This is a literate thriller which truly will keep you reading until the wee hours of the night. Leela meets and falls in love with Mishka, both students in Boston. Mishka has a mysterious past but Leela's own past in a small southern town arrives to haunt her. Admidst a terrorist attack and post 9/11 paranoia the story is a whirlwind of passion and betrayal which matches the brilliance of her previous novel, 'Due Preparations for the Plague'. ( )

Hospital is an Australian writer who now teaches at the University of South Carolina. She received the Patrick White Award for lifetime literary achievement. I met her at the American Library Association's annual summer convention in Anaheim, California.

Orpheus Lost is one of several “Post 9/11” fictional accounts surrounding or influenced by those events. Hospital has done an excellent job of capturing the mystery and the fear engendered by our government’s reaction to the attacks. The clandestine operations, kidnapping, torture, murder, and other horrific acts our country has perpetrated following 9/11 are all described in chilling detail.

The novel begins innocently enough with the meeting of two scholars in Boston who both study music. Leela from South Carolina, and Mishka Bartok from Sidney, Australia hit it off immediately. They seem destined for each other. The first section of the book detailing their meeting and growing relationship is musical, calm, and beautiful.

However, both have dark secrets, and the story quickly descends into a maelstrom of horror. The novel ends with a crescendo, but if the story has any flaws, the end happens too quickly. At 353 pages, another hundred pages could have easily detailed the resolutions. I wanted more of the story in the last 80 pages or so.

Hospital’s prose is absorbing and deceptively simple. She draws readers into the story with interesting, likeable characters. What happens to them has happened to way too many people over the last eight years. We can only hope change is coming.

--Jim, 11/30/08 ( )

This is a story about how people deal with desperation. Leela and Mishka fall in love during a time when Boston is undergoing some suicide bombing incidents. Mishka finds out the father he thought had died before he was born is in fact alive in Lebanon and is an admired figure among right-wing Islamic extremists. During a trip to Beirut he and his father are "picked up" for interrogation by a private out-sourced military contractor, who just happens to have grown up with Leela back in South Carolina. It's hard to describe and parts of this book are hard to read, but its really a compelling story. ( )

I really loved this book. I know the storyline seemed a bit far-fetched at times, but I loved the quirkiness of the characters, from the mysterious uncle playing in the upstairs room in the Daintree, to the father with all of his hangups. I introduced it to my book club and it really divided the members, some enjoying the read and others not coping with the gaps in the storyline and the fracturing of the story as you move from one character to another. I found it rich and rewarding. ( )

I could not put this book down from the first page. Her writing is magical. The book involves music and math, terrorism and love. The story is heartbreaking yet uplifting. Highly recommended. ( )