I read Patti Callahan Henry's novel The Secret Book of Flora Lea (#1,203) because she will be a guest author at our upcoming BookMania!. If it hadn't been for that, I never would have bothered to finish it.
The premise is that a young woman working at a rare book shop in London in 1960 receives a first edition children's book from America with its accompanying original illustrations. The whole package is expected to fetch a pretty price for the shop's owners. Hazel Linden is convinced that the book's title, Whisperwood and the River of Stars means that her six-year old sister, lost many years ago during WWII when they were evacuated to a village on the banks of the Thames, is still alive. Whisperwood was their own private world, not to be shared with anyone. So how could the author have stumbled upon this title. Could it be Flora Lea? Hazel is so determined to find out the truth that she steals the book.
Personally, I found Hazel to be an incredibly selfish and self-centered character. She has blinders on when it comes to Flora Lea. Her loss is Hazel's fault alone, therefore, only she can make it right. Blah, blah, blah. Not a fan of Ms. Callahan's work, but plenty of others seem to like it. Every book has its reader, after all.
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