Discussion Questions for The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso

When we began reading The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso, we couldn’t help but hope it wouldn’t be another letdown — one of those overly hyped books that somehow misses the mark. We’re happy to say it didn’t disappoint.

This is one of the best books we’ve read so far this year. In this book you’ll find dreams, memories, and life. Our memories are not static and we all remember events, issues and life differently.

Our history, memories, should not be edited or deleted. Books should not be banned. If we try to rewrite history, we fail ourselves and our children and those who come after. The author wrote a beautiful story about time, memory and the most important thing … history that is not erased.

Here are our book club discussion questions inspired by the novel, to use with your book club or your own late-night reflection sessions.

Book Club Questions

1. Lisavet spends most of her life inside the time space. How do you think this isolation shaped her differently than someone growing up in the real world?
2. The time space library holds the memories of the dead. If such a place existed, do you think it would help humanity—or ultimately cause more harm?
3. How did your perception of Lisavet change as she aged within the time space? Did she still feel like a child to you, or someone beyond her years?
4. Government agents enter the time space to destroy memories. Did you find their motives understandable, villainous, or something in between?
5. Ernest becomes a bridge between Lisavet’s world and the outside one. What did you think of him as a character—and did your feelings shift as the story progressed?
6. Memory is a central theme. Which moment or memory described in the book struck you the most, and why?
7. Lisavet decides to preserve “lost histories” in her own book. Do you see her actions as brave, reckless, or both?
8. Amelia steps into the story decades later. How did the dual timeline structure impact your reading experience?
9. Amelia’s search for her uncle leads her into a world she never knew existed. Did you find her reaction believable?
10. The novel suggests that the past isn’t as linear as we assume. How did this idea challenge your understanding of time within the story?
11. What did you think about the romance elements in the book? Did they enhance the story or distract from its larger themes?
12. Many characters operate in morally gray spaces. Which character’s choices did you find the hardest to justify?
13. The novel blends history, fantasy, espionage, and philosophy. Which part of this blend stood out to you the most?
14. If you could visit one person’s book of memories in the time space (real or fictional), whose would you choose?
15. Lisavet says that loving someone—not living—is the most dangerous thing. Do you agree with her?
16. Ernest represents a certain “ideal American man” of the period. How did Gelfuso use him to explore changing beliefs and moral shifts across eras?
17. What did you make of the Forget-Me-Nots symbolism throughout the book? Did it deepen your interpretation of memory and loss?
18. Did the book’s structure—jumping between timelines, memories, and eras—feel coherent to you, or confusing in parts?
19. How did the ending land for you? Did it feel earned, surprising, or emotionally satisfying?
20. If Gelfuso were to write a companion book or sequel, which character or timeline would you most want her to explore further?

Additional Recommendations

Hope you enjoyed book club questions for The Book of Lost Hours! Here are so more recommendations along with links to book club questions.

Twice by Mitch Albom

Here’s the synopsis –

When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The one catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try—for better or worse.

He grows up correcting his mistakes and saving himself from adolescent embarrassments. He even takes foolishly dangerous risks, just to see what it’s like to come close to death, before tapping back to safety.

Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment.

But as the years pass, Alfie’s eye begins to wander. Which is when he learns a lone caveat to his power: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing if he gives into to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.

The book begins many years later, after an ailing Alfie is arrested for allegedly cheating and winning millions at a casino roulette wheel. As a curious detective interrogates him, he slowly uncovers Alfie’s incredible story, and its most unlikely conclusion.

In Twice, America’s favorite storyteller, Mitch Albom, is at the top of his powers. A love story that is enchanting, probing, and clairvoyant in matters of the heart, Twice will make you think, weep, and overflow with love from beginning to end. And what better way to experience this story than through the delightful audiobook, narrated by Mitch himself.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Here’s the synopsis –

In Bonhomie, Ohio, a stolen moment of passion, sparked in the exuberant aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe, binds Cal Jenkins, a man wounded not in war but by his inability to serve in it, to Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. Cal’s wife, Becky, has a spiritual gift: She is a seer who can conjure the dead, helping families connect with those they’ve lost. Margaret’s husband, Felix, is serving on a Navy cargo ship, out of harm’s way—until a telegram suggests that the unthinkable might have happened.

Later, as the country reconstructs in the postwar boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie—but nothing stays buried forever in a small town. Against the backdrop of some of the most transformative decades in modern America, the consequences of that long-ago encounter ripple through the next generation of both families, compelling them to reexamine who they thought they were and what the future might hold.

Sweeping yet intimate, rich with piercing observation and the warmth that comes from profound understanding of the human spirit, Buckeye captures the universal longing for love and for goodness.

For book clubs, check out our discussion questions here.