I’ve yearned for a book like this for a while, especially since the last month had few books that made me feel like this did. I am not saying I did not read good books last month, just that they were not really for me. An hour into Alice’s story and I was tearing up. I shed a tear for the child that Alice was, with her vivid imagination and poetic thoughts, I shed another for when her home situation becomes unstable enough to cause a major change in her life. Things then are supposed to settle down, pain is supposed to ease but human nature being what it is further hurdles come her way.
Alice Hart is not safe in her home, its something she does not know at the age of nine or even before that. She does know to be careful. She feels peace with the flowers her mother grew and sees her mother a whole other ethereal being amongst them. One day, a thought and a fire later Alice’s known world has collapsed.She now moves into a home, where flowers are revered and hold special secrets, a few of them her mother did not have a chance to tell her about before. That is the first phase of the book. Then there is another as she’s older but not any wiser about her past. This is the story of her journey and of the hearts that she connects with on the way(Their story is given equal importance). I am not saying I liked all of the book, but the parts I did overshadowed the others to reduce it to almost non-existence. The writing has a depth which has refreshed my mind for whatever I read next. It has given me new respect for flowers.
I did try to google some of the names of places mentioned in the book because of the awesome descriptions, before realising a few might just be derivative of actual places.
There a few editions have already been released and are available and one is set to release in June, but either way this is one tale that should make the lists that will hold the stars of this year.
Superfluous Reading 