Book Synopsis:
The Lost Bookshop meets The Keeper of Stories in this utterly heart-warming story about friendship, hope and a mystery hidden in the language of flowers…
The smallest treasures can hold the biggest mysteries…
One year after her husband’s death Emma has become a wallflower, hiding among the brighter blooms in the florist where she works.
But when a colleague invites her to a talk on the Titanic, she begins a quest to uncover who arranged the flowers on board.
As Emma discovers the lost story of the girl and the great ship, she realises that flowers may unlock long buried secrets in her own life…
Will she be able to unlock the mystery of the Titanic and heal her heart too?
My Review:
The Secret Of Flowers is an gentle, absorbing dual time line read that I really enjoyed.
The Story follows Emma as she tries to deal with the loss of her husband while trying to get her life back together and a young stewardess that worked on the Titanic. Out of the two timelines I did prefer Emma’s story as the Titanic has always fascinated me so I enjoyed finding out more about what life on board was like. I found it fascinating to learn more about their role on the ship and to discover more about what might have contributed to the sinking of the titanic. I hadn’t heard the Titanic being described as ‘a ship full of flowers’ before so I enjoyed learning more about the different ways flowers were used on board. The Stewardess life seemed like a hard one and it made my blood boil to see how she was treated by some of the people on board.
It took me a while to warm to Emma as I couldn’t understand why she was acting how she was at the beginning. This did change as I learnt more about her history and I actually ended up feeling very sorry for her in the end as her grief is very raw. It was lovely to see Emma grow more confident in herself and watch her friendships with the lovely Len, Betty and Tamas grow.
I thought this book had a slower pace to it but I didn’t mind as I was just enjoying hanging out with the fabulous characters. The author has clearly done her research and I enjoyed learning more about a stewardess’s life on board ships at that time as well as exploring Cambridge alongside Emma. The two timelines slowly come together and I loved following Emma as she solves the mystery of the florist on the Titanic.
Huge thanks to Indie Thinking and Harper Collins for sending me a copy of this book.
About The Author:
After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. However, in her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. She soon came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and eventually she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, she continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.
In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. The novel sold over half a million copies in the UK and was translated into 29 languages, making Sally a Sunday Times Bestseller. It was also shortlisted for British Book of the Year.
Sally’s second novel, The Book of Beginnings, was launched in September 2023. It is a story about the power of friendship – and reflects her love of fountain pens and stationery. Sally is currently editing Book 3 due out in August 2024.
Sally lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her youngest daughter is the author, Libby Page.
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