Hayley Gelfuso’s The Book of Lost Hours is the latest pick for the Good Morning America book club.
Gelfuso’s debut novel, published Tuesday by Atria, follows two girls in mid-20th-century America who encounter the “time space,” a library made up of books collecting the memories of dead people who have witnessed important historical moments. One of the girls tries to save the library from government agents who want to enter it in order to rewrite history.
Gelfuso appeared on Good Morning America in an interview with ABC news correspondent Maggie Rulli.
“Your book is part historical fiction, part fantasy, part time travel, part CIA thriller, part romance, part multigenerational family drama,” Rulli said. “There’s a little bit of everything. What genre is this book for you?”
“I tend to call it speculative historical,” Gelfuso responded. “To me, that’s the thing that resonates the most, is the historical aspect as well as the fantasy, sci-fi-leaning parts of the book.”
Gelfuso, who has a master’s degree in biology, talked about the influence her background in science had on the novel.
“This was a really, really fun way for me to be able to use both sides of my brain, and use that scientific background that I have grown and built in a way that ultimately ended up being for a creative endeavor,” she said.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
