Book Review: The Book of Lost Friends

​I thoroughly enjoyed this dual timeline, dual POV historical fiction by Lisa Wingate. We see Augustine, Louisiana in the 1870s from the eyes of a former slave, Hannie, and see the same town in the 1980s through the eyes of Benny, a first-year teacher. What ties these two together? A book of lost friends.
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Although the novel is fiction, Wingate bases Hannie on someone who took out an ad - the Lost Friends - to help her locate her family lost to her because of slavery. This is a piece of history I had never encountered before, and Wingate did an excellent job helping me feel the pain of those who were separated from parents, children, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.