Review: The Secret Book of Flora Lea

The Secret Book of Flora Lea was a bit of a mystery for me before I read it. I was told it was one I would probably very much enjoy so I went into reading Patti Callahan Henry’s latest novel with cautious optimism. It won’t hit my favourites list but I was intrigued by the story from start to finish.

Here’s the book’s description:

1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora evacuate their London home for a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her younger sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their Whisperwood.
But the unthinkable happens when Flora suddenly vanishes after playing near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood.
Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore for a career at Sotheby’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, her future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars . Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to her beloved sister’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that Flora is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play?

This was a good read - and I'll definitely read more from the author - but I found it a bit...lacking, I think. I was invested in the story and the mystery but the characters seemed more two dimensional than I would have liked. It was like…I cared about finding out what happened to Flora far more than I cared about Flora herself. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted a happy ending for the characters because I’m not a monster. But the plot and atmosphere, as well as the research and history, far outstripped the characterization in this book.

While set, in part, during World War II, this novel is more about the people and the fallout of war than the war itself. The impact was brutal on the battlefield but those left at home had their own particular horrors to deal with. Hazel and especially Flora are so young during the war that their experiences were vastly different than those of the adults around them - and the adults I’ve read about in countless other historical fiction tales. I appreciated that aspect of the story - getting to “see” what it would have been like for young kids and teens during WWII. I’ve also been enjoying more stories set just after WWII recently. It wasn’t just “poof the war is over and everything is back to normal.” I don’t think I ever really thought that but there was so much more rebuilding - literally and figuratively - to do after VE Day and that took years. While the second timeline was well after the war, there were still a lot of emotional traumas stemming from wartime that hadn’t yet been dealt with.

I did enjoy that this novel was a bit of an homage to fairy tales and books and stories in general. It perhaps veered too much into feeling like a fairy tale but I appreciated it nonetheless. Stories have immense power. I don’t need to tell you that. You’re reading a book review on a blog dedicated solely to books. But this novel really hits home how important stories and books are and the impact they can have on someone, even years after they first hear it.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this new historical fiction novel from Patti Callahan Henry and it gave me some Kate Morton vibes. Overall, I enjoyed The Secret Book of Flora Lea and think others who like some of the slower historical fiction stories will also like it.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*