73 pages • 2 hours read
John ConnollyThe Book of Lost Things
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 25-28Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 25 Summary: “Of the Enchantress and What Became of Raphael and Roland”
Once inside, David sees more skeletons and the corpse of a knight—evidence that others came before him and never made it out alive. The knight’s remains appear as though the blood was sucked out of them. Wondering if his mother could be hidden in the castle under the spell of the enchantress, David continues down a long hallway and comes to a room full of delicious looking food. Tempted by hunger, David almost takes a bite of turkey before realizing that the table is full of dead insects; the food must be poisoned. The next room in the castle looks exactly like his room at Rose’s house, and when he looks out the window, he sees Rose, his father, and Georgie dancing together outside. David hears the voice of his mother telling him they have all forgotten him. She tells David to come and find her, and they can all be a family again as they once were.
He follows a distant light and the sound of his mother’s voice to a room. There, he finds a woman lying on an altar. He also sees Roland, impaled on a thorn, and the body of Raphael lying beside him. Filled with anger, David shouts for the enchantress to show herself. In response, he hears the voice of his mother coming from the sleeping woman, who looks like his mother, telling him to kiss her. David does as she says, and the sleeping woman wakes, transforming in appearance from David’s mother to an evil-looking version of Rose. She reaches for David with clawed hands and fanged teeth, and David blinds her with the Beast’s claw. She pursues him with her sense of smell, but David cleverly drops to the floor as she lunges for him, and she impales herself on the thorns that line the wall. As she dies, her appearance changes to that of an old woman, and she whispers “Thank you” as she draws her final breath (256). When she dies, the thorns also wither, and the castle loses its enchantments. David lays Roland and Raphael next to each other on the stone altar and leaves the castle with Scylla, headed for the king’s palace. As he travels, the creatures in the forest now retreat silently, fearing David. Even the Crooked Man considers David’s bravery and evaluates how he might use it to his advantage.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Of Two Killings and Two Kings”
David continues his journey towards the king and finally faces the reality that his mother is dead. He realizes he’s known the truth all along but just refused to see it. He knows it’s time for him to return home and decides that if the king can’t help him, he will accept the Crooked Man’s offer. However, he knows now that his life can never go back to the way it was before, therefore the Crooked Man will never be able to completely keep his promise.
In the midst of his musings, David comes across two thieves in the road, and they try to steal Scylla. David raises the horse on her hind legs, and her hooves strike one of the thieves dead. David slashes the other thief in the throat with his sword, and David watches as he dies. David starts to cry and vomits as he realizes he is responsible for the deaths of both men. David continues on his way, and it isn’t long before Leroi and his wolf army reach the thieves’ bodies in the snow. By now, Leroi has learned of David’s bravery at the castle, and when he comes upon the thieves’ bodies, he is surprised to see how much David has grown up. The hungry wolf army continues their march towards the king’s castle, ready to launch an attack and take over the kingdom.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Of the Castle, and the King’s Greeting”
As David nears the castle, he hears the howling of a wolf in the distance, and the Crooked Man approaches him. The Crooked Man promises to hold off the wolves while David makes his way to the king’s castle. David finally reaches the castle, and the Captain of the King’s Guard, Duncan, brings him before the king. The king, a very old man, congratulates David on reaching the castle safely and promises to speak to him again in the morning. Duncan shows David to a room in the castle, and after eating the meal provided for him, David falls asleep. He wakes in the night and sneaks to the throne room to find the Crooked Man sitting on the throne engaged in conversation with the king. It’s evident that the Crooked Man holds some kind of power over the king based on a bargain they struck when the king was a child. The king speaks lovingly of his Book of Lost Things, but the Crooked Man calls it valueless. Their conversation ends, and the Crooked Man disappears behind a wall tapestry, while the king places his book in an alcove before leaving the throne room. David emerges from his hiding place and reaches for the Book of Lost Things.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Of the Book of Lost Things”
Opening the book, David finds souvenirs from his own world, along with photographs, drawings, and poems. He also encounters several diary entries, which change in tone as they progress from short descriptions of everyday events, to longer entries expressing bitterness and frustration over an adopted sister coming to live with the writer, stealing his mother and father’s attentions. The writer’s hatred for the girl is so strong that he writes, “I would do anything to be rid of her” (282). Turning to the first page of the book, David sees the name Jonathan Tulvey, and realizes that the king and the book’s owner is Jonathan, Rose’s long-lost great uncle.
David can clearly see that the bargain Jonathan made with the Crooked Man has cost him dearly. He lifts the tapestry behind which the Crooked Man disappeared earlier and finds a door. Following a passageway down under the castle, David discovers all kinds of horrors: instruments of torture, a giant hourglass draining away the remaining days left in someone’s life, and a collection of glass jars, one of which contains a tiny girl named Anna. Anna tells David she is dead and has been imprisoned in the jar for more years than she can count. David realizes that Jonathan’s bargain with the Crooked Man involved giving Anna over to him. Anna explains that she and Jonathan came to this world through the sunken garden. When they reached the woods, the Crooked Man stood waiting for them, and Jonathan told him Anna’s name. The Crooked Man reached inside Anna, pulled out her heart, and ate it. He trapped her body in the jar, and she has been sitting on the Crooked Man’s shelf ever since. Jonathan became king but has been scared and despondent ever since betraying Anna. The Crooked Man is now looking for someone to take Jonathan’s place as king, and Anna’s place as his source of youth.
David realizes that the hourglass is counting down the time left in the Crooked Man’s life. If he eats another child’s heart, betrayed by a sibling or friend, the hourglass will turn, and the Crooked Man’s life will begin again. David resolves to take Anna with him in her jar, and on his way out, finds the pajamas he was wearing when he entered this world. Gathering them in a sack with Anna’s jar, he starts to run.
Chapters 25-28 Analysis
David makes his most significant transition from boy to man when he defeats the enchantress in the castle. Similar to the Crooked Man, she attempts to weaken him by telling David his family has forgotten him. However, David’s anger at seeing Roland, Raphael, and the other knights who have died gives him courage to face the enchantress, and “he became more man than boy” (251). As evidence of his new maturity, David honorably places Roland and Raphael’s bodies next to one another on the altar. Furthermore, the forest creatures, as well as the Crooked Man, notice the change that has taken place within David. Even Leroi notices how quickly David has grown from a fearful child to a triumphant warrior. They have a new respect, and even fear, of his power. However, along with David’s maturity come feelings of homesickness and sadness. He cries after killing the two thieves on the road to release his grief over the deaths of Roland and his mother, as well as to express his homesickness. David’s coming-of-age has made him realize that he should be thankful for the family he has, rather than bitter towards them.
Similar to the Beast, the enchantress also symbolizes Rose. She is the evil version of Rose that David has conjured in his mind. David uses the Beast’s claw—a symbol of the bravery and confidence he has acquired—to slay her. However, instead of fighting Rose, David is fighting himself and the false idea of Rose he created. When David finally kills the enchantress, his hatred for Rose also dies. He faces the truth that his mother is dead, and that he can’t change his family situation at home. Along with this realization comes acceptance of Rose and Georgie.
Connolly develops the theme of books as David finally reaches the king’s mysterious Book of Lost Things. He realizes that the king loves this book for its sentimental value. The book shows David that the king used to be very similar to David. He came from David’s world, and as a child, his family situation was similar to David’s in that he harbored anger and resentment towards his younger sibling. After reading the book and talking to Anna, David realizes the harm that his resentment towards Georgie and Rose could cause, not only to them, but to David as well. Connolly uses the book to highlight similarities between Jonathan and David, and to reveal the destructiveness of bitterness in one’s life.
