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The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
The most enchanting debut novel of 2018, this is an irresistible, deeply moving and romantic story of a young girl, daughter of an abusive father, who has to learn the hard way that she can break the patterns of the past, live on her own terms and find her own strength.
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.
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.
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2018
About the author
Holly Ringland
8 books1,077 followersHOLLY RINGLAND grew up in her mother's tropical garden on the east coast of Australia. When she was nine years old, her love of landscapes, cultures and stories was deepened by a two-year journey her family took in North America, living in a camper van and travelling from one national park to another.
In her early twenties, Holly worked for four years in a remote Indigenous community in Australia’s western desert. Moving to England in 2009, Holly obtained her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester in 2011.
After wanting to be a writer since she was three years old, Holly’s debut novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was published in 2018 when she was 37 years old, and has since become an international bestseller. Publication rights have sold in 30 territories. In May 2019, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart won The Australian Book Industry Award General Fiction Book of the Year.
In February 2020, Holly signed a new two-book deal with HarperCollins Publishers Australia. Her second novel, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, will be published in October 2022.
Throughout 2020, Holly travelled Australia to film Back To Nature, a new, visually stunning 8-episode factual lifestyle series she co-hosts with Aaron Pedersen. Back To Nature premiered on ABC TV + ABC iView in August, 2021. All episodes are now streaming on ABC iView.
In May 2021, Amazon Prime Video announced their commission of a television series adaption of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, to stream globally. The seven-part series, a tale of female resilience, friendship, and the power to overcome tragedy, will star Sigourney Weaver, produced by Made Up Stories, Amazon Studios and Endeavor Content. Production is underway with filming currently taking place in Australia.
Prior to the pandemic, Holly divided her time between Australia and the UK, where she had Australian native flowers growing in both places. In 2020, Holly bought a 1968 Olympic Riviera caravan, named ‘Frenchie’, her Plan B writing office based on Yugambeh land, southeast Queensland. In which Holly currently spends most days writing Esther Wilding’s story.
In her early twenties, Holly worked for four years in a remote Indigenous community in Australia’s western desert. Moving to England in 2009, Holly obtained her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester in 2011.
After wanting to be a writer since she was three years old, Holly’s debut novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was published in 2018 when she was 37 years old, and has since become an international bestseller. Publication rights have sold in 30 territories. In May 2019, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart won The Australian Book Industry Award General Fiction Book of the Year.
In February 2020, Holly signed a new two-book deal with HarperCollins Publishers Australia. Her second novel, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding, will be published in October 2022.
Throughout 2020, Holly travelled Australia to film Back To Nature, a new, visually stunning 8-episode factual lifestyle series she co-hosts with Aaron Pedersen. Back To Nature premiered on ABC TV + ABC iView in August, 2021. All episodes are now streaming on ABC iView.
In May 2021, Amazon Prime Video announced their commission of a television series adaption of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, to stream globally. The seven-part series, a tale of female resilience, friendship, and the power to overcome tragedy, will star Sigourney Weaver, produced by Made Up Stories, Amazon Studios and Endeavor Content. Production is underway with filming currently taking place in Australia.
Prior to the pandemic, Holly divided her time between Australia and the UK, where she had Australian native flowers growing in both places. In 2020, Holly bought a 1968 Olympic Riviera caravan, named ‘Frenchie’, her Plan B writing office based on Yugambeh land, southeast Queensland. In which Holly currently spends most days writing Esther Wilding’s story.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,236 reviews
May 21, 2018
I should have realised this was not the book for me when I saw reviews remarking on the similarities between it and The Language of Flowers. It seems flowers do not speak to me and sadly nor did The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
I found the book to be over long and very disjointed. New characters were still being added with back stories in the final third of the book which I found annoying. The main character was way, way over the top. I lost count of how many times she vomited or fainted as a reaction to stress. Normal people slam a door or have a good cry. I am not even going to start on Agnes and Alice and their abusive relationships.
On the plus side there is that beautiful cover! And behind all the melodrama there was a good story trying to get out. Some of the characters, like the Flowers, were interesting and the descriptions of the Australian countryside were detailed and very effective.
I know many people love this book and I am one of few who does not. Note to self : No more books about the language of flowers.
I found the book to be over long and very disjointed. New characters were still being added with back stories in the final third of the book which I found annoying. The main character was way, way over the top. I lost count of how many times she vomited or fainted as a reaction to stress. Normal people slam a door or have a good cry. I am not even going to start on Agnes and Alice and their abusive relationships.
On the plus side there is that beautiful cover! And behind all the melodrama there was a good story trying to get out. Some of the characters, like the Flowers, were interesting and the descriptions of the Australian countryside were detailed and very effective.
I know many people love this book and I am one of few who does not. Note to self : No more books about the language of flowers.
April 16, 2018
*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a rare beauty. It is one of those novels that quietly sneaks up on you and unleashes its power. I have a feeling that The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is destined to remain by my side for some time yet. It is a fierce and assured piece of writing that makes a solid commentary on family dynamics, domestic drama and self discovery. It is a mighty feat for a new writer, but Holly Ringland demonstrates she is a force to be reckoned with.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart revolves around the haunting but unforgettable tale of a beautiful soul named Alice. We are first introduced to a vulnerable Alice when she is nine years old. At this point in her life, Alice lives on the coast, cut off from society, at the beck and call of her overly controlling father and suppressed mother. When a tragedy strikes at the heart of Alice’s existence, she is taken into the care of her grandmother, a woman she did not know existed. Alice’s Grandmother June,whisks Alice away to her prospering flower farm. At this native flower farm, Alice meets a group of women who are also trying to heal from their own traumatic experiences. Alice eventually finds a connection and a sense of solace from the women, as well as the work on the farm. As the years go by, Alice develops a one of a kind aptitude for the native flowers she works with, this special gift highlights Alice’s unique ability to speak the special language of flowers. What Alice cannot shake from her system as she comes into her own are the lies and secrets that are linked to her family legacy. It all comes to a head when Alice is betrayed by someone close to her and she ends of fleeing the farm. In time, Alice comes to the realisation that she cannot hide behind the language of flowers and that her own story must be revealed.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a metamorphic tale and one that literally took my breath away. I completely understand now why this book has been given a fair amount of hype, the attention it is receiving is completely warranted. After reading this novel, which has left a strong imprint on my heart and mind, I can understand why it was auctioned off when it initially received many publishing offers. The beauty of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart extends the whole way through this novel.
This is a novel that is as beautiful on the outside as the inside. I think The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart will take the prize for the best cover of design of the year, it does a superb job of capturing the true essence of this novel. Once you open The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, you will be taken aback by the attractiveness of the interior of the book. Included are some of the most stunning black and white prints of native Australian flowers I have ever encountered in a novel. I know I found myself looking forward to turning each page over to see what flower design treat I was in for next. I also liked how each chapter opening was adorned with and linked to a particular native flower. Ringland is careful in her selection of each flower, as it reflects the inner struggle of the main character Alice, as her life progresses in the novel. At the same time, these chapter prefaces read like a native flora guidebook, which subtlety educates the reader in the field of native flowers.
Ringland takes a vivid and full bodied approach to her characters. She strives to insert as much heart and soul as she can in her characters. I felt so much for these protagonists, both the good and the bad ones. Alice is incredible individual and I adored her engrossing journey. Following Alice over the book’s roughly twenty year period really allows the reader to get a good feel for the character of Alice. I mourned her losses, felt her achievements, fell in love with her and banged the table when she made her mistakes. Alice is such a real character that she bounces off the pages and into your heart with little effort. Ringland’s secondary character set are precise, complex in nature and well drawn. The peripheral characters, in particular the women Alice encounters in her life, reminds the audience of the true nature of friendship and loyalty.
The setting in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is quite breathtaking and forms the lifeblood of this novel. The landscape shifts a few times in this novel, from the coast, to the rural landscape of the flower farm, to lastly the arid desert, where Alice attempts to find herself. There were many spots in the novel where the setting and the related sharpness of the prose impressed me immensely. The scenes involving Alice’s coming of age in the flower farm were by far my favourite sections of the novel. These passages were a pure delight, all my senses and emotions were in overdrive while I was reading through these scenes. Ringland clearly knows how to transport her reader to the locations of her novel with ease.
There are some powerful and highly relevant themes explored in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, all of which are subjected to the accomplished hand of Holly Ringland. While there is heartbreaking sadness in the form of loss, domestic violence, lost love, betrayal, long held secrets, survival and trauma. On the other hand, there are themes of renewal, acceptance and self fulfillment. It takes real skill to balance the careful dichotomy between sadness and hope, but Ringland gets it just right. As a debut writer, I was blown away by her talent.
I urge all readers to open their hearts and minds to The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. It is one fiercely contemporary sojourn and an enchanting testament to Australia’s natural world, which I will not let slip from my memory. Judging from the positive reception Holly Ringland’s first novel has received, I can foresee a bright future ahead for this accomplished writer.
*I wish to thank Harper Collins Books Australia for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is book #33 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a rare beauty. It is one of those novels that quietly sneaks up on you and unleashes its power. I have a feeling that The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is destined to remain by my side for some time yet. It is a fierce and assured piece of writing that makes a solid commentary on family dynamics, domestic drama and self discovery. It is a mighty feat for a new writer, but Holly Ringland demonstrates she is a force to be reckoned with.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart revolves around the haunting but unforgettable tale of a beautiful soul named Alice. We are first introduced to a vulnerable Alice when she is nine years old. At this point in her life, Alice lives on the coast, cut off from society, at the beck and call of her overly controlling father and suppressed mother. When a tragedy strikes at the heart of Alice’s existence, she is taken into the care of her grandmother, a woman she did not know existed. Alice’s Grandmother June,whisks Alice away to her prospering flower farm. At this native flower farm, Alice meets a group of women who are also trying to heal from their own traumatic experiences. Alice eventually finds a connection and a sense of solace from the women, as well as the work on the farm. As the years go by, Alice develops a one of a kind aptitude for the native flowers she works with, this special gift highlights Alice’s unique ability to speak the special language of flowers. What Alice cannot shake from her system as she comes into her own are the lies and secrets that are linked to her family legacy. It all comes to a head when Alice is betrayed by someone close to her and she ends of fleeing the farm. In time, Alice comes to the realisation that she cannot hide behind the language of flowers and that her own story must be revealed.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a metamorphic tale and one that literally took my breath away. I completely understand now why this book has been given a fair amount of hype, the attention it is receiving is completely warranted. After reading this novel, which has left a strong imprint on my heart and mind, I can understand why it was auctioned off when it initially received many publishing offers. The beauty of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart extends the whole way through this novel.
This is a novel that is as beautiful on the outside as the inside. I think The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart will take the prize for the best cover of design of the year, it does a superb job of capturing the true essence of this novel. Once you open The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, you will be taken aback by the attractiveness of the interior of the book. Included are some of the most stunning black and white prints of native Australian flowers I have ever encountered in a novel. I know I found myself looking forward to turning each page over to see what flower design treat I was in for next. I also liked how each chapter opening was adorned with and linked to a particular native flower. Ringland is careful in her selection of each flower, as it reflects the inner struggle of the main character Alice, as her life progresses in the novel. At the same time, these chapter prefaces read like a native flora guidebook, which subtlety educates the reader in the field of native flowers.
Ringland takes a vivid and full bodied approach to her characters. She strives to insert as much heart and soul as she can in her characters. I felt so much for these protagonists, both the good and the bad ones. Alice is incredible individual and I adored her engrossing journey. Following Alice over the book’s roughly twenty year period really allows the reader to get a good feel for the character of Alice. I mourned her losses, felt her achievements, fell in love with her and banged the table when she made her mistakes. Alice is such a real character that she bounces off the pages and into your heart with little effort. Ringland’s secondary character set are precise, complex in nature and well drawn. The peripheral characters, in particular the women Alice encounters in her life, reminds the audience of the true nature of friendship and loyalty.
The setting in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is quite breathtaking and forms the lifeblood of this novel. The landscape shifts a few times in this novel, from the coast, to the rural landscape of the flower farm, to lastly the arid desert, where Alice attempts to find herself. There were many spots in the novel where the setting and the related sharpness of the prose impressed me immensely. The scenes involving Alice’s coming of age in the flower farm were by far my favourite sections of the novel. These passages were a pure delight, all my senses and emotions were in overdrive while I was reading through these scenes. Ringland clearly knows how to transport her reader to the locations of her novel with ease.
There are some powerful and highly relevant themes explored in The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, all of which are subjected to the accomplished hand of Holly Ringland. While there is heartbreaking sadness in the form of loss, domestic violence, lost love, betrayal, long held secrets, survival and trauma. On the other hand, there are themes of renewal, acceptance and self fulfillment. It takes real skill to balance the careful dichotomy between sadness and hope, but Ringland gets it just right. As a debut writer, I was blown away by her talent.
I urge all readers to open their hearts and minds to The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. It is one fiercely contemporary sojourn and an enchanting testament to Australia’s natural world, which I will not let slip from my memory. Judging from the positive reception Holly Ringland’s first novel has received, I can foresee a bright future ahead for this accomplished writer.
*I wish to thank Harper Collins Books Australia for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is book #33 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge
November 23, 2023
3.5★
“Most of the time he spent inside followed the awful things he did. But when he came out, he was always better. Alice had decided his shed held a transformational kind of magic, as if within its walls was an enchanted mirror, or a spinning wheel.
. . .
She’d read about alchemy in her library books; she knew the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. Her father’s shed was where he spun straw into gold.”
Stunning cover and an unbeatable opening sentence, which has been widely quoted (but that won’t stop me from sharing it again. It’s terrific, especially for a debut novel).
”In the weatherboard house at the end of the lane, nine-year-old Alice Hart sat at her desk by the window and dreamed of ways to set her father on fire.”
She means literally, not metaphorically, because he already managed to flare up unexpectedly at Alice and her mother without provocation. She would have been happy to set him alight. Her mother, used to his temper and abuse, always made excuses about what she should have done differently not to upset him. The author understands the situation very well and has said it comes from her own abusive background. I feel for her and for Alice.
Alice’s mother has been cut off from all family, her own and her husband’s (also typical of an abusive relationship), and Alice is a lonely child with poorly patched clothes and no friends except for Oggi, the Hungarian boy at school who is bullied as much as she is.
He shows her one of the first circle tricks, and it’s one that appears in later instances in other formats in the book. Both her mother and Oggi’s are keen gardeners, which I think seems to be true of many people seeking refuge in the natural world from their own which has become unnatural. At Oggi’s house, he gathered rose petals and scattered them in a circle and sat down inside it.
“‘After my dad died I did this to make myself feel better.’ Oggi wrapped his arms around his knees. ‘I told myself, anything inside the circle is safe from sadness. I’d make the circle as big or as little as I’d like. Once when Mum wouldn’t stop crying I made a circle around the whole house. Except I had to use all of the petals on her roses to do that, and she didn’t react the way I thought she would.’”
I’m sure his mum was not as impressed as Alice was. But Alice understands flowers, having learned something of the language of flowers from her mother, and each chapter is introduced with the name of an Australian native flower and its description.
Author Holly Ringland invented the language for this book, but we know Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet where she gives flowers, saying, "There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” Sprigs of rosemary are used in Australia for remembrance on Anzac Day. Everyone wears a sprig of real rosemary the way people wear poppies (usually paper, I think) on Memorial (Poppy) Day.
And many people say certain numbers of certain colours of roses signify certain sentiments. I think it’s a lovely concept and an interesting idea for introducing each chapter with a hint as to the meaning coming up.
As for the story itself, after a family tragedy, we follow Alice through a few metamorphoses as she finds new homes and tribes, so to speak. We meet a grandmother, who lives on a rural property and runs a big flower enterprise where she looks after other “lost” women of various ages, many of whom have suffered abuse. Grandmother June shares no information with Alice but remembers (for us) her own mother and grandmother and the men who were a problem.
Men mostly get pretty short shrift in this book, while women are the backbone. Although even some of them can’t be trusted, and we’re too often told they have secrets. I found far too much curling up into a weeping ball, not only by Alice but also by other women contemplating their own losses.
And there were countless cups of tea or favourite foods or hearty meals and what seemed to be almost instant deep friendships. This is not to mention Alice being sucked into the magic of an unwise romance when she moves to the desert. She thinks she’s finally found a place to stop
“After weeks in the desert, there was something about feeling small, unfamiliar and out of place that Alice enjoyed. It was as if she could, at any moment, recreate herself entirely, and no one would notice. She could be whomever she chose.”
She’s really running around in circles. This is a story of circles. Family circles that are broken, new ones that are established, stretched, reformed, circles of stars encompassing feelings too big to express, circles of petals formed as places of safety, and a giant circle of Sturt’s Desert Peas in a desert crater as a bright red Heart Garden.
it sounds beautiful. Many descriptions are beautiful. I felt there were too many characters, too many stories competing for attention, and too much misery and tears. And too many secrets that didn’t need to be kept, leading to a rather abrupt ending.
I think this author will find a big fan base – she’s got a lot of talent, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for her next book.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.
“Most of the time he spent inside followed the awful things he did. But when he came out, he was always better. Alice had decided his shed held a transformational kind of magic, as if within its walls was an enchanted mirror, or a spinning wheel.
. . .
She’d read about alchemy in her library books; she knew the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. Her father’s shed was where he spun straw into gold.”
Stunning cover and an unbeatable opening sentence, which has been widely quoted (but that won’t stop me from sharing it again. It’s terrific, especially for a debut novel).
”In the weatherboard house at the end of the lane, nine-year-old Alice Hart sat at her desk by the window and dreamed of ways to set her father on fire.”
She means literally, not metaphorically, because he already managed to flare up unexpectedly at Alice and her mother without provocation. She would have been happy to set him alight. Her mother, used to his temper and abuse, always made excuses about what she should have done differently not to upset him. The author understands the situation very well and has said it comes from her own abusive background. I feel for her and for Alice.
Alice’s mother has been cut off from all family, her own and her husband’s (also typical of an abusive relationship), and Alice is a lonely child with poorly patched clothes and no friends except for Oggi, the Hungarian boy at school who is bullied as much as she is.
He shows her one of the first circle tricks, and it’s one that appears in later instances in other formats in the book. Both her mother and Oggi’s are keen gardeners, which I think seems to be true of many people seeking refuge in the natural world from their own which has become unnatural. At Oggi’s house, he gathered rose petals and scattered them in a circle and sat down inside it.
“‘After my dad died I did this to make myself feel better.’ Oggi wrapped his arms around his knees. ‘I told myself, anything inside the circle is safe from sadness. I’d make the circle as big or as little as I’d like. Once when Mum wouldn’t stop crying I made a circle around the whole house. Except I had to use all of the petals on her roses to do that, and she didn’t react the way I thought she would.’”
I’m sure his mum was not as impressed as Alice was. But Alice understands flowers, having learned something of the language of flowers from her mother, and each chapter is introduced with the name of an Australian native flower and its description.
Author Holly Ringland invented the language for this book, but we know Ophelia from Shakespeare’s Hamlet where she gives flowers, saying, "There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” Sprigs of rosemary are used in Australia for remembrance on Anzac Day. Everyone wears a sprig of real rosemary the way people wear poppies (usually paper, I think) on Memorial (Poppy) Day.
And many people say certain numbers of certain colours of roses signify certain sentiments. I think it’s a lovely concept and an interesting idea for introducing each chapter with a hint as to the meaning coming up.
As for the story itself, after a family tragedy, we follow Alice through a few metamorphoses as she finds new homes and tribes, so to speak. We meet a grandmother, who lives on a rural property and runs a big flower enterprise where she looks after other “lost” women of various ages, many of whom have suffered abuse. Grandmother June shares no information with Alice but remembers (for us) her own mother and grandmother and the men who were a problem.
Men mostly get pretty short shrift in this book, while women are the backbone. Although even some of them can’t be trusted, and we’re too often told they have secrets. I found far too much curling up into a weeping ball, not only by Alice but also by other women contemplating their own losses.
And there were countless cups of tea or favourite foods or hearty meals and what seemed to be almost instant deep friendships. This is not to mention Alice being sucked into the magic of an unwise romance when she moves to the desert. She thinks she’s finally found a place to stop
“After weeks in the desert, there was something about feeling small, unfamiliar and out of place that Alice enjoyed. It was as if she could, at any moment, recreate herself entirely, and no one would notice. She could be whomever she chose.”
She’s really running around in circles. This is a story of circles. Family circles that are broken, new ones that are established, stretched, reformed, circles of stars encompassing feelings too big to express, circles of petals formed as places of safety, and a giant circle of Sturt’s Desert Peas in a desert crater as a bright red Heart Garden.
it sounds beautiful. Many descriptions are beautiful. I felt there were too many characters, too many stories competing for attention, and too much misery and tears. And too many secrets that didn’t need to be kept, leading to a rather abrupt ending.
I think this author will find a big fan base – she’s got a lot of talent, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for her next book.
Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for the preview copy from which I’ve quoted.
October 8, 2023
2.5 Stars
Although the writing quality was impressive for a debut novel, the story itself didn’t grab me. Ringland certainly established, in vivid detail, a strong sense of person and place, but unfortunately for me I simply wasn’t into the story being told.
I guess my problem lies in the fact that I just didn’t feel anything for any of the characters. Their personal situations relating to their past traumas and their ongoing individual emotional battles were meant to elicit an emotional response from the reader, but that was not the case for me.
One emotion I did feel constantly was frustration - frustration at the stupid choices being made by these women I was meant to feel for. I just couldn’t with Alice and her sensitive self. She was extremely child-like and grossly naive, especially when she was an adult, which made me want to shake some common sense and maturity into her. And, yes, her maturity was obviously stunted by her childhood trauma and hindered by the environment she grew up in, but I had no patience for her behaviour, especially when she was fainting and wilting away at every turn of the page.
My biggest issue probably revolves around the fact that I dislike miscommunication/ lack of communication in my reads, i.e. characters who don’t communicate important information to one another. Most of the angst Alice feels, even as a young child, is because she isn’t being told the truth by the adults in her life. Secrets shit me and had I known most of this story would revolve around an old stubborn woman (June) ruining lives with her omissions of big truths and through her purposeful meddling, I daresay I wouldn’t have bothered picking this one up.
Ultimately, this story was not for me, but I do appreciate the impressive quality of the writing itself and the vivid detail given to the various Aussie landscapes depicted within. And it must be said that I’m completely in love with the cover art, even if the story within was not what I hoped for.
Although the writing quality was impressive for a debut novel, the story itself didn’t grab me. Ringland certainly established, in vivid detail, a strong sense of person and place, but unfortunately for me I simply wasn’t into the story being told.
I guess my problem lies in the fact that I just didn’t feel anything for any of the characters. Their personal situations relating to their past traumas and their ongoing individual emotional battles were meant to elicit an emotional response from the reader, but that was not the case for me.
One emotion I did feel constantly was frustration - frustration at the stupid choices being made by these women I was meant to feel for. I just couldn’t with Alice and her sensitive self. She was extremely child-like and grossly naive, especially when she was an adult, which made me want to shake some common sense and maturity into her. And, yes, her maturity was obviously stunted by her childhood trauma and hindered by the environment she grew up in, but I had no patience for her behaviour, especially when she was fainting and wilting away at every turn of the page.
My biggest issue probably revolves around the fact that I dislike miscommunication/ lack of communication in my reads, i.e. characters who don’t communicate important information to one another. Most of the angst Alice feels, even as a young child, is because she isn’t being told the truth by the adults in her life. Secrets shit me and had I known most of this story would revolve around an old stubborn woman (June) ruining lives with her omissions of big truths and through her purposeful meddling, I daresay I wouldn’t have bothered picking this one up.
Ultimately, this story was not for me, but I do appreciate the impressive quality of the writing itself and the vivid detail given to the various Aussie landscapes depicted within. And it must be said that I’m completely in love with the cover art, even if the story within was not what I hoped for.
January 12, 2019
This was a book club pick and I must admit, I knew going in that it wasn’t my kind of book. But I was determined to give it a chance, because isn’t that what book clubs are for?
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is like Practical Magic with flowers instead of witchcraft. Several generations of women in one family line, a big old house, a fairy tale vibe, romance, abusive men. The writing was also reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s dreamy style – clearly Holly Ringland is strongly influenced by Hoffman’s work.
At times things got just too treacly for me. The workers on the flower farm – all women who have fled some sort of abuse or trauma – refer to themselves collectively as ‘The Flowers’. One of the ‘Flowers’ is a blue haired twentysomething baker of glittery cupcakes named Candy Baby (she sounds more like a Strawberry Shortcake character than a grown woman!). Granted, the whole book is not like this, and things improve when the action moves from the flower farm out into the desert, but there are enough instances that it crosses the line from sweet to sappy.
Alice, the book’s protagonist, is endearing as a child but the grown-up Alice is terribly milquetoast with a tendency to swoon (she faints a few times, including once when a cute guy she’s just met takes off his sunglasses and looks at her). If only she’d been a hardier specimen, not this wilted blossom, I might have been more invested in her story.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is by no means a bad book, actually it is well written and achieves what it sets out to do quite well. It’s got a good heart and while it’s not really my thing I’d bet money the rest of my book club adores it.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is like Practical Magic with flowers instead of witchcraft. Several generations of women in one family line, a big old house, a fairy tale vibe, romance, abusive men. The writing was also reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s dreamy style – clearly Holly Ringland is strongly influenced by Hoffman’s work.
At times things got just too treacly for me. The workers on the flower farm – all women who have fled some sort of abuse or trauma – refer to themselves collectively as ‘The Flowers’. One of the ‘Flowers’ is a blue haired twentysomething baker of glittery cupcakes named Candy Baby (she sounds more like a Strawberry Shortcake character than a grown woman!). Granted, the whole book is not like this, and things improve when the action moves from the flower farm out into the desert, but there are enough instances that it crosses the line from sweet to sappy.
Alice, the book’s protagonist, is endearing as a child but the grown-up Alice is terribly milquetoast with a tendency to swoon (she faints a few times, including once when a cute guy she’s just met takes off his sunglasses and looks at her). If only she’d been a hardier specimen, not this wilted blossom, I might have been more invested in her story.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is by no means a bad book, actually it is well written and achieves what it sets out to do quite well. It’s got a good heart and while it’s not really my thing I’d bet money the rest of my book club adores it.
April 6, 2022
I always read the author’s acknowledgements when I finish a book and it makes me feel guilty for giving a bad review. Every published book represents incredible effort and emotional investment from the author and others who have supported its publication. I appreciate and respect those efforts but sometimes there is not much in the actual book that I appreciate. In this book I actively disliked so many aspects that I hardly know where to start, but to summarise:
- There was so much long winded back story for every character. Why do we need to know that the vet has some tragic history with a wife and child? Why do we need to know anything at all about Brooke the hospital nurse?
- And despite all the backstory, many of the characters are pretty one-dimensional. Why has Candy done nothing at all with her life? (Clearly thornfield is not much of a nurturing refuge if you can arrive as a baby and never grow up enough to leave.) There is just too much detail devoted to characters and scenarios that are going nowhere.
- Some of the language at first seems fresh and innovative but then the interesting words are reused and it all appears clunky and amateurish. How many times was the rain sobbing? And then there is just bizarre stuff that should have been picked up by an editor ‘June puts on her Blundstone boots and then walks silently through the house.’ Really?
- The overly detailed descriptions of the decor and catering arrangements for various celebrations (fairy lights and blankets and barbecue pits, essential oil burners and butterfly wing dress ups) are the written equivalent of Pinterest - show-offy and shallow, they don’t add to the story but they might be helpful for the artistic directors of a movie version. (Incidentally I think it would be much better on screen than on the page because really this isn’t a story, it’s a series of images.)
- The treatment of love and romantic interests was juvenile, Mills and Boon stuff. All of the generations of women had ridiculously obsessive, love-at-first-sight relationships with their lovers... this could have been used to say something interesting about the abusive relationships that develop, but even those in non-abusive relationships were unrealistically fixated on each other.
- And I’m over the language of flowers. The book implies that the characters are expressing what they can’t say in words through flowers but it’s a pretty limited language, they are really not saying much.
My lone star is to acknowledge some seemingly sensitive (though fictional) portrayals of the Australian desert and indigenous culture.
- There was so much long winded back story for every character. Why do we need to know that the vet has some tragic history with a wife and child? Why do we need to know anything at all about Brooke the hospital nurse?
- And despite all the backstory, many of the characters are pretty one-dimensional. Why has Candy done nothing at all with her life? (Clearly thornfield is not much of a nurturing refuge if you can arrive as a baby and never grow up enough to leave.) There is just too much detail devoted to characters and scenarios that are going nowhere.
- Some of the language at first seems fresh and innovative but then the interesting words are reused and it all appears clunky and amateurish. How many times was the rain sobbing? And then there is just bizarre stuff that should have been picked up by an editor ‘June puts on her Blundstone boots and then walks silently through the house.’ Really?
- The overly detailed descriptions of the decor and catering arrangements for various celebrations (fairy lights and blankets and barbecue pits, essential oil burners and butterfly wing dress ups) are the written equivalent of Pinterest - show-offy and shallow, they don’t add to the story but they might be helpful for the artistic directors of a movie version. (Incidentally I think it would be much better on screen than on the page because really this isn’t a story, it’s a series of images.)
- The treatment of love and romantic interests was juvenile, Mills and Boon stuff. All of the generations of women had ridiculously obsessive, love-at-first-sight relationships with their lovers... this could have been used to say something interesting about the abusive relationships that develop, but even those in non-abusive relationships were unrealistically fixated on each other.
- And I’m over the language of flowers. The book implies that the characters are expressing what they can’t say in words through flowers but it’s a pretty limited language, they are really not saying much.
My lone star is to acknowledge some seemingly sensitive (though fictional) portrayals of the Australian desert and indigenous culture.
April 17, 2018
The days when her father wasn’t home were the best of all for young Alice Hart. She and her mother would tend the garden together, finding a calm and peace that was never around when he was there. Alice adored her mother and was terrified of her father. But at nine years of age, a tragedy meant Alice had to live with her grandmother – a woman she had never met – on a flower farm a long way from the seaside that was the only home Alice had known.
Gradually Alice came to love the flowers and their meanings. The way they spoke when words were too hard. Learning the language of flowers created a peace within Alice – until her peace was shattered. With her heart broken, she fled the farm and all it had meant to her, driving without knowing where she was headed. Alice’s unexpected destination was deep in the Australian desert where the Sturt’s desert pea was prolific and filled with meaning.
Haunting and dangerous – that was her time in the middle of Australia. But would Alice ever find solace? Could she make peace with her past and finally look forward to the future?
Enchanting; heartbreaking; divine! Stunning; spectacular; poignant! What a debut! The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is all that and more, by an Australian author I’ll be keeping an eye out for from now on! Holly Ringland’s debut novel is full of depth and emotion; the story of a young girl who had to find the strength to live a life which was so different from the one she had envisioned. The cover of the book is beautiful – I was drawn to it – the beginning of each chapter with the type of Australian native flower and its meaning adds more to the story. Holly Ringland has captured the essence of Australia, and I have no hesitation in recommending The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart highly.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.
Gradually Alice came to love the flowers and their meanings. The way they spoke when words were too hard. Learning the language of flowers created a peace within Alice – until her peace was shattered. With her heart broken, she fled the farm and all it had meant to her, driving without knowing where she was headed. Alice’s unexpected destination was deep in the Australian desert where the Sturt’s desert pea was prolific and filled with meaning.
Haunting and dangerous – that was her time in the middle of Australia. But would Alice ever find solace? Could she make peace with her past and finally look forward to the future?
Enchanting; heartbreaking; divine! Stunning; spectacular; poignant! What a debut! The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is all that and more, by an Australian author I’ll be keeping an eye out for from now on! Holly Ringland’s debut novel is full of depth and emotion; the story of a young girl who had to find the strength to live a life which was so different from the one she had envisioned. The cover of the book is beautiful – I was drawn to it – the beginning of each chapter with the type of Australian native flower and its meaning adds more to the story. Holly Ringland has captured the essence of Australia, and I have no hesitation in recommending The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart highly.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read and review.
April 24, 2018
This book not only has the most gorgeous cover but also a beautiful story of loss, love and redemption. At nine, Alice Hart is a little girl battered and bruised by her controlling, violent father, kept isolated from the world and home schooled. Her only joy is escaping into the world of books and working in the garden with her mother. When a tragedy strikes and Alice loses her parents she is sent to live on a flower farm with the grandmother she never knew she had. There she discovers not only the language of flowers but a whole new family of damaged women given refuge and purpose by her grandmother.
Although Alice grows up loved in a happy, caring environment, her overprotective grandmother keeps secrets about her family from her and discovery of a lie will send Alice fleeing from all she loves, as far as she can get, into the western desert. There she discovers a different sort of beauty in the land and plants that grow there. She starts to document the flowers she sees and what they mean but then falls in love with a man not unlike her father who is cruel and controlling. Eventually with courage and love Alice finds her own way back to her first home and starts to heal and transform into the woman she should be.
Holly Ringland takes us on an incredible journey with Alice as she grows to become an adult and can understand the rift between her parents and grandmother and accept them for the people they were. The cast of supporting characters is very strong, mostly women who are tough and resiliant from Alice's grandmother June and her group of rescued women to the women in the desert and Sally the librarian from Alice's childhood. The use of a flower and it's meaning to introduce each chapter is works so well as a powerful link to each section of the story as well as the use of flowers through the story to convey actions and feelings. Truly a beautiful book!
Although Alice grows up loved in a happy, caring environment, her overprotective grandmother keeps secrets about her family from her and discovery of a lie will send Alice fleeing from all she loves, as far as she can get, into the western desert. There she discovers a different sort of beauty in the land and plants that grow there. She starts to document the flowers she sees and what they mean but then falls in love with a man not unlike her father who is cruel and controlling. Eventually with courage and love Alice finds her own way back to her first home and starts to heal and transform into the woman she should be.
Holly Ringland takes us on an incredible journey with Alice as she grows to become an adult and can understand the rift between her parents and grandmother and accept them for the people they were. The cast of supporting characters is very strong, mostly women who are tough and resiliant from Alice's grandmother June and her group of rescued women to the women in the desert and Sally the librarian from Alice's childhood. The use of a flower and it's meaning to introduce each chapter is works so well as a powerful link to each section of the story as well as the use of flowers through the story to convey actions and feelings. Truly a beautiful book!
October 24, 2018
Hard to review a book too long after reading, so this is just a tiny thought. This was an audio read, one that I enjoyed not quite as much as The language of flowers. The flower theme is a lovely one, and they seem to be a redeeming feature in this story of abuse and loss. I loved the imagery and the character of Alice who was a beautiful, strong and courageous soul. I don't take notes on audio reads and must review closer to reading time. A worthy four star book. Oh, and of course, it goes without saying that the cover is divine <3
November 5, 2018
When tragedy strikes nine year old Alice Hart is given no choice but to leave her only home she knows by the seaside and go and live with her estranged grandmother, June who was a flower farmer.
Listening to her grandmother, Alice begins to learn and appreciates all the different types of flowers that her grandmother grows on her farm. Alice discovers a whole new language. Her grandmother also takes in women who have been mistreated and need a safe place to stay, hoping that she can help heal their mental and physical wounds. As the years pass Alice discovers secrets that deeply hurt her and once again the feeling of being betrayed returns and she flees from the flower farm, but she has no idea where she is headed or what lies ahead of her.
This was a fabulous and very powerful story which will remain with me for a long time to come. An amazing story that sweeps you up and carries you into another world unlike any other. I loved this book and it's gorgeous cover. Highly recommended.
Listening to her grandmother, Alice begins to learn and appreciates all the different types of flowers that her grandmother grows on her farm. Alice discovers a whole new language. Her grandmother also takes in women who have been mistreated and need a safe place to stay, hoping that she can help heal their mental and physical wounds. As the years pass Alice discovers secrets that deeply hurt her and once again the feeling of being betrayed returns and she flees from the flower farm, but she has no idea where she is headed or what lies ahead of her.
This was a fabulous and very powerful story which will remain with me for a long time to come. An amazing story that sweeps you up and carries you into another world unlike any other. I loved this book and it's gorgeous cover. Highly recommended.
February 25, 2024
Îmi vine să plâng, a fost o carte atât de emoționantă și atât de bine scrisă! 😭 Sunt șocată că e un roman de debut, like wtf?! Autoarea a lucrat destul de mult la el, se vede, însă partea cea mai bună e că nu se simte pe parcursul lecturii. Totul decurge atât de natural. Mi-a plăcut îmbinarea armonioasă dintre proza infuzată de lirism și realitatea crudă descrisă, mi-au plăcut extraordinar de mult personajele, diversitatea lor și poveștile lor, mi-au plăcut peisajele magnifice care sunt conturate cu multă măiestrie, mi-a plăcut simbolismul și accentele subtile de supranatural, ce mai, mi-a plăcut TOTUL! E o carte pe care o voi ține minte mult timp de acum încolo, nici nu știu dacă aș putea uita vreodată povestea lui Alice Hart. Multe felicitări lui Holly Ringland că mi-a stors lacrimi cu duiumul, că m-a făcut să zâmbesc ca idioata, că am trecut printr-un carusel de emoții!
April 20, 2021
Uși trântite, plânsete pe ascuns, amenințări din partea omului care ar trebui să te protejeze, zâmbete forțate, teama care te paralizează când auzi pași apăsați, vânătăi, vise și oase frânte, dar și sunet de ceșcuțe ciocnite cu bucurie, îmbrățișări, vorbe liniștitoare ale celor dragi, nasul umed al unui câine, picioare desculțe pășind pe iarba caldă, biscuiți proaspăt scoși din cuptor, miros de flori și pământ reavăn. Atâtea senzații și sentimente! Cred că e printre cele mai sinestezice romane pe care le-am citit, în care poți mirosi, gusta și trăi cuvintele.
Câte lucruri poate cuprinde o inimă?! Pe toate, poate cuprinde absolut tot ce i se dă, chiar dacă uneori se simte de parcă ar da cineva cu o daltă în ea și s-ar despica de durere sau prea multă fericire copleșitoare. Pentru mine a fost o lectură splendidă, de la personajul lui Alice, care, în ciuda vocii timide și a aparentei fragilități, reușește să își construiască oricâte începuturi sunt necesare, până la pașii înceți cu care m-a plimbat autoarea prin viețile tuturor. Bine, pe alocuri cadrul a fost prea feeric, așa că nu știu câți bărbați ar avea răbdare să citească despre floricele, dar pentru femei cred că ar trebui să fie o lectură obligatorie, mai ales dacă sunt ori au fost victime ale violenței domestice.
O poveste emoționantă și călduroasă despre greșeli care rămân cu noi și ne lovesc în cele mai neașteptate momente, ca niște flori presate într-o carte de care uităm, dar peste care dăm întâmplător peste ani, despre efectele pe care le pot avea abuzul și lipsa iubirii de sine, dar și despre importanța sentimentului de a fi auziți. Mi-nu-na-tă! Recenzia aici: https://bit.ly/3vaELPb.
,,Adună viață aici, a îndemnat-o ea, arătându-i spre inimă. Nu te repezi să dai tot ce ai cuiva care nu merită.''
Câte lucruri poate cuprinde o inimă?! Pe toate, poate cuprinde absolut tot ce i se dă, chiar dacă uneori se simte de parcă ar da cineva cu o daltă în ea și s-ar despica de durere sau prea multă fericire copleșitoare. Pentru mine a fost o lectură splendidă, de la personajul lui Alice, care, în ciuda vocii timide și a aparentei fragilități, reușește să își construiască oricâte începuturi sunt necesare, până la pașii înceți cu care m-a plimbat autoarea prin viețile tuturor. Bine, pe alocuri cadrul a fost prea feeric, așa că nu știu câți bărbați ar avea răbdare să citească despre floricele, dar pentru femei cred că ar trebui să fie o lectură obligatorie, mai ales dacă sunt ori au fost victime ale violenței domestice.
O poveste emoționantă și călduroasă despre greșeli care rămân cu noi și ne lovesc în cele mai neașteptate momente, ca niște flori presate într-o carte de care uităm, dar peste care dăm întâmplător peste ani, despre efectele pe care le pot avea abuzul și lipsa iubirii de sine, dar și despre importanța sentimentului de a fi auziți. Mi-nu-na-tă! Recenzia aici: https://bit.ly/3vaELPb.
,,Adună viață aici, a îndemnat-o ea, arătându-i spre inimă. Nu te repezi să dai tot ce ai cuiva care nu merită.''
March 28, 2019
It feels a bit cruel to rate this novel so low. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is absorbing. The characters are compelling. It's not in any way offensive. But it's also...kind of bad. Some parts of the book worked well, but at other parts the only thing keeping me engaged was the thought of writing a deliciously scathing Goodreads takedown.
First, the plot. Alice Hart, the isolated child of an abusive father and an abused mother, suddenly loses both parents in a fire, and is taken into the care of her grandmother, who runs a flower farm and unspecified women's refuge. Drama ensues.
(Interestingly enough, this isn't the first book I've read about a young woman with a difficult childhood who finds solace in the language of flowers. The other one is Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers - but in that book, the floral language referenced is the actual Victorian floral language, whereas in this book it's a family specific invented language, which in my mind is a bit useless.)
So why is this book bad?
The terrible description
The author of this book has only two methods of describing anything. Either it's completely overblown, or it doesn't exist at all.
Barely anyone in this book gets a physical description. I have no idea what half of the people in this book look like. It's especially bad when I only realised the main character had "long dark hair" because it was mentioned about 275 pages in, or when Alice grows instantly weak at the knees at the sight of Dylan, a man who's described only as wearing sunglasses and a slouch hat. Oh my god, if you're going to have someone getting insanely excited at how hot someone is, the least you can do is described what he even looks like! I thought it was bad when books described attractive people as simply "he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen", but this is somehow even worse because the only thing I can picture is some kind of blank generic void wearing a hat and sunglasses.
Holly Ringland also has this very odd habit of introducing a character, not saying anything about what they look like except for their fingernails or their hair, and then 20 pages later they'll mention something about "white fellas" and you realise that said character is Aboriginal. Do the people in this book not have eyes?
BUT lest you think that this is some kind of book where nothing is described at all, you're about to be proven wrong by the needlessly detailed description of everything else. I don't know what Dylan looks like, but I do know every single stupid leather clanking hippie bracelet he's wearing. I know what stupid cologne he smells like. Everyone's awful beach-crusty Nimbin folk festival jewellery gets a whole paragraph of description, while their face doesn't even warrant a mention. If the protagonist of this book were a blind friendship bracelet seller I'd understand, but nope.
Food, flowers, landscapes etc also get a lot of description, which works significantly better than the non-description of the people and the over-description of their cack jewellery, but the food descriptions are the overly eager and slightly embarrassing descriptions of food you tend to find in fan fiction. "He groaned in pleasure as he bit into the crisp, salty vegemite toast." That kind of thing. Also dogs groan in pleasure when you pat them, which is....not something that dogs do. I was genuinely embarrassed by the writing style at times.
Weird sexuality!
I don't mean this like most people would mean "weird sexuality." No BDSM, no kinky poly trios. No, instead this book is in many ways some of the most whack het shit I've ever read. Almost every male character in this book shows up out of the blue, is so hot that they make the main character literally fall over and has eyes full of secrets or a passionate violent soul or some shit. Alice has this reaction even when she's 9 years old, to another 9 year old. It's like some kind of planet of women fantasy where the first sight of literally any man makes the women in question go "What is this strange and interesting creature and why are my loins afire for him?"
Also nobody in this book is queer at all despite most of the book taking place at a quasi women's refuge where two women have lived together for over 20 years and raised a child together. Couldn't just have them be bi or something? Of course not, because men are magick and every woman in this book wants the D to the exception of anything else.
Weirdly enough, the parts of this book that really shone were the descriptions of abusive relationships, which came across as visceral, authentic and real. I became a bit more tolerant of Alice's weird "oh my glob so hot' reaction towards Dylan when I realised that she was doomed to repeat the same mistakes of her mother, and misunderstood abusive behaviour as passion.
Would I recommend this? Not really, although it was certainly entertaining. Bits of it were genuinely embarrassing to me. It gave me severe het lag and made me wonder if straight women were Ok. The story of Thornfield and the generations of women who ran it was kind of weak and didn't seem historically plausible. It's not even the best language of flowers book I've ever read! At least the descriptions of the land and the flowers were nice.
Final rating: One soft, syrupy bite of a waffle made by the hottest man I'd ever seen, who was currently wearing sunglasses and a hat, but the waffle is cold and has dirt on it and can I smell flowers or am I just having some kind of olfactory hallucination?
First, the plot. Alice Hart, the isolated child of an abusive father and an abused mother, suddenly loses both parents in a fire, and is taken into the care of her grandmother, who runs a flower farm and unspecified women's refuge. Drama ensues.
(Interestingly enough, this isn't the first book I've read about a young woman with a difficult childhood who finds solace in the language of flowers. The other one is Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers - but in that book, the floral language referenced is the actual Victorian floral language, whereas in this book it's a family specific invented language, which in my mind is a bit useless.)
So why is this book bad?
The terrible description
The author of this book has only two methods of describing anything. Either it's completely overblown, or it doesn't exist at all.
Barely anyone in this book gets a physical description. I have no idea what half of the people in this book look like. It's especially bad when I only realised the main character had "long dark hair" because it was mentioned about 275 pages in, or when Alice grows instantly weak at the knees at the sight of Dylan, a man who's described only as wearing sunglasses and a slouch hat. Oh my god, if you're going to have someone getting insanely excited at how hot someone is, the least you can do is described what he even looks like! I thought it was bad when books described attractive people as simply "he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen", but this is somehow even worse because the only thing I can picture is some kind of blank generic void wearing a hat and sunglasses.
Holly Ringland also has this very odd habit of introducing a character, not saying anything about what they look like except for their fingernails or their hair, and then 20 pages later they'll mention something about "white fellas" and you realise that said character is Aboriginal. Do the people in this book not have eyes?
BUT lest you think that this is some kind of book where nothing is described at all, you're about to be proven wrong by the needlessly detailed description of everything else. I don't know what Dylan looks like, but I do know every single stupid leather clanking hippie bracelet he's wearing. I know what stupid cologne he smells like. Everyone's awful beach-crusty Nimbin folk festival jewellery gets a whole paragraph of description, while their face doesn't even warrant a mention. If the protagonist of this book were a blind friendship bracelet seller I'd understand, but nope.
Food, flowers, landscapes etc also get a lot of description, which works significantly better than the non-description of the people and the over-description of their cack jewellery, but the food descriptions are the overly eager and slightly embarrassing descriptions of food you tend to find in fan fiction. "He groaned in pleasure as he bit into the crisp, salty vegemite toast." That kind of thing. Also dogs groan in pleasure when you pat them, which is....not something that dogs do. I was genuinely embarrassed by the writing style at times.
Weird sexuality!
I don't mean this like most people would mean "weird sexuality." No BDSM, no kinky poly trios. No, instead this book is in many ways some of the most whack het shit I've ever read. Almost every male character in this book shows up out of the blue, is so hot that they make the main character literally fall over and has eyes full of secrets or a passionate violent soul or some shit. Alice has this reaction even when she's 9 years old, to another 9 year old. It's like some kind of planet of women fantasy where the first sight of literally any man makes the women in question go "What is this strange and interesting creature and why are my loins afire for him?"
Also nobody in this book is queer at all despite most of the book taking place at a quasi women's refuge where two women have lived together for over 20 years and raised a child together. Couldn't just have them be bi or something? Of course not, because men are magick and every woman in this book wants the D to the exception of anything else.
Weirdly enough, the parts of this book that really shone were the descriptions of abusive relationships, which came across as visceral, authentic and real. I became a bit more tolerant of Alice's weird "oh my glob so hot' reaction towards Dylan when I realised that she was doomed to repeat the same mistakes of her mother, and misunderstood abusive behaviour as passion.
Would I recommend this? Not really, although it was certainly entertaining. Bits of it were genuinely embarrassing to me. It gave me severe het lag and made me wonder if straight women were Ok. The story of Thornfield and the generations of women who ran it was kind of weak and didn't seem historically plausible. It's not even the best language of flowers book I've ever read! At least the descriptions of the land and the flowers were nice.
Final rating: One soft, syrupy bite of a waffle made by the hottest man I'd ever seen, who was currently wearing sunglasses and a hat, but the waffle is cold and has dirt on it and can I smell flowers or am I just having some kind of olfactory hallucination?
September 27, 2021
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is Holly Ringland's debut novel. It's been marketed quite heavily in Australia, there was a lot of excitement about it, so I had to read it to see if the hype was deserved.
It's a beautifully crafted book, with not only a gorgeous cover but also each chapter has the drawing of an Australian native flower and a bit of information about it. It was very well done, so kudos to the book designers.
This is a coming of age story. Alice Hart's father is a violent, volatile man. When Alice was nine years old, something horrific occurs which will see her sent to live on a wildflower farm, with her paternal grandmother she didn't know existed. I loved the description of Thornton and the way it was run, exclusively by women, for whom Thornton was a sanctuary and a refuge. I was looking forward to getting to know more of the women on the farm. But midway through, the novel takes a different turn and sort of loses its way, pretty much like Alice. A well-written, credible coming of age story, with elements of domestic abuse, its consequences and surviving it, turns into a melodramatic mess. I can't stand it when characters/people create unnecessary dramas by not talking to each other, and in this case, it was completely over-the-top, inexplicable and incredulous. I realise it was necessary to create conflict, but I didn't buy it and I found it frustrating.
There were also things that an editor should have picked. It's a contemporary novel, there's Google, still, there is letter writing happening and going to the post office to mail a letter or get the mail. Those old tropes - "I wrote you so many letters over the years" - here's a novel idea (insert sarcasm, if you really want to find someone, if you know the address, drive/fly there - or "it's not my story to tell". Honestly, the second part of the novel is a rushed jumble, which I found even more irritating since I was so taken with the first two hundred pages.
I shouldn't be so harsh, as this is a debut novel. Holly Ringland's potential is apparent so I'm interested to read her second novel.
This will go towards my Aussie Authors Challenge on www.bookloverbookreviews.com
It's a beautifully crafted book, with not only a gorgeous cover but also each chapter has the drawing of an Australian native flower and a bit of information about it. It was very well done, so kudos to the book designers.
This is a coming of age story. Alice Hart's father is a violent, volatile man. When Alice was nine years old, something horrific occurs which will see her sent to live on a wildflower farm, with her paternal grandmother she didn't know existed. I loved the description of Thornton and the way it was run, exclusively by women, for whom Thornton was a sanctuary and a refuge. I was looking forward to getting to know more of the women on the farm. But midway through, the novel takes a different turn and sort of loses its way, pretty much like Alice. A well-written, credible coming of age story, with elements of domestic abuse, its consequences and surviving it, turns into a melodramatic mess. I can't stand it when characters/people create unnecessary dramas by not talking to each other, and in this case, it was completely over-the-top, inexplicable and incredulous. I realise it was necessary to create conflict, but I didn't buy it and I found it frustrating.
There were also things that an editor should have picked. It's a contemporary novel, there's Google, still, there is letter writing happening and going to the post office to mail a letter or get the mail. Those old tropes - "I wrote you so many letters over the years" - here's a novel idea (insert sarcasm, if you really want to find someone, if you know the address, drive/fly there - or "it's not my story to tell". Honestly, the second part of the novel is a rushed jumble, which I found even more irritating since I was so taken with the first two hundred pages.
I shouldn't be so harsh, as this is a debut novel. Holly Ringland's potential is apparent so I'm interested to read her second novel.
This will go towards my Aussie Authors Challenge on www.bookloverbookreviews.com
March 14, 2020
Un roman-grădină botanică, fragil, parfumat și cuceritor!
„Florile pierdute ale lui Alice Hart” este un roman despre poveștile care ne bântuie și despre cele pe care ni le spunem unii altora pentru a putea supraviețui intr-o lume haotică și dezlănțuită, cum este cea în care astăzi trăim. Totodată o carte ce urmărește felul în care evoluează abuzul și violența în familie, temă frecvent întâlnită în literatura de azi.
Cu toate acestea, este deopotrivă și despre dragoste și salvare, învăluind în magie și cucerind prin arta povestirii, toate aceste aspecte fiind aureolate cu dragostea față de natură și mai ales pentru flori.
Alice Hart, protagonista, provine dintr-o familie disfuncțională, în care tatăl le maltratează atât pe ea, cât și pe mama ei. Asta până când are loc un incendiu, casa ia foc, părinții mor, iar Alice este luată de o bunica pe nume June (de care nu avea habar ca trăiește), la o fermă unde se cultivă flori australiene.
Bunica a transformat această fermă într-un fel de adăpost pentru femeile care nu au unde locui, femei ce poartă cu ele tot felul de povești, care de care mai impresionantă.
Lui Alice îi place sa citească, este un personaj care, prin iubirea față de cărți, se va salva si va deveni cineva. Este modul ei de a-și împlini destinul.
Ritmul narațiunii, construcția personajelor, descrierile din natură și ale florilor (fiecare având o semnificație aparte) sunt superbe și dau întregii scriituri o notă de speranță, făcând lectura una fascinantă, iar toate aceste elemente vin împachetate la propriu într-o copertă-colaj floral.
Un strop de bucurie, un grăunte de plăcere, o gură de aer curat, acel ceva de bine și de optimism de care avem nevoie.
„Florile pierdute ale lui Alice Hart” este un roman despre poveștile care ne bântuie și despre cele pe care ni le spunem unii altora pentru a putea supraviețui intr-o lume haotică și dezlănțuită, cum este cea în care astăzi trăim. Totodată o carte ce urmărește felul în care evoluează abuzul și violența în familie, temă frecvent întâlnită în literatura de azi.
Cu toate acestea, este deopotrivă și despre dragoste și salvare, învăluind în magie și cucerind prin arta povestirii, toate aceste aspecte fiind aureolate cu dragostea față de natură și mai ales pentru flori.
Alice Hart, protagonista, provine dintr-o familie disfuncțională, în care tatăl le maltratează atât pe ea, cât și pe mama ei. Asta până când are loc un incendiu, casa ia foc, părinții mor, iar Alice este luată de o bunica pe nume June (de care nu avea habar ca trăiește), la o fermă unde se cultivă flori australiene.
Bunica a transformat această fermă într-un fel de adăpost pentru femeile care nu au unde locui, femei ce poartă cu ele tot felul de povești, care de care mai impresionantă.
Lui Alice îi place sa citească, este un personaj care, prin iubirea față de cărți, se va salva si va deveni cineva. Este modul ei de a-și împlini destinul.
Ritmul narațiunii, construcția personajelor, descrierile din natură și ale florilor (fiecare având o semnificație aparte) sunt superbe și dau întregii scriituri o notă de speranță, făcând lectura una fascinantă, iar toate aceste elemente vin împachetate la propriu într-o copertă-colaj floral.
Un strop de bucurie, un grăunte de plăcere, o gură de aer curat, acel ceva de bine și de optimism de care avem nevoie.
October 30, 2023
Alice Hart is only nine years old when she loses both her parents in a tragic accident, her life has never been easy due to her father Clem being extremely controlling, her mother Agnes is downtrodden and they never know when he’s going to explode and lash out.
Alice goes to live with her Grandmother June, she owns a flower farm called Thornfield and it’s been in the family for generations. A place where a group of twelve ladies live and work and her June likes to help women in need and it's a type of half-way house.
Alice learns the language of Australian native flowers, they help her to communicate, when she can't say the words and her grandmother hopes given time her voice will return. Alice settles in living with her nana, she goes to school for the first time and all the women at the flower farm mother her. Alice is a Floriographer, a person fluent in the language of flowers and it was popular in the Victorian era, each bloom has a meaning, used to display emotions and feelings.
After Alice overhears a conversation, she discovers she hasn’t been told the entire truth, she feels betrayed and leaves. Alice has no idea where she’s going to go and she ends up in the desert of the Northern Territory and where the sturt's desert peas flower nine months of the year.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart spans twenty years, you follow Alice growing up and a unique coming of age story, as an adult and she doesn’t want to make the same mistakes as her mother. Alice always felt like she was waiting for something that’s just never going to come, in the end she discovers whats missing and it’s due to the big secret that's been kept from her and she can't keep running forever.
Holly Ringland cleverly weaves a narrative about family, loss, love, betrayal, the impact of domestic violence, secrets, hope, forgiveness and it's a story inside a story and so much more. Each chapter starts with a description and picture of a flower and it's beautiful ode to flora. Five stars from me and I can't wait to read The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding and Ms. Ringland is an extremely talented author.
Alice goes to live with her Grandmother June, she owns a flower farm called Thornfield and it’s been in the family for generations. A place where a group of twelve ladies live and work and her June likes to help women in need and it's a type of half-way house.
Alice learns the language of Australian native flowers, they help her to communicate, when she can't say the words and her grandmother hopes given time her voice will return. Alice settles in living with her nana, she goes to school for the first time and all the women at the flower farm mother her. Alice is a Floriographer, a person fluent in the language of flowers and it was popular in the Victorian era, each bloom has a meaning, used to display emotions and feelings.
After Alice overhears a conversation, she discovers she hasn’t been told the entire truth, she feels betrayed and leaves. Alice has no idea where she’s going to go and she ends up in the desert of the Northern Territory and where the sturt's desert peas flower nine months of the year.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart spans twenty years, you follow Alice growing up and a unique coming of age story, as an adult and she doesn’t want to make the same mistakes as her mother. Alice always felt like she was waiting for something that’s just never going to come, in the end she discovers whats missing and it’s due to the big secret that's been kept from her and she can't keep running forever.
Holly Ringland cleverly weaves a narrative about family, loss, love, betrayal, the impact of domestic violence, secrets, hope, forgiveness and it's a story inside a story and so much more. Each chapter starts with a description and picture of a flower and it's beautiful ode to flora. Five stars from me and I can't wait to read The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding and Ms. Ringland is an extremely talented author.
June 14, 2018
I had high hopes at the beginning of this book, being drawn in by the voice of 8-year-old Alice Hart, describing her horrific life under the roof of her abusive father. And I really liked the concept of plot, with the family secrets and how history repeats itself, but unfortunately I’m not on the same page as everyone else - the writing really let me down. The reoccurring themes of fire, and the language of flower just overpowered everything good about this novel; it was repetitive, spoke to me in riddles at times and distracted me from the plot. I felt behaviour of Alice Hart too overdramatic and forced – if someone in real life fainted that many times as Alice did I would seriously recommend a thorough medical checkup. Besides the gorgeous cover, this novel really didn’t work for me.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for my review copy.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for my review copy.
April 21, 2020
Mi-a plăcut mult de tot, coperta e minunata, descrierile despre flori sunt nemaipomenite, iar poveștile in poveste, fac din acest roman o lectură superba.
Ma ingretoseaza in general violența domestică, le condamn pe femeile care acceptă să trăiască sub aceasta teroare mai ales avand si copii care suferă aceleași traume si abuzuri fizice. Nu simt empatie, nici intelegere, nici macar mila, doar ciuda ca nu pot sa puna punct, neputința ca nu sunt îndeajuns de determinate ca sa se rupă de ceea ce traiesc, furie pentru ca nu gasesc in ele puterea sa o ia de la capat si sa le ofere lor si copiilor lor o viață liniștită, fără vanatai si inimi strânse de frica. Iar pe bărbații astea violenți, eu personal i-as denunța (asta e gândul pe care îl rostesc cu voce tare) pentru ca de fapt gândul secret este altul, ceea ce de fapt le-as face cu adevărat daca as putea.
Nu imi iese din minte imaginea cu mama lui Alice, ieșind din apa mării, cu corpul plin de vanatai, însărcinată fiind. Păi aia zic. Ce le-as face.
Cand Alice a acceptat violenta lui Dylan, (chiar si pentru putin timp) imi venea sa o iau la bataie. Cred ca asta a fost o lecție a autoarei pentru noi cititorii.
Altfel, cartea e construită foarte frumos, cu femei puternice, care înfruntă greutăți si gasesc frumos si viata in flori, în ciripit de păsări, în răsărit si in desert.
La final, am simțit speranța. Pana la urma lucrurile se așează si trecutul iese la iveală oricat de mult l-ai ascunde. Viața isi urmeaza cursul si familia e cea mai sfântă din lume. Recomand!
Ma ingretoseaza in general violența domestică, le condamn pe femeile care acceptă să trăiască sub aceasta teroare mai ales avand si copii care suferă aceleași traume si abuzuri fizice. Nu simt empatie, nici intelegere, nici macar mila, doar ciuda ca nu pot sa puna punct, neputința ca nu sunt îndeajuns de determinate ca sa se rupă de ceea ce traiesc, furie pentru ca nu gasesc in ele puterea sa o ia de la capat si sa le ofere lor si copiilor lor o viață liniștită, fără vanatai si inimi strânse de frica. Iar pe bărbații astea violenți, eu personal i-as denunța (asta e gândul pe care îl rostesc cu voce tare) pentru ca de fapt gândul secret este altul, ceea ce de fapt le-as face cu adevărat daca as putea.
Nu imi iese din minte imaginea cu mama lui Alice, ieșind din apa mării, cu corpul plin de vanatai, însărcinată fiind. Păi aia zic. Ce le-as face.
Cand Alice a acceptat violenta lui Dylan, (chiar si pentru putin timp) imi venea sa o iau la bataie. Cred ca asta a fost o lecție a autoarei pentru noi cititorii.
Altfel, cartea e construită foarte frumos, cu femei puternice, care înfruntă greutăți si gasesc frumos si viata in flori, în ciripit de păsări, în răsărit si in desert.
La final, am simțit speranța. Pana la urma lucrurile se așează si trecutul iese la iveală oricat de mult l-ai ascunde. Viața isi urmeaza cursul si familia e cea mai sfântă din lume. Recomand!
November 25, 2018
Depois desenvolvo, tenho que sentar-me e organizar ideias, sentimentos, tudo... Mas já adivinharam... ADOREI!
Opinião completa no canal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AThRd...
Opinião completa no blogue - https://osabordosmeuslivros.blogspot....
Opinião completa no canal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AThRd...
Opinião completa no blogue - https://osabordosmeuslivros.blogspot....
April 29, 2018
Guilt, grief, and the toxic effect of harbouring family secrets play out in this enchanting and heartfelt novel by debut Australian author, Holly Ringland. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story that orbits around wildflowers. The book itself is utterly gorgeous, from the cover through to the artwork detailed throughout. The chapters are each named for a specific wildflower/bush/grass that directly relates to the themes contained within. The meaning is given for each, along with a short description of the characteristics. This was a delightfully unique touch that culminated in greater importance by the end of the novel.
This is not a light story though and should be approached with caution if you’ve ever experienced family violence. The first 70 odd pages contain themes that may have a trigger effect for some readers. In saying this though, I will point out that Holly Ringland handled this with great sensitivity. There’s something about her writing though that really gets under your skin. It’s more in what she leaves unsaid than in any explicit renderings. The narrative sweeps along, visually appealing as well as deeply heartfelt. There were many moments throughout where I breaked from reading for reflection.
Character development is strong within this novel and we get a full range of personalities and interactions. Holly Ringland brought her characters to life with such vivid realism, and consequently, I found myself developing strong feelings for many. I felt protective of Alice, right the way through. I adored Candy and Twig, the two women who brought Alice up alongside her grandmother June, but as to June herself, I pretty much loathed her and thought she was incredibly selfish. She made some questionable choices – on more than one occasion – that had a detrimental effect on Alice’s well being. I really felt that much of what Alice went through in the latter part of the novel could be attributed to June’s dishonesty. Sally was a truly beautiful woman and I’m so glad she got the opportunity to play a greater part in Alice’s life. Sally did for Alice in adulthood what June should have done for her in childhood. Lulu was a fantastic friend and it gave me a lot of joy to see Alice make such a solid female friendship, a type of relationship that had been lacking in her life up until that point.
Alice is raised on an Australian wildflower farm, and her grandmother June teaches her the family tradition of speaking through flowers, something I found both beautiful and terrible all at once. Beautiful, because how lovely to be able to communicate a gesture or heartfelt moment with the right flower. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say, we just feel too much. But on the other hand, this family had communicated every important thing through flowers for so long that they no longer knew how to simply talk about the tough stuff, leading to terrible consequences and heartache for Alice. June hid her words behind flowers and let her own selfish desires determine her actions. It affected her son, Clem, and then reached into the next generation with Alice, who had difficulty as well with communicating when she really needed to. I liked how Alice overcame this at the end and made the language of flowers bend to her own will, using them to tell her story rather than using them to avoid confronting it.
I was disappointed to discover from the author notes that the setting that forms the backdrop of Alice working in the Outback was entirely made up. I understand why this is so, but the cultural history outlined and the description of the place held such a ring of truth that I was completely captivated by these parts. To find out after the fact that the place doesn’t exist was a bit of a let down. I read so much fiction inspired by fact that I’ve come to expect it with every novel now. On the flip side of this, the author details in her notes the lengths she went to in order to achieve this authenticity of setting and cultural presence, an impressive effort that certainly paid off. It may be made up, but it’s essence is grounded in truth.
All in all, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a deeply moving novel that will enchant, captivate, repel, and consume you all at once. I feel as though I haven’t even come close to covering all this novel contains but it is such an incredible story with so many themes and I��m loathe to delve too deep for fear of spoiling key plotlines. I’ll leave you now with my favourite scene of all, when a traumatised little girl first discovers the beauty of her new home.
“At the last window, Alice’s heart started racing. Behind the house and the shed, row upon row of different bushes and blooms stretched into fields for as far as she could see. She was surrounded by a sea of flowers.”
This is not a light story though and should be approached with caution if you’ve ever experienced family violence. The first 70 odd pages contain themes that may have a trigger effect for some readers. In saying this though, I will point out that Holly Ringland handled this with great sensitivity. There’s something about her writing though that really gets under your skin. It’s more in what she leaves unsaid than in any explicit renderings. The narrative sweeps along, visually appealing as well as deeply heartfelt. There were many moments throughout where I breaked from reading for reflection.
Character development is strong within this novel and we get a full range of personalities and interactions. Holly Ringland brought her characters to life with such vivid realism, and consequently, I found myself developing strong feelings for many. I felt protective of Alice, right the way through. I adored Candy and Twig, the two women who brought Alice up alongside her grandmother June, but as to June herself, I pretty much loathed her and thought she was incredibly selfish. She made some questionable choices – on more than one occasion – that had a detrimental effect on Alice’s well being. I really felt that much of what Alice went through in the latter part of the novel could be attributed to June’s dishonesty. Sally was a truly beautiful woman and I’m so glad she got the opportunity to play a greater part in Alice’s life. Sally did for Alice in adulthood what June should have done for her in childhood. Lulu was a fantastic friend and it gave me a lot of joy to see Alice make such a solid female friendship, a type of relationship that had been lacking in her life up until that point.
Alice is raised on an Australian wildflower farm, and her grandmother June teaches her the family tradition of speaking through flowers, something I found both beautiful and terrible all at once. Beautiful, because how lovely to be able to communicate a gesture or heartfelt moment with the right flower. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to say, we just feel too much. But on the other hand, this family had communicated every important thing through flowers for so long that they no longer knew how to simply talk about the tough stuff, leading to terrible consequences and heartache for Alice. June hid her words behind flowers and let her own selfish desires determine her actions. It affected her son, Clem, and then reached into the next generation with Alice, who had difficulty as well with communicating when she really needed to. I liked how Alice overcame this at the end and made the language of flowers bend to her own will, using them to tell her story rather than using them to avoid confronting it.
I was disappointed to discover from the author notes that the setting that forms the backdrop of Alice working in the Outback was entirely made up. I understand why this is so, but the cultural history outlined and the description of the place held such a ring of truth that I was completely captivated by these parts. To find out after the fact that the place doesn’t exist was a bit of a let down. I read so much fiction inspired by fact that I’ve come to expect it with every novel now. On the flip side of this, the author details in her notes the lengths she went to in order to achieve this authenticity of setting and cultural presence, an impressive effort that certainly paid off. It may be made up, but it’s essence is grounded in truth.
All in all, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a deeply moving novel that will enchant, captivate, repel, and consume you all at once. I feel as though I haven’t even come close to covering all this novel contains but it is such an incredible story with so many themes and I��m loathe to delve too deep for fear of spoiling key plotlines. I’ll leave you now with my favourite scene of all, when a traumatised little girl first discovers the beauty of her new home.
“At the last window, Alice’s heart started racing. Behind the house and the shed, row upon row of different bushes and blooms stretched into fields for as far as she could see. She was surrounded by a sea of flowers.”
May 5, 2018
From the spellbinding cover to the very last page, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this debut novel by Holly Ringland.
In the weatherboard house at the end of the lane, nine-year-old Alice Hart sat at her desk by the window and dreamed of ways to set her father on fire.
It's difficult to think of a more dramatic opening line, but this is how we meet our protagonist, Alice. She's a child living an isolated life by the sea with her gentle mother, who talks to the flowers in her garden, and a violent, jealous father who loves his wife so much she is constantly covered in bruises. When catastrophe visits the Hart family, Alice is taken inland to live with the grandmother she never knew she had, at Thornfield, a native flower farm. There Alice slowly comes to terms with her grief, and June vows not to make the same mistakes raising Alice, as she did raising her son - Alice's father.
The years pass and Alice's life is seemingly enmeshed in the farm, where she has learnt the language of native flowers just like all the women in her family that came before her. Love comes and goes, but on the night of a devastating storm, when Alice finds out that she has been betrayed, she abandons her life at Thornfield and flees to the central Australian desert. There she reinvents herself as a national park ranger and begins to think she may at last have found happiness.
Sometimes heartbreaking and at other times uplifting, this is a story about family, love, loss, regret and secrets. More than anything, Alice wanted to find out her own story, but it was the secrets kept by those who loved her most that prevented her from discovering who she was and where she came from.
I was totally absorbed in this story and read it slowly to prolong the enjoyment. I would have rated it higher, but towards the end, the story took a temporary detour that didn't sit well with me, leaving me feeling frustrated with Alice. Nevertheless I recommend it highly.
In the weatherboard house at the end of the lane, nine-year-old Alice Hart sat at her desk by the window and dreamed of ways to set her father on fire.
It's difficult to think of a more dramatic opening line, but this is how we meet our protagonist, Alice. She's a child living an isolated life by the sea with her gentle mother, who talks to the flowers in her garden, and a violent, jealous father who loves his wife so much she is constantly covered in bruises. When catastrophe visits the Hart family, Alice is taken inland to live with the grandmother she never knew she had, at Thornfield, a native flower farm. There Alice slowly comes to terms with her grief, and June vows not to make the same mistakes raising Alice, as she did raising her son - Alice's father.
The years pass and Alice's life is seemingly enmeshed in the farm, where she has learnt the language of native flowers just like all the women in her family that came before her. Love comes and goes, but on the night of a devastating storm, when Alice finds out that she has been betrayed, she abandons her life at Thornfield and flees to the central Australian desert. There she reinvents herself as a national park ranger and begins to think she may at last have found happiness.
Sometimes heartbreaking and at other times uplifting, this is a story about family, love, loss, regret and secrets. More than anything, Alice wanted to find out her own story, but it was the secrets kept by those who loved her most that prevented her from discovering who she was and where she came from.
I was totally absorbed in this story and read it slowly to prolong the enjoyment. I would have rated it higher, but towards the end, the story took a temporary detour that didn't sit well with me, leaving me feeling frustrated with Alice. Nevertheless I recommend it highly.
May 25, 2019
Four and a half stars.
Alice Hart has spent the first years of her life in an isolated place set between the sugar cane fields and the sea. Alice does not attend school in town but has lessons at home. She has only her parents and her dog for company. Her mother takes refuge from the anger and violence of the home situation in her flower garden. Both Alice and her mother live in tension and fear waiting for the next explosion of anger to erupt. When she is nine, Alice’s life takes a drastic turn after a tragic event. Alice goes to live with a grandmother she never knew existed. The shock of events renders Alice mute. Will she ever regain her voice? What will it take to break the silence? Her grandmother, June, has an Australian native flower farm. The flower farm is also a refuge for a group of women, known as the Flowers, who have been treated harshly by life. Secrecy surrounds Alice. What will it take unlock her family’s secrets and will she ever find love?
From its stunning cover, this book got me in. Unease and tension is threaded through the early chapters. Each chapter begins with an Australian flower, a description and its meaning. In some ways I did enjoy the first half of the book a bit more than the later chapters, possibly because at times I was so annoyed with the adult Alice and her choices. The fact that I kept yelling at her not to be stupid and wake up to herself, only goes to show how involved I was. There are some quirky characters, some totally unlikeable characters and others whose actions are hard to understand. Domestic violence is a feature in this book, as well as the consequences of choices which have far reaching effects.
The latter part of the book set in the Northern Territory is stunning in its portrayal of the land. I really enjoyed meeting some of the people in this section and learning a bit about indigenous people and their beliefs. I also loved all the native flower information. A couple of niggling questions for me at the end, but still an excellent read. An amazing debut novel. Will be keen to see what this author writes next.
Alice Hart has spent the first years of her life in an isolated place set between the sugar cane fields and the sea. Alice does not attend school in town but has lessons at home. She has only her parents and her dog for company. Her mother takes refuge from the anger and violence of the home situation in her flower garden. Both Alice and her mother live in tension and fear waiting for the next explosion of anger to erupt. When she is nine, Alice’s life takes a drastic turn after a tragic event. Alice goes to live with a grandmother she never knew existed. The shock of events renders Alice mute. Will she ever regain her voice? What will it take to break the silence? Her grandmother, June, has an Australian native flower farm. The flower farm is also a refuge for a group of women, known as the Flowers, who have been treated harshly by life. Secrecy surrounds Alice. What will it take unlock her family’s secrets and will she ever find love?
From its stunning cover, this book got me in. Unease and tension is threaded through the early chapters. Each chapter begins with an Australian flower, a description and its meaning. In some ways I did enjoy the first half of the book a bit more than the later chapters, possibly because at times I was so annoyed with the adult Alice and her choices. The fact that I kept yelling at her not to be stupid and wake up to herself, only goes to show how involved I was. There are some quirky characters, some totally unlikeable characters and others whose actions are hard to understand. Domestic violence is a feature in this book, as well as the consequences of choices which have far reaching effects.
The latter part of the book set in the Northern Territory is stunning in its portrayal of the land. I really enjoyed meeting some of the people in this section and learning a bit about indigenous people and their beliefs. I also loved all the native flower information. A couple of niggling questions for me at the end, but still an excellent read. An amazing debut novel. Will be keen to see what this author writes next.
January 24, 2023
vacation book #2 - review to come??? i promise i will come back to reviewing - i SWEAR!
March 13, 2019
📚”Herkesin ait olabileceği bir yere ve birine ihtiyacı vardır.”
📚Alice o günü, hayatını geri dönülmez şekilde değiştiren gün olarak hatırlayacaktı her daim, ancak anlaması yirmi yılını alacaktı: Hayat ileriye dönük yaşanır ancak geriye dönük algılanır. Tam ortasında dururken manzarayı görmek mümkün değildir.
Alice Hart’ın Kayıp Çiçekleri, ismi, kapağı ve konusuyla, çiçek seven herkesin dikkatini kolaylıkla çekecektir. Ben de içinde sevimli bir hikayeye eşlik eden, çiçekler böcekler bulacağımı düşünerek, hevesle okumaya başladım. Ama kitap hiç düşündüğüm gibi biraz hüzünlü, biraz eğlenceli bir hayat hikayesi değildi. O kadar çok gözlerimi dolduran, içimi titreten yerler vardı ki bitirdikten sonra düşüncelerim duygularım çok karışıktı. Alice’i ve genel hatlarıyla konuyu çok sevdim.
Benim için kitap 3 bölümden oluşmuştu. İlk 200 sayfayı, ağlamaklı bir halde, merakla okudum. Alice’in yaşadıkları, öyle ince bir çizgide, öyle güzel bir anlatımla yazılmıştı ki etkilenmemek mümkün değildi. Yaşananlarda ağır dram havası yoktu ama yoğun bir hüzün vardı. Sürekli kalbime minik minik iğneler batıyor, gözledim dolu dolu oluyordu.
Bu bölümde Alice’in, sırayla, 7-9-10 ve 18 yaşlarında başından geçen olaylar ve genelde hayatın acı yanlarıyla tanışması anlatılmıştı. Özellikle küçük bir çocukken yaşadıkları insanın tepkisiz kalamayacağı kadar can yakıcıydı. Sonunda June’un yanında konuşup gülümsediğinde, fiziksel bir rahatlama hissettim. Kitap bittiğinde ise Alice, gözlerimin önünde büyümüş bir çocuk gibiydi.😍
Çiftlikte, Alice’le birlikte, birçok kadının geçmişinin ve yıllardır süre gelen aile mirasının, farklı kişiler açısından anlatılması çok hoştu. 3. şahıs anlatımı olsa da, bir olaya hem Alice’in açısından hem de karşısındaki kişi açısından bakmak konuyu zenginleştirmişti bana göre. Thorfiled kadınlarının 4 kuşak süren hikayelerini kısa kısa da olsa okumak hoşuma gitti.
İkinci bölümde ise Alice artık 26 yaşındaydı ve hayatına yeni bir yön vermeye karar vermişti. Benim sorunum da sanırım bu bölümleydi. Çok duygusal, naif, farklı giden hikaye, sanki yazar değişmiş, kitabı yazan iki yazardan diğeri kalemi eline almış gibi değişti. Bu değişim bana göre olumlu bir yönde ilerleyemedi. Sanki ‘bir de bunu yaşatayım, bunu yaşamadan mutlu sona kavuşmasın, kaderinde bu da varmış’ der gibi bir 140 sayfa yazılmıştı.
Bu bölümde her şeyin toparlanacağını, Alice’in tam anlamıyla olgunluk dönemiyle birlikte kendini bulacağını düşünmüştüm. Ama onun yerine bambaşka olaylar gelişti, işler hiç beklemediğim bir şekilde karıştı. 2. bölümde yazar, daha çok tanımak istediğim ve ‘acaba Alice için mutluluğunun, huzurunun anahtarı bu kişi olabilir mi’ diye düşündüğüm bir karakteri de bana göre çok yüzeysel yazmıştı.
Son bölüm ise her şeyin bir şekilde toparlandığı ve bilmek istediklerimin büyük bir kısmının açıklandığı bölümdü ve çook kısaydı. 30 sayfada, 340 sayfa boyunca dağıttığı 20 yıllık hikayeyi, sırları, gizemleri, soruları-cevapları toplamaya çalışmıştı. Bunun sonucunda da yazar yine en sevmediğim şeyi yapmış, beni 370 sayfanın sonunda tatmin edici bir epilogtan mahrum bırakmıştı. Sanki Alice’in bundan sonraki hayatının başlangıcı, okuyucunun hayal gücüne bırakılmıştı. Bu kadar çektiği çileden sonra, dolu dolu mutlu olduğunu hissettiğim, onunla birlikte gülümsediğim bir son okumak isterdim.
Aslında hiç sıkılmadan, merak ederek okudum ama kitap için akıcıydı diyemeyeceğim. Bunun en önemli nedeni ilk bölümün farklı kişilerin açılarından anlatılması ve konunun dağınık işlenmesiydi. Ama ben, farklı hikayeler ve bakış açıları içeren anlatımı sevdim, beni rahatsız etmedi.
Bir diğer sebebi de kitabın çevirisiydi. Avustralya’da geçen kitapta, yerel bazı kelimeler, hitap şekilleri ya da yerel halka özgü bazı isimler kullanılmıştı ve bu kelimelerin anlamları ya da ne oldukları dip notla belirtilmemişti. Mesela en sık kullanılanlardan birisi “kakadu” kelimesiydi ve bu kelimenin Avustralya’da bir papağan türü olduğuna dair hiçbir açıklama yoktu. Bu tarz kelimeleri, okuyucunun bildiği var sayılmış ya da cümlenin işleyişinde anlaması beklenmişti. Çevirideki en büyük hatalardan bir diğeri de, June’un, Alice’in babaannesi, anneannesi ve büyükannesi olarak, farklı farklı çevrilmiş olmasıydı. Bu tarz yanlışlar ve özensiz çeviri, duygusal bölümlerde çok umursamasam da kitabın akıcılığını ciddi anlamda etkiledi. Buna rağmen orijinal kapak ve orijinal isim kullanarak, doğru bir seçim yaptığı için yayınevini ayrıca tebrik ederim.
Biraz hüzünlü, biraz tahmin edilebilir ama yine de içinde değişik bir hikaye barındıran, bol bol çiçek türleri hakkında bilgi veren, daha önce hiç duymadığım kır çiçekleriyle, anlamlarıyla ve bilgileriyle dolu bir kitap okumak isteyen herkese tavsiye ederim.
August 15, 2020
Tikriausiai kaip ir daugelis kitų jau skaičiusiųjų pirmiausiai norėčiau pagirti šios knygos viršelį 🥰 Baltos lankos tikrai pasistengė ✨ Nori nenori, bet rankos tarsi pačios tiesiasi paimti šią knygą. O smagiausia tas, jog ne tik šios knygos viršelis man patiko, o ir tai kas slypi jos viduje.
Alisa Hart nuo pat mažens pažįsta tik savo tėvų ūkį bei jį supančias apylinkes. Jos tėvas gana despotiškas žmogus. Tačiau Alisai visa tai ištverti padeda jos motinos besąlygiška meilė.
Hartų šeimą ištinka siaubinga nelaimė, tuomet visas devynmetės mergaitės apsiverčia aukštyn kojomis. Ji iškeliauja gyventi pas savo senelę, kurios gyvenime nebuvo nei akyse regėjusi.
Alisa atsiduria savo senelės Džunės gėlių ūkyje. Čia mergaitė atranda ramybę.
Deja, bet mergaitei ir čia likimas nepagaili išbandymų.. Alisa iškeliauja į laukinę Australiją. Ji ten tikisi atrasti savo vietą bei suvokti, ko nori iš gyvenimo.
Kaip man patiko ši knyga! Pirmiausiai bravo autorei, nes skaitant knygą jauti, kaip ji alsuote alsuoja Australijos dvasia. Nuostabūs kraštovaizdžio aprašymai, o kur dar kiekviename skyriuje aprašyta vis kitokia Australijos gėlė. Mane tai labai sužavėjo 😍
Pati Alisos istorija nebuvo iš lengvųjų, nors ir skaudi istorija, tačiau knyga verta kiekvieno perskaityto puslapio. Tarp šios knygos puslapių autorė suguldė tiek daug.. Draugystės, išdavystės, smurto bei paslapčių temas. Daugiau nesinori Jums atskleisti bei sugadinti visą skaitymo malonumą.
Man ši istorija buvo tarsi tyro oro gurkšnis. Tiesiog skaičiau ir mėgaujausi. Jau dabar žinau, jog šią knygą pasiliksiu savo namų bibliotekoje ❤️📚
Alisa Hart nuo pat mažens pažįsta tik savo tėvų ūkį bei jį supančias apylinkes. Jos tėvas gana despotiškas žmogus. Tačiau Alisai visa tai ištverti padeda jos motinos besąlygiška meilė.
Hartų šeimą ištinka siaubinga nelaimė, tuomet visas devynmetės mergaitės apsiverčia aukštyn kojomis. Ji iškeliauja gyventi pas savo senelę, kurios gyvenime nebuvo nei akyse regėjusi.
Alisa atsiduria savo senelės Džunės gėlių ūkyje. Čia mergaitė atranda ramybę.
Deja, bet mergaitei ir čia likimas nepagaili išbandymų.. Alisa iškeliauja į laukinę Australiją. Ji ten tikisi atrasti savo vietą bei suvokti, ko nori iš gyvenimo.
Kaip man patiko ši knyga! Pirmiausiai bravo autorei, nes skaitant knygą jauti, kaip ji alsuote alsuoja Australijos dvasia. Nuostabūs kraštovaizdžio aprašymai, o kur dar kiekviename skyriuje aprašyta vis kitokia Australijos gėlė. Mane tai labai sužavėjo 😍
Pati Alisos istorija nebuvo iš lengvųjų, nors ir skaudi istorija, tačiau knyga verta kiekvieno perskaityto puslapio. Tarp šios knygos puslapių autorė suguldė tiek daug.. Draugystės, išdavystės, smurto bei paslapčių temas. Daugiau nesinori Jums atskleisti bei sugadinti visą skaitymo malonumą.
Man ši istorija buvo tarsi tyro oro gurkšnis. Tiesiog skaičiau ir mėgaujausi. Jau dabar žinau, jog šią knygą pasiliksiu savo namų bibliotekoje ❤️📚
October 31, 2018
Nem tenho palavras para descrever o turbilhão de pensamentos e sentimentos que este livro me despertou. Um livro que vai mudar a vida de qualquer um.
Opinião completa no blog: lostinmyownworldofbooks.wordpress.com...
Opinião completa no blog: lostinmyownworldofbooks.wordpress.com...
August 28, 2018
3.5 STARS - Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to House of Anansi Press for providing me with a complimentary copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
When I first began this debut novel by Australian author Holly Ringland, its eye-catching cover and its engaging beginning impressed me immediately. Filled with family tragedy and a young heroine readers could get behind, I quickly understood why this book was such a hit in Australia.
Throughout the book there are beautiful sketches of flowers native to Australia as well as tidbits of info on them that some readers will enjoy. The book has three distinct parts and I was most riveted with the first third of the book as we witness Alice's tumultuous and often abusive childhood. The second part is filled with her new life on a flower farm with her grandmother and a bunch of lost souls where she learns more about her parents' early relationship. Many characters are introduced, some just pop in and others we're given a brief background, but there were some (specifically, Twig, Candy Baby and June) whose contribution to the story felt too brief.
Unfortunately, I found the last third of the book to be weak. It strayed too far from the feeling of the first two-thirds of the book and had a distinctly overly melodramatic feel. More characters are introduced (oh how I wish Moss had a bigger role!) and Alice became someone I almost didn't recognize; she was irritating, immature and made obviously bad decisions. Unfortunately, this part of the story did not grip me as the earlier parts of the book and I found the ending to be predictable.
My feelings seem to be all over the place with this book. The parts I enjoyed were fantastic and overall, this is an impressive coming-of-age debut that tackles some larger issues. The descriptive writing brings readers into two beautiful and distinct parts of Australia. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart has a family saga feel to it. I just wish it had more depth to some of its characters and a stronger ending.
When I first began this debut novel by Australian author Holly Ringland, its eye-catching cover and its engaging beginning impressed me immediately. Filled with family tragedy and a young heroine readers could get behind, I quickly understood why this book was such a hit in Australia.
Throughout the book there are beautiful sketches of flowers native to Australia as well as tidbits of info on them that some readers will enjoy. The book has three distinct parts and I was most riveted with the first third of the book as we witness Alice's tumultuous and often abusive childhood. The second part is filled with her new life on a flower farm with her grandmother and a bunch of lost souls where she learns more about her parents' early relationship. Many characters are introduced, some just pop in and others we're given a brief background, but there were some (specifically, Twig, Candy Baby and June) whose contribution to the story felt too brief.
Unfortunately, I found the last third of the book to be weak. It strayed too far from the feeling of the first two-thirds of the book and had a distinctly overly melodramatic feel. More characters are introduced (oh how I wish Moss had a bigger role!) and Alice became someone I almost didn't recognize; she was irritating, immature and made obviously bad decisions. Unfortunately, this part of the story did not grip me as the earlier parts of the book and I found the ending to be predictable.
My feelings seem to be all over the place with this book. The parts I enjoyed were fantastic and overall, this is an impressive coming-of-age debut that tackles some larger issues. The descriptive writing brings readers into two beautiful and distinct parts of Australia. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart has a family saga feel to it. I just wish it had more depth to some of its characters and a stronger ending.
February 28, 2024
O carte atât de impresionantă, de poetică dar și atât de dură și reală în același timp. Cu siguranță o să rămână cu mine mult timp de acum înainte.
October 21, 2023
This book has a special place in my heart since the owner of Book Lounge Port Douglas, the most charming bookstore we visited in Australia, was so enthusiastic about this book that he gave me a copy for free! It is lovely, with each chapter beginning with the description and meaning of an Australian wildflower, which the characters use to communicate when words fail them. The settings are very evocative, particularly the Red Centre, and reminded me of places we visited on vacation. Nevertheless, domestic violence is hard to read about even when characters overcome their traumatic pasts.
September 12, 2020
Честно казано не ми се губи време да пиша за тази книга. Спокойно може да бъде обобщена като тежка скука и клишета. Иначе темата е важна - насилие в семейството. Но това далеч не е достатъчно, за да се получи смислено четиво.
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