Our Lady of the Lost and Found

by Diane Schoemperlen

One Monday morning in April, a middle-aged writer walks into her living room to water the plants and finds a woman standing beside her potted fig tree. Dressed in a navy blue trench coat and white Nikes, the woman introduces herself as "Mary. Mother of God.... You know. Mary." Instead of a golden robe or a crown, she arrives bearing a practical wheeled suitcase. Weary after two thousand years of adoration and petition, Mary is looking for a little R & R. She's asked in for lunch, and decides to stay a week. As the story of their visit unfolds, so does the story of Mary-one of the most complex and powerful female figures of our time-and her changing image in culture, art, history, as well as the thousands of recorded sightings that have placed her everywhere from a privet hedge to the dented bumper of a Camaro.

As this Everywoman and Mary become friends, their conversations, both profound and intimate, touch upon Mary's significance and enduring relevance. Told with humor and grace, Our Lady of the Lost and Found is an absorbing tour through Mary's history and a thoughtful meditation on spirituality, our need for faith, and our desire to believe in something larger than ourselves.

Genres: Fiction, Religion, Canada, Magical Realism, Literary Fiction, Spirituality, Book Club

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Diane Schoemperlen, short-story writer, novelist, teacher, editor (b at Thunder Bay, Ont 9 July 1954). Diane Schoemperlen grew up in Thunder Bay, Ont, and attended Lakehead University. After graduating in 1976, she spent a summer studying at the Banff Centre, under such writers as W.O. MITCHELL and Alice MUNRO. Since 1986, she has focused on her writing career and has taught creative writing at schools such as St Lawrence College and the Kingston School of Writing. She currently lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Reviews

[Almira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really don't recall where I saw or heard of this book.

First off, I am not Catholic, so I really don't have much in my background about how Mary, Mother of Jesus is so highly venerated by the followers of this religion......

The narrator of the story is visited by Mary, Mother of Jesus, who has requested that the narrator let her stay with her for a week of rest, and not to disclose that she is visiting. This seems like maybe a dream, or NOT.

What do the "uncertainty principle", Occam's razor, Marian Library at the University of Dayton, Ohio and 20,000 sightings of Mary over 2,000 years have in common? Well, I guess you would need to read this book to find out.

There are some really long chapters discussing Ancient History, the history of the Church's approval and acceptance of sightings of Mary. One might think it is heavy reading, IF you enjoy history, reading this will be a breeze, however, the style the author chose to relate these issues, was quite interesting and fascinating.

Of course, this story is NOT for everyone, I do realize that, however, my suggestion is "why not give this one a try?" You can always put it down if you don't agree with me...

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this three summers ago while chaperoning a mission trip to Kentucky, and it could not have been more timely. This winter I decided to reread it since I found myself in need of a little perspective once again. In this fantastic novel, the narrator is a published and respected author who is visited by the Virgin Mary; the novel is the narrator's tale of the visitation, and she punctuates it with well-researched references to historical Marian devotion and apparitions. It is, all at once, funny and philosophical, timely and timeless. I learn more about myself and my faith each time I read it. Where Mary leaves at the end of her week-long visit, both the narrator and reader feel bereft, and, at the same time, full. An amazing, enriching story.

[Mandy Leins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am always impressed when an author can instill a sense of quiet in his or her work--which works to this particular novel's advantage since Mary needs a "break from it all", and a place to relax and do some laundry. Having gone to a Catholic school (although Presbyterian), I really loved being reminded of the holiness of everyday things. Mary was a real woman in this book, but the retelling of various of her appearances throughout the years also seemed humanized as a result. I find myself returning to this book every so often, when I need a break myself.

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024-Many years ago, I found this delightfully quirky novel at a used book sale. A woman wakes up one day and the Virgin Mary comes to visit and rest before her busy month of May. I had mentioned it to a dear friend at church and that reminded me to pick it back up. It is an amazing blend of history, story, meditations, and sly humor. I can feel that it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it is certainly mine

2013 -On that meme going around Facebook of the 10 books that have stuck with you, this one made my list. This reminded me that I wanted to give it a re-read so I pulled it out and spent a couple of days with it again.

While the Orthodox view of Mary is largely ignored (although Mary's name on her ATM card is Mary Theotokos) in this delightful novel, I loved the meditations and thoughts brought up in the book. It's more along the vein of Kathleen Norris' writing (who is credited in the author's notes) than a fabulous story - but there's things to ponder about faith, doubt, God, time, and Mary herself.

A keeper indeed.

[Derek Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to write about Mary ("the" Mary to us good Catholics) in the present day without being disrespectful, but the author does a great job. Mary visits an rather agnostic single woman for a vacation, and the woman learns to accept what she does not understand. The book contains many stories of Mary throughout history, and then adds this new twist of her interaction in today's world. Cuteness is avoided (except for some wet Nikes after saving a child in the creek miracle) and the reader is found being open to not always understanding everything in the world. We tend to like knowledge (read: control) and this books allows us to enjoy being open to the unexplained. A gentle, humorous, and respectful look at Mary, faith, and our own self regard.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Lady of the Lost and Found by Diane Schoemperlen is a knock-out book. It wins on almost all counts. The story revolves around a middle-aged writer who finds herself with an unexpected houseguest who plans to stay for a week. A long-lost friend? A relative barging in? No, just the Virgin Mary who has not had a vacation in 2000 years and has decided that she needs a quiet break from all the prayers, petitions, and miracles. Mary arrives in a long black dress, with a white shawl over her head and white Nikes on her feet--ready to lead a quiet life of chats over breakfast and simple shopping visits to the mall.

Over the course of the week, the unnamed writer learns a lot about Mary, her own life, truth versus fiction, and the real meaning of history. She confronts meaning in her own life and the value of faith. Faith not only in a religious sense, but faith in oneself. She learns that while it may be difficult to believe in God or all of the miracles that have been said to happen in Mary's name, it is often harder to believe in yourself. To believe in the possibilities in your life; to believe in all that you can do.

This was a knock-out book on so many levels. Well-written, with subtle humor. Probing deep questions. It took me quite a while to read this short novel, but that was only because there was so much to ponder and digest. This is a book that I know I will read again and again, because I can already see that I will take new things away from each time I do. The only reason I give this book four and a half stars and not a full five is due to the sheer number of historical Mary visitations recounted. It became a bit repetitive reading all those accounts and I think the book would have been better if the number had been cut down by at least a third, if not half. Overall, a wonderful novel that gives the reader plenty to think about and enjoy.

[Serena · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring. I want to like the book, but.... much of the text consists of tedious unrelated lists of details, and these are not interesting details. A entire paragraph is devoted to the author's preference for a slight amount of makeup, in a very tedious manner.

Even the individual sentences are boring: "Thankfully, no one was hurt" or "I know that if I bought my calendars after new years, I could get them at half price nd save myself a little money." Perhaps the sentences are not boring. Perhaps they are outright dreary.

The author has Mary drop in unannounced, appearing in the living room, next to the potted ficus tree. What annunciation occurs? Mary asks to "use the washroom". She wants to "freshen up". After a nice lunch of canned soup, Mary goes to take a little nap. This Mary is so dull that she could make the insipid pastel Protestant Mary pictures from the 1960s seem daring.

Last I checked, Mary rode a donkey as a pregnant 14 year old to a strange town where she got stuck camping out in the barn, which rapidly was filled with a lot of weird (and smelly) people. When that got tiresome, she and her family took a road trip to Egypt. I had hoped to read about that woman in this book, instead we are given a hesitant woman who packs too many clothes in one suitcase, along with a blow dryer and 2 bags of cosmetics.

[Niki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get through this book. There are two reasons for this: the first being I am getting my PhD in Mariology and do not need or want a history of apparitions (this has never interested me anyway) or need to know the basics of Catholic faith (this book completely ignores the Orthodox tradition's experience with Mary); the second being that the book is written in a jumble of supposedly creative non-fiction. Did this happen to the writer, or is it entirely fiction? Was it a giant excuse for a woman with a bee in her bonnet to do a research project and get it published? There's hardly any narrative, and if the information isn't new - and maybe if it is - comes across as a little dull.

[Jen Meegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deceptively simple story about a seemingly unremarkable woman and her brush with the miraculous. This book is both funny and poignant. It is as much a meditation on the nature of solitude and friendship amongst women as it is an exploration of the divine. The prose is crisp and deliberate. I ended the novel with the same sense of satisfied contemplation I typically receive from a hot cup of tea.

[Yuliana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am being generous by giving this book one star. This is probably the worst book I have ever read. For the first time in years, I had to give up on finishing a book. That's how bad it is. What was the author trying to say? What was the point of the book? If I wanted to read a theological book about "history" of Virgin Mary, I would have gotten one. If I wanted to read a philosophy and/or ancient history hight school textbook, I would have gotten one. You simply cannot cram all of this into one book and call it fiction literature. I found the style of writing very primitive, a simple statement of facts. Every once in a while, the author will go on a philosophical rant about things; for example, about how hard it is to buy a good purse. Simply ridiculous. The detail of description of the heroine's every day life is more than unnecessary. Why do we need to know every detail of a commercial that she saw on TV? Why do we need to know that they got into a car, buckled up and turned left, right, left etc? Why do we need to know every single item that every single store sells in a mall as she walks around?
Do not read this book. To say that it will disappoint you is a major understatement! What a waste of time.

[Jette · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a number of passages that I wanted to make note of that I especially liked. I don't feel they give anything away from the plot...

"Searching too hard for God can get in the way of finding him."

"I yearn to understand some measure of thy truth which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand in order to have faith, but I have faith in order to understand. Fo I believe even this: I shall not understand unless I have faith." Saint Anselm of Canterbury

"She was the perfect house guest. She was not noisy, demanding, messy, or intrusive. She was helpful without getting in the way, and she did not need to be constantly entertained."

"Ordinary Time is all those days that blend one into the next without exceptional incident, good or bad; all those days unmarked by either tragedy or celebration. Ordinary Time is the spaces between events, the parts of a life that do not show up in photo albums or get told in stories. In real life, this is the bulk of most people's lives. But in literature, this is the part that doesn't make it into the book. This is the line space between scenes, the blank half-page at the end of a chapter, and the next one begins with a sentence like: Three years later he was dead."

[CynthiaA · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I read this book years and years ago and didn't realize it never made it to my goodreads list. I still have my copy which demonstrates how much I liked it because I rarely keep books once I have read them. It is a lovely introspective tale about a woman who wakes up on morning to find the Virgin Mary in her kitchen, and develops a friendship with her. It is a slow paced, thoughtful novel, and one of the few where I actually marked passages when they struck a chord. Here is one:

Having found in my own writing that thinking or talking about an idea too much can cause it to evaporate altogether, it occurs to me now that the same paradox applies to faith. Searching too hard for God can get in the way of finding him. Sometimes, you just have to stop looking and let yourself be taken by surprise. Sometimes God is as plain as the nose on your face. And sometimes you just can't see the forest for the trees.

Anyhow, I saw a list of "under appreciated books" on facebook, and it reminded me of this gem. Then I noticed I didn't have it reviewed. How can people know about it then? So here you go. Read this book. It is awesome.

[Suzanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm always interested in books about the BVM. This one felt flat. It included a lot of history that was not well integrated into the overall plot, and the overall plot was not much -- Mary visits an ordinary woman, a writer, and the writer then writes this book about the experience. There was a lot of caginess about the author's life -- hints about some big secret or terrible past that was never revealed.

The premise is interesting as a creative nonfiction idea. The intro reveals that the author did a lot of study of other authors... who, frankly, do this a lot better than this author did.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

She was a Virgin of lost things, one who restored what was lost. She was the only one of these wood or marble or plaster Virgins who had ever seemed at all real to me. There could be some point in praying to her, kneeling down, lighting a candle. But I didn't know what to pray for. What was lost, what I could pin on her dress.

After recently reading and highly enjoying Diane Schoemperlen's new book This Is Not My Life, I decided to go back and check out her earlier work. I mistakenly thought that it was Our Lady of the Lost and Found that netted her the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, and now that I've read this book and found it rather dull, I don't know if I have the desire to seek out her actual award-winning novel. Such are the vagaries of the reading life.

In this book: We meet an unnamed middle-aged, single, successful author, living alone and contemplating her next novel. One morning she discovers the Virgin Mary (another middle-aged woman in ordinary dress, with a suitcase by her side) standing in her living room, and when the Madonna confesses to being tired and in need of a place to rest for a while, the writer invites her to stay. The routine week that follows is described in exhaustive detail, and interspersed, are dozens of accounts of historical Mary sightings. Both the dull minutiae of domestic life – so many lists! – and the unembellished details of the sightings – one after another after another – became very boring to me, but I do understand that, in theory, it all served a purpose.

With or without Mary, it seems to me that history itself, the actual unfolding of events through time, takes no prisoners: everybody dies in the end. But the writing of history takes them by the thousands: prisoners of interpretation every one; prisoners of revisionism, positivism, determinism, deconstruction, reconstruction, skepticism, subjectivity, twenty-twenty hindsight, tunnel vision, cause and effect; prisoners of the paradox of being stuck in their own place and time.

During and after the visit, the writer muses philosophically on the nature of history and whether what we learn in textbooks is a fair account of it. As a writer, she understands how those who have recorded history had to make decisions about what to put in and what to leave out. And as a woman (and particularly when in the presence of “the most important woman in history”, Mary), the narrator is confronted with the fact that “official” history tends to be the stories of men's pursuits (primarily war-related). The dull details of a purse's contents, a typical Saturday cleaning routine, or the items one might purchase at a pharmacy, while boring, do serve to balance this male-centric view of what is noteworthy. But it's still boring. The narrator also spends a lot of time pondering the natures of truth and art and faith:

Now I see that the opposite of fact may not be fiction at all, but something else again, something hidden under layers of color or conscience or meaning. If I were a visual artist, I might call it pentimento. If I were a historian, I might call it palimpsest. But I am a writer and I call it the place where literature comes from. It is a place akin to those “thin places” in Celtic mythology. Like the thin places in both palimpsest and pentimento, these are threshold bridges at the border of the real world and that other world, still points where the barrier between the human and the divine is stretched thin as a membrane that may finally be permeated and transcended. Now I see that the opposite of knowledge may not be ignorance but mystery; that the opposite of truth may not be lies but something else again: a revelation so deeply embedded in the thin places of reality that we cannot see it for looking: a reverence so clear and quiet and perfect that we have not yet begun to fathom it.

When an author starts writing about Heisenberg and paradox and “thin places”, I tend to sit up and take notice; these are some of my favourite themes. But Schoemperlen made it all so dull and rambling and about her and her processes, and just like listening to an inebriated stranger trying to school me on politics, much of the time I could only smile weakly and mentally check out. About halfway through the book is this passage:

As I listened to some of Mary's longer stories, the more meandering ones, those more liberally punctuated by tangents, digressions, and tantalizing asides about other saints, other shrines, other times, I trusted her in the way a reader trusts a good writer. I trusted that no matter how disparate or disjointed the stories might seem in the telling, still they would indeed amount to something in the end.

That seemed as though Schoemperlen was asking me to trust to her to pull everything together, and while I do think I understand where she was trying to go with everything, the payoff just wasn't worth the tedium of every page. And I don't think I will trust her again. It is a wonderment to me that reviewers on Goodreads are split between giving this book one and five stars; this is love it or hate it I guess; I can't get worked up beyond a middling three star rating.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted this book to be reeaallly good. Instead I was counting the pages till I was done. It is very long. I think it might be quite good, but the writing style drove me crazy. Very descriptive (which some people like, I guess). I think I would have really liked it if it had been like 150 pages.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book caught my eye when I was looking for another book to mooch from someone from whom I was already mooching one. It is about a middle-aged writer of no particularly strong faith who finds the Blessed Virgin Mary in her living room one day. Mary wants someplace to chill for a week and has chosen her house. She allows Mary to stay, and while there, they talk about their lives. We find out what Mary has been doing for the last 2000 years. This is one of the few novels I've read that contains an extensive bibilography. The author has obviously researched Marian apparitions and devotions and her presentation of them in the book is matter-of-fact. This isn't a devotional book that leads to faith in the apparitions, nor some "scientfic" book that tries to explain them away as mass-hysteria, cultural artifacts or self-hypnoisis. It describes Mary's appearances at famous spots like Lourdes and Fatima as well as less-known or even recanted ones. For all the history in the book however, it is a novel, as much about the nameless narrator as it is about Mary. Having Mary in her home causes her to take another look at her life, where it has been and where it is going. If you like literary fiction and refereces to philosophers and poets, you should like this book. It is one of the books that makes you think more than it entertains you.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been raised Catholic, I can't recall any church lesson about Jesus, Mary, or any holy person that didn't make them sound tiresome, dour, and/or pedantic. That's why I enjoy books that focus on the humanity of these figures. This is one of my favorite books; a simple story about a woman writer who walks into her living room one day and finds the Virgin Mary standing there with a suitcase. Mary explains that she's exhausted and needs a short vacation and requests to use the narrator's guest room for a week. The rest of the book fluctuates between the friendship that develops between the two women and stories about Mary and her appearances to mankind. The history is very interesting to me, and puts a human face to a person I only know through ecclesiastical statuary and fleeting references in the Bible.

[Julie Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A writer who lives a quiet life walks into her living room one day to find Mary (yes, the Blessed Virgin) standing in her living room with a suitcase. She needs a vacation to rest up before May begins with all the celebrations devoted to Mary. They talk, clean, and shop but it is never boring and is an engaging combination of the history of key Marian apparitions and a personal journey of faith for the writer who tells the story.

I think of this as a story of what Mary does in "ordinary time."

As the author mentions, this is a book of fiction written by a regular novelist. This is my third reading and the first after many years. I am pleased that it was just as engaging this time around, with Mary's voice just as normal and wonderful as I recalled it.

[Eileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about a woman who has an unusual house guest. The woman is a writer who lives alone and who is not religious. One day the Virgin Mary appears at her house and asks to stay for a week while she takes a vacation. The story is wonderful. The week unfolds in a very normal way but the woman soon begins to see the wonder and miraculous that surrounds us everyday. A great book!

[linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the storyline of this little book, Mary showing up in the narrator's living room looking for a break. Not a particularly religous person myself I did enjoy the stories of Mary's visitations that are peppered throughout the book.

[Angela Cheney · Rating 1 out of 5]

After about 200 pages of this book, I quit reading it, which is unusual for me, especially given that this was for my book club. Reading this book was torture; it had long boring passages that felt more like lectures than a novel. This book was just much too slow-moving for my preferences.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book soooo much I want to read it again. It was the best thing I have read on faith at face value ever. I enjoyed the historical parts, the surreal woven into the real, the main character's transformation- all of it !!!!

[Jay Warner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get through this book. Between poorly written sentences and tedious, boring details, I lost interest quickly. The author is obviously proud of her research, but I wasn't looking for a theology book, just a good, engaging story. Sadly this is neither good nor engaging.

[Barbara S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it when it first came out and loved it then. Something called me to pick it up again. Again, I loved it. Thought provoking.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It really made me think about the veracity of history and the "truth" at any given moment. There was also quite a discussion on uncertainty and doubt in conjunction with faith that I found to be quite interesting. The extensive details of the lives of Saints and Mary's appearances got a bit tedious for me at times, although I couldn't skip those chapters because the author slipped in morsels of reflection throughout. All in all, this was definitely a thought provoking book.

[Kevin Orth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I liked this as a five star rating. If you are looking for a lot of data on appearances and miracles, five stars all the way. If you are looking for a Dan Brown DaVinci Code fiction, this mildly well delivers. Highly recommend if one is a Marianologist.

[Maryann · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the history of the Marian apparitions.

[Rissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly a history lesson on visions of Mary with a little bit of novel to hold it together. Still enjoyable and inspiring.

[J. Else · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a very slow read. A long history about the Virgin Mary is presented up front and reads as if a professor is droning on in front of a class. The minute details get to be too much with nothing else is happening in the book. The character lays down for a nap, but then goes on and on about the set up of her room. I do not need to know the color of her bedspread and the way her furniture is arranged. This writing style makes it feel like forever before the author makes a point.

I picked up this book curious about the aspect of Mary showing up at your doorstep. What a funny and surprising concept! But Mary has hardly said anything 100 pages into the story, even though she's been present for most of it. In fact, the times she does speak, she seems a little curt.

I want to see some reactions. The main character seems extremely monotone and withdrawn. She watches Mary unpack her luggage (which the author then goes into detail about how many items and what colors her items of clothing, toiletries, and other misc things she has). The character has NO reaction to anything. She also shows no personal emotions to this person staying at her house. The character thinks about it, but there is no emotional connection to anything.

This book is very dry. I want some interaction. And if anything, interlace some Mary history in the story as its unfolding, not right at the beginning slap-you-in-the-face off the bat! Its a chore to keep reading. I'd kind of like to know what happens, but that need is not greater than the fact that I'm just not enjoying this read. I want some emotional draw, and there's really nothing here after 100 pages.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out and loved it. I think all the minutia about Mary and the Catholic church answered a very Virgoian need for details or something. My non-Catholic friends ask why pray to Mary instead of God. I figure he's busy with the details and doesn't need to be bothered with all the little stuff all the time. She can summarize it and get it to him when he can pay attention, instead of worrying about Iraq or AIDS or who we're polluting the earth. Besides- I'm a mom, she's a mom. It's all Girl Talk.

Anyhow, I bought the book in hardback when it first came out. Waited for the paperback to come out so I could share with friends. Paperback came out and was $14.95. Found a used copy at Goodwill for 49 cents. Then went to Barnes and Noble while my brother was visiting and found the hardback for $4.98. Such a deal! Who could resist? So I bought it.