📖 Book Club Book Review 📖 Thank you to @simonandschuster @bookclubfavorites for my #gifted finished copy to read and review! We picked this as a @bookfriendsbookclub May pick so it came in super handy 😉
Story Telling. Comforting. Magical. Mysterious. Heartbreaking. Hopeful.
Author Patti Callahan Henry excels at creating an atmosphere in a story and The Secret Book of Flora Lea was no different. Told in a dual timeline, as I was reading, I almost felt like I was the main character Hazel experiencing every situation and emotion!
Have you ever heard of Operation Pied Piper? In war-torn London of 1939 children were being sent to rural villages to escape the war. Fourteen year Hazel and five year old Flora were sent to Oxford and were chosen by Birdie and her son Harry to live on their farm. Naturally war and being away from family was terrifying for young Flora, so big sister Hazel create a magical fairy tale story called ‘Whisperwood’ for them to escape too. Until one day Flora actual goes missing…
Fast forward to 1960 London where Hazel never got over losing her sister and is living a very simple life post college by working in a cozy rare bookstore that acquires collectible merchandise. What stumbles on Hazel’s desk? A book called ‘Whisperwoood’ by an American author and artwork that is of two sisters! When she reads the story it sounds an awful bit like her story! What! How? Could Flora be alive!?! Hazel is determined to find out…
“Telling stories is one of the greatest powers we possess. It’s like a dream you can fill with what you want. And the knight doesn’t always have to save the princess; sometimes she saves herself.”
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book is phenomenally written and sometimes it’s just about the feeling a book gives you and this book gave me the feels. I loved the story telling, the magical feeling, the quest for answers, and the little bit of history too. And, I say it time and time again, but the testament of a great author is how well the write secondary characters and there were some great ones in this book. I really enjoyed Hazel’s best friend Kelty, in particular. I highly recommend this book!
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