My Rating:🌟🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
After her family suffers a tragedy when she is nine years
old, Alice Hart is forced to leave her idyllic seaside home. She is taken in by
her estranged grandmother, June, a flower farmer who raises Alice on the
language of Australian native flowers, a way to say the things that are too
hard to speak. But Alice also learns that there are secrets within secrets
about her past. Under the watchful eye of June and The Flowers, women who run
the farm, Alice grows up. But an unexpected betrayal sends her reeling, and she
flees to the dramatically beautiful central Australian desert. Alice thinks she
has found solace, until she falls in love with Dylan, a charismatic and
ultimately dangerous man.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story about stories: those we inherit, those we select to define us, and those we decide to hide. It is a novel about the secrets we keep and how they haunt us, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. Spanning twenty years, set between the lush sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm, and a celestial crater in the central desert, Alice must go on a journey to discover that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story about stories: those we inherit, those we select to define us, and those we decide to hide. It is a novel about the secrets we keep and how they haunt us, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. Spanning twenty years, set between the lush sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm, and a celestial crater in the central desert, Alice must go on a journey to discover that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own.
My musings:
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a bittersweet and enchanting
coming-of age story exploring a young woman’s ability to overcome childhood
trauma and the legacy of forbidden love and loss passed on from generations of
women before her.
Alice Hart has been growing up with a volatile, often
violent father and her quiet, shy mother on a remote coastal property in a
tropical region of NE Australia. Forbidden to venture into town or go to
school, her only friends are her dog Toby and the fictional characters out of
the books her father occasionally brings home for her from the town library.
Her mother, bruised and battered from her husband’s violent outbursts, finds
solace in her garden, where she teaches Alice the magical language of the
flowers growing there in abundance. One day, after a particularly bad rage, an
unthinkable tragedy happens, one that will leave Alice an orphan and change her
life forever.
Now first of all – take a moment to admire this stunning
cover! Isn’t it gorgeous? The images of the Australian native flowers featured
here are what first drew me to this book, as it is so rare to find novels that
do justice to the unique Australian flora, let alone use it as characters in
their stories. The flowers and plants Ringland has chosen all feature
prominently in the story, each highlighting an aspect of Alice’s life as she grows
up surrounded by the wild beauty of the Australian bush. If I had any fears
that Ringland’s novel would be simply an Australian version of Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s
The Language of Flowers, I was soon reassured, because Alice’s story is unique
and unusual. I loved the chapter headings describing the hidden meaning of
different Australian plants, and could picture June’s garden vividly in my
mind, as the lush paradise it is described as. The setting of this story is vivid
and enchanting, and I felt myself transported into a magical landscape that is
home to Alice in her formative years.
Ringland tells her story in three quite distinctive parts:
one of Alice as a child, from early childhood to the tragedy that will cost her
parents’ lives; one of her years of growing up in Thornfeld, the lush
wildflower farm that has been home to generations of Hart women; and one of
Alice as an adult woman, trying to find her own path in life. I admit that I
was most invested in the chapters set at Thornfeld, partly due to its enchanted
setting, but also because I found the story of Thornfeld’s women intriguing.
The idea of generations of women passing on the secret language of the flowers they
are surrounded by was interesting and strangely touching, especially as we
learn of each individual woman’s fate, their friendships and the way they
looked out for one another in the sanctuary of Thornfeld. I could have happily
remained in Thornfeld for the entirety of the story! I admit that my interest
waned slightly in the later part of the book, despite its unique desert
setting, but I felt that the initial thread of the “language of flowers” got a
bit lost here, with more focus on Alice’s struggle with relationships. After
becoming so enchanted with Thornfeld and its women, I felt I wanted to read
more about them and their lives, and would have liked to see a resolution in
the relationship dynamics uncovered in their stories.
Summary:
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a touching coming of age
story featuring three very unique and stunning Australian locations that will
enchant readers from all over the world. Spanning twenty years of Alice’s life,
the story will appeal to readers who enjoy saga novels in atmospheric, exotic places
– this is armchair travel of the best kind! I look forward to reading more from this author in future.
Thank
you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Australia for the free electronic copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
