Everything Lost Returns

by Sarah Domet

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.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Adult Fiction, Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication February 17, 2026

About the author

Sarah Domet is the author of the novels The Guineveres and Everything Lost Returns, and the craft book 90 Days to Your Novel. She is a professor and the coordinator of the MFA program in creative writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Reviews

[Fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you @flatiron_books for my #gifted copy of Everything Lost Returns! #FlatironPartner #flatironbooks #EverythingLostReturns #SarahDomet

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐡 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

𝟒.𝟓★

This book was so unique and unlike anything I’ve read. I went into it not knowing what to expect and I was blown away by the writing style, as this was my first book by Sarah Domet. I loved how Everything Lost Returns follows two women decades apart, but they are connected by the Earthshine Soap Company and the arrival of Halley’s comet. The author did such a beautiful job intersecting both timelines flawlessly.

In 1910, Opal is pregnant and on the run. She is the wife of a doctor and is saving money to get to Paris to see a spiritualist she has been communicating with through letters. To help make money, she takes a job as an Earthshine Gil at the Earthshine Soap factory and soon uses her knowledge of medicine and what she has learned from the spiritualist to help create cures for the women at the factory who have started to become ill. Before long, Opal is organizing a labor strike at the factory to help improve working conditions for the workers. In 1986, The Earthshine Soap Company has not only made Nona the brand’s first Earthshine Girl, but they also launched her acting career. Now, a group of Jane Does are filing a class action lawsuit accusing the company of putting harmful chemicals into their products. After a tragedy involving a close friend, Nona begins to gather clues about not only Bertie Tuttle, but also a woman named Opal Doucet.

This book had quite a mystery element to it, which I really enjoyed. I did not see where it was going and I really enjoyed how it kept me on my toes and engaged the entire time. It was so thought-provoking and I love books that really make you think and also ones that stick with you, long after you’ve finished them. I also really enjoyed ALL of the Cincinnati references in this book, as someone who lives in Cincinnati. It was so neat to read about my city!

💫Dual Timelines
💫Women’s Fiction + Historical Fiction
💫Strong Female Characters
💫Set in Cincinnati, OH
💫Female Friendship
💫Hidden History
💫Resilience
💫The Power of Women

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am stumped, I have been reading this book which I should like for several days, but I cannot get engaged in the story. It is not the dual timeline; I have read many books with that. I like the idea of the Earthshine Soap company. The main characters, Nora Dixon, the first Earthside girl, who doesn't need to work at the factory, and Opal Doucet, who worked in the Earthshine Soap Factory 76 years earlier, do not engage me in this story. I am puzzled by this. Have to give up struggling with this book.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Now Mr. Longworth was wearing a suit with a pink handkerchief tucked into his breast pocket. He had a Tom Selleck mustache but not a Tom Selleck face" (55).