Lost Found Kept

A Memoir

By: Deborah Derrickson Kossmann

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Paperback | 5 January 2025

At a Glance

Paperback
286 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.63

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How does a psychologist fail to recognize that her intelligent, sensitive, and book-loving mother has created "the worst hoarder house ever seen?" After making the horrifying discovery that her mother had no water in her house for at least two years, Deborah Derrickson Kossmann begins the otherworldly excavation of a childhood home she hasn't been inside for three decades. Moving back and forth in time, from this surreal nightmare of an archaeological dig to recollecting her past and long buried family secrets, Kossmann seeks to untangle a web of complicated familial relationships. In her lyrical and unflinching quest, she comes to understand what's been lost, what's been found and what's been kept in both her own and her mother's life.

Industry Reviews

"In dealing with the terrifying reality of her mother's obsessive hoarding, Deborah Derrickson Kossmann is a writer of uncommon courage and a daughter of uncommon compassion. The reader takes a deep dive into empathy and fear, rage and frustration as Kossmann, a mental health professional, tackles an unimaginable physical and psychological chore. Hoarding has been written about before, but never with such grace."

-Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

"In this unflinching memoir, Deborah Derrickson Kossmann fearlessly excavates her memories and the wreckage of her mother's home to tell a complex, intimate, troubling story about mothers and daughters, mental illness, and the endurance of love."

-Carter Sickels, author of THE PRETTIEST STAR

"Deborah Derrickson Kossmann has a meticulous eye for the objects of this world, how they can trick some into thinking they're central to personality, all the while taking on a monstrous life of their own. LOST FOUND KEPT is an immersive, beautifully written, loving outcry of a book about a daughter enlisted with a cleanup, and coming into lightness in no way she could have foreseen."

-Paul Lisicky, Author of SONG SO WILD AND BLUE: A LIFE WITH JONI MITCHELL

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