The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Paperback – August 7, 2018

Starting with the gorgeous cover, kudos to Hazel Lam! The book by Holly Ringland is also gorgeous. The words are lovely and wrap themselves around you with warmth. The stories from many cultures is welcome. I have never been to Australia and love the description of the land and sea. This book is well deserving of its 5 stars and I am excited to read more from this author.Separately I would like to comment on the movie adaptation starring Sigourney Weaver. Unfortunately, I stumbled across the movie first and fell in love with how beautifully it was filmed. I loved Twig, with her maternal instincts and unfaltering love of June and all her demons. I loved Candy Blue and her eclectic look and yearning for acceptance. I mourned for Sally when Alice didn’t choose her. Then watching the credits, I see that this lovely movie was inspired by a book and I immediately purchased it. Inspired, yes. Was the movie like the book? Not at all. The writer of the movie basically changed everything Holly wrote. Twisted many of the characters lives to be more “on trend”, changed ages, changed the way characters died and the way they lived. I understand 100% that Holly probably had not much to do with that and probably agonizing that her story was twisted in such a way. I say all that to say this: please read the book first! If you stumble on the movie first then please put it fully out of your mind when you read the book as it is SO different. Both are beautiful but the movie now makes me angry for twisting how June got pregnant and for making something more of the love between June and Twig. The movie would have been better without those changes.

I loved the story and the writing for the most part. I felt the writing wavered at times and became almost sophomoric. The character seemed so strong and then plummeted. Overall, I enjoyed the read.

For anyone who loves gardening as well as a beautiful story, this book is a page turner. So poignant and lovingly written. I highly recommend it!

Great reading love the BulgarianSubject line as a have adoptedA brilliant son from this country.Love love love

Tw: varying kinds of abuse throughout the book.While the author is incredibly talented, I'm really sorry that I bought the book. I liked the main character but most of the other characters were toxic. I'm not even going to go into the physically abusive characters. First there's her grandmother & extended family who keep all these secrets, about things that she needs to know, most for no discernable reason. Next she goes off and makes some "friends" who end up being terrible friends. So, more lies and betrayal. The last part of the book was nice but left A LOT of different storylines unexplained.

I believe the experiences of the characters are things that really happen but found it disconcerting and at times frustrating. The story is well written and I do recommend the book with the caveat to be aware that it contains abusive situations.

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!

I am an avid reader - this nonfiction book was unique in its setting (Australia) and in the use of a native flower or plant to introduce each chapter. Engaging story and characters.