A stray dog leads to major change for Cordy and her grieving family in this heartwarming new novel by the beloved author of Counting by 7s.
FINDING LOST
by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Rocky Pond Books, October 2025
(via Writers House)
Cordy is looking for good luck, looking for the feeling of safety she lost when her father died in a fishing boat accident, maybe even looking for a hint of magic—anything that will stop her mom from wanting to leave the coastal town she and her brother have always called home. What Cordy finds is a muddy, hungry little dog who ends up bringing all the luck she could want, and more.
Holly Goldberg Sloan writes family stories that wrap around your heart and make you laugh out loud—stories about people you dearly wish lived next door to you. You will fall in love with Cordy and her family as quickly as they fall in love with the stray pup named Lost. Full of unexpected, unforgettable moments, this is a tender and endearing tale of coping with loss and making peace with the inevitable truth that change is a constant.
Holly Goldberg Sloan graduated from Wellesley College and spent some time as an advertising copywriter before she began writing family feature films, including Angels in the Outfield and Made in America. She was the first woman to direct a live action film for the Walt Disney Company when she directed (and wrote) The Big Green. She is the author of seven previous novels, including the E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor Book Counting by 7s, the New York Times Bestseller Short, and the New York Times Editors’ Choice Pick To Night Owl from Dogfish (cowritten with Meg Wolitzer). The mother of two and grandmother of five, Holly lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Gary Rosen.
It’s been almost a year since Sila’s mother traveled halfway around the world to Turkey, hoping to secure the immigration paperwork that would allow her to return to her family in the U.S. The long separation is almost impossible for Sila to withstand. But things change when she accompanies her father (who is a mechanic) to fix a truck outside their Oregon town. There, behind an enormous stone wall, Sila meets a grandfatherly man who only months before won the lottery. Their new alliance leads to the rescue of a circus elephant named Veda, and then to a friendship with an unusual boy named Mateo, proving that comfort and hope come in the most unlikely of places. A moving story of family separation and the importance of the connection between animals and humans, this novel has the enormous heart and uplifting humor that readers have come to expect from the beloved author of