live. The Woodsman appears to David, having survived the bridge, and takes him back to his original home. It's there that David wakes up in a hospital, having been in a coma the entire time, and finds Rose sleeping near his bed. David grows up happily with a newfound love for his family, and experiences tragedies just as the Crooked Man had prophesied during their final battle. David's father and Rose divorce, David's father dies of a sudden heart failure, Georgie enlists in the army and dies on the battlefield, and David's wife dies in childbirth with their son. David takes care of a now elderly Rose, who leaves him her house when she dies. He then reveals that he had become an author and had written down his experiences in the new realm in a book called The Book of Lost Things. Eventually David, knowing his death is near, climbs back into the sunken Garden and goes through the crack in the wall. He's met by the Woodsman on the other side, who leads him to a cottage where his horse (Scylla) resides with David's wife and their son.