Books & Java

A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers  

by Hazel Gaynor

Synopsis:

In 1912, twenty-year-old Tilly Harper leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London, to become assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls. For years, the home has cared for London’s flower girls—orphaned and crippled children living on the grimy streets and selling posies of violets and watercress to survive.

Soon after she arrives, Tilly discovers a diary written by an orphan named Florrie—a young Irish flower girl who died of a broken heart after she and her sister, Rosie, were separated. Moved by Florrie’s pain and all she endured in her brief life, Tilly sets out to discover what happened to Rosie. But the search will not be easy. Full of twists and surprises, it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places, including the depths of her own heart.

My Review:

I absolutely love how Hazel Gaynor writes. She writes such humanity and reality in every single character. Whether you hate or love the character it is because you can truly understand them. A Memory of Violets is the story of two sets of sisters whose relationships, although unique, demonstrate the strength of the sibling bond. The story, as the subtitle indicates, is a story about the flower sellers of London. I thought of My Fair Lady and Eliza being a flower girl in London so immediately I was engaged. Two sisters (one blind and the other with a handicap - Flora and Rosie) are separated. One goes off to a home designed to give the handicapped homeless girls of London an opportunity to better their opportunities and chances to work and develop a skill. The other sister is adopted by a wealthy family and grows up to forget her childhood in the streets of London. Their stories become more distant year after year. We fast forward some 40 years later and we are introduced to two other sisters. One, Tilly, is leaving home to become a house mother at one of the homes for flower girls - Home for Watercress and Flower Girls - and the other stays home after a horse riding accident that leaves her in a wheelchair. The two stories become intertwined. Reading this book was so enjoyable. It was heartbreaking and sad at times but had a great overriding message about the strong bond and love between siblings that no matter how far apart they might be or how their lives take different paths, they always come back to reunite (even if metaphorically). Beautiful story. Beautiful writing. Hazel Gaynor is one of my favorite writers.