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 29-33Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 29 Summary: “Of the Crooked Man’s Hidden Kingdom and the Treasures that He Kept There”
The Crooked Man’s lair is huge, containing treasures that inspire the many tales he has told, skulls of children whose lives he has taken, and a crypt full of preserved bodies. The many horrors in his lair are a testament to the Crooked Man’s evil nature, especially towards children. However, despite all of the power the Crooked Man has accumulated, one thing he cannot control is the way outsiders in the land change it. For example, when Jonathan Tulvey entered the woods, his worst nightmares became real in the form of the Loups. David, though, was different from other children who had entered the land. He had faced his fears, destroying the woman in the Fortress of Thorns and the Beast. The Crooked Man has less than one day of life left in his hourglass and needs David to betray Georgie by speaking his name. This will allow the Crooked Man to take Georgie’s lifespan for himself and doom David to a life of fear and regret as the new king.
Meanwhile, David returns to his room in the castle while the soldiers prepare the castle’s defenses against the approaching wolf army. Anna feels herself fading away, and David places her on a sunny ledge so she can enjoy a view of nature during her final hours. When Anna learns that Jonathan is in danger because the wolves are coming to kill him, David is surprised to see that she has forgiven her brother and is worried about him. He realizes how Jonathan’s anger and sadness must have truly consumed him in order to make him betray his sister.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Of the Crooked Man’s Act of Betrayal”
The Crooked Man feels himself growing weaker but feels confident he will be able to appeal to the evil nature within David and use fear to get what he wants. David talks with Anna as he watches the wolves approach the castle’s impenetrable walls. He knows that the wolves will wait for an opportunity to enter the castle. Duncan comes to David’s room and, assuring him that the walls cannot be breached, summons him to the king’s presence.
Outside the castle walls, the Crooked Man emerges from underground and lures the wolves to a hidden tunnel entrance to the castle. The Crooked Man disappears into the tunnel, and Leroi hatches a plan to use the tunnel to access the castle. Once a few wolves are inside, they can open the gates from within for the rest of the army.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Of the Battle, and the Fate of Those Who Would Be King”
In his meeting with David, the king encourages him to accept the Crooked Man’s offer and ascend to the throne. He lies to David, telling him once he is king, he can choose to return to his own world and end the bargain. David tells the king he knows about his identity and betrayal of his sister. The Crooked Man emerges, but David refuses to tell the Crooked Man his brother’s name, and the Crooked Man tells David what awaits him if he returns home. The world will always be torn apart by wars, David will lose the people he loves, and he will become old and sick. As the Crooked Man speaks, wolves run out of the door behind the tapestry and attack the king’s guards. Desperate, the Crooked Man cries out to David, telling him only he can save him from the wolves.
Leroi enters the throne room and tears the king to pieces. David knows he will be next. If only David will speak his brother’s name, the Crooked Man will rescue him. However, David refuses to speak Georgie’s name, instead calling him “brother” (322), and the Crooked Man’s time in the hourglass runs out. After killing the king, Leroi also begins to crumble and die. Since Leroi was the king’s nightmare, the death of the king causes the death of Leroi and the Loups. Now that the wolves have lost their leaders, they begin to retreat, and the Woodsman appears. His wounds from the wolves were not fatal, and he was able to escape and recover. He and David leave the castle on horseback and ride for many days until they reach the forest where David entered the land. His tree is now the only one marked, since the Crooked Man has been defeated.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Of Rose”
As David prepares to return home and puts on his pajamas, he realizes he is no longer a child. The Woodsman also recognizes that David has transformed during his time in Elsewhere and is becoming a man. David crawls through the tree’s trunk, and when he opens his eyes, finds himself in a hospital bed with Rose sleeping in a chair beside him. When Rose sees that he’s awake, she cries tears of relief and tells him how worried she and his father have been about him. David takes her hand and says, “I’m sorry” before falling asleep (331).
Chapter 33 Summary: “Of All that was Lost and All that Was Found”
In the following days, David’s father explains how they had searched everywhere for David in the plane wreckage and around the house before finally finding him in a hidden space behind the sunken garden wall. Both Rose and his father are so thankful to have him back and notice how much David has changed to become thoughtful of others, accepting of Rose, and protective of Georgie.
As the years pass, David experiences difficulty and loss in his life, just as the Crooked Man said he would, such as the loss of his wife and child. He writes a book about his experiences in the strange land called The Book of Lost Things, and he tells his young readers that everything they could want to know about life is contained in books. As David grows old and feels his health failing, he returns through the sunken garden to the forest and finds the land free of darkness, fear, and evil creatures. He meets the Woodsman, noticing how similar he looks to his father, and follows the Woodsman to a cottage. Inside the cottage, he finds the wife and child that he lost many years before, and “all that was lost was found again” (339).
Chapters 29-33 Analysis
Connolly uses the story theme in these final chapters to explain that the Crooked Man creates stories to tell based on people he has tricked and killed. Connolly playfully hints that the Crooked Man has his own story by mentioning that one of the Crooked Man’s names is, “Rumple” as a nod to the fairytale Rumpelstiltskin (291). The Crooked Man has used stories in a negative way—to influence and shape his world into a dangerous place. However, David has used knowledge learned from stories in a positive way, to learn and to escape danger. His positive use of stories leads him to write his own as an adult, The Book of Lost Things. He passes on his mother’s love for stories, as well as his own, to the next generation, telling children about the magic and knowledge within books. David also creates his own book of tokens and memories of his life, just like Jonathan Tulvey’s Book of Lost Things. Connolly brings his use of stories full circle to show the power of stories to transform one’s world and ideas and to inspire the reader towards an appreciation for stories and books.
In this section, David continues his progression towards adulthood, learning important lessons from those he meets. For example, Anna acts as an example to David of how one need not allow bitterness to overtake one’s life. Even though she would be justified in anger or hatred towards Jonathan, she chooses forgiveness. Conversely, Jonathan acts as an example of how one can be consumed by anger. David sees that Jonathan has been miserable since the day he betrayed Anna. In addition, the purposeful routines that David learned from the Woodsman are now second nature to him and another sign of his progression toward adulthood. When the Crooked Man attempts to use fear to convince David to betray Georgie, David’s maturity outweighs his fear. He is no longer a scared little boy. David has already done what Jonathan could not: faced and destroyed his fears, such as the Beast and the enchantress. By choosing to call Georgie “brother” rather than betraying his name to the Crooked Man (322), David shows the change that has taken place inside of him, from frightened boy to mature young man.
Finally, Connolly highlights a few items that tangibly show a transformation has taken place, both inside of David and in Elsewhere. For example, when David puts on his pajamas, the clothing feels strange to him since he is not a child anymore. Connolly writes, “They were the clothes of a child, and he was a child no longer” (328). When David returns to his normal life in England, his father and Rose notice his new maturity and the way he cares for others. These changes are further evidence of the maturity David has gained. In addition, when the Crooked Man dies, sunlight brightens the world, showing the contrast between good and evil. When David returns to Elsewhere as an old man, the dangerous creatures and the fear they inflicted are gone from the land. Connolly uses these changes to show how David’s transformation has affected the other world, as well as his own.
