Lost Christmas

Book excerpt: Ten-year-old Goose is lost. It's Christmas, his parents are dead, he's turned to petty thievery to support his increasingly addled Nan, and now his dog Mutt has gone missing. As Goose searches the streets of Manchester on Christmas Eve for any sign of his dog, he encounters a strange man named Anthony, who seems to know an awful lot about everyone he meets but almost nothing at all about himself. Anthony's special skill is to help people who have lost something-and everyone's lost something, according to Anthony. As they roam the streets together, they meet a wide variety of people, all of whom are searching desperately for something missing from their lives. As the mysterious Anthony proves again and again to have the power to reunite the seekers with the sought-after, Goose begins to wonder if Anthony may be able to help him find one of the precious things he's lost.