Patti Callahan Henry
Fiction 2023 | 350 pages
"Not very long ago and not very far away, there was and still is an invisible place right here with us."
On the last day, in the last hour, of her 15-year job at Hogan's Rare Book Shoppe in Bloomsbury, England, Hazel Linden opens a package that was mailed to the store, and in it she finds a first edition and original illustrations of a book that takes her breath away and is about to change her life. The title: Whisperwood and the River of Stars by Peggy Andrews (whoever she is!) The Secret Book of Flora Lea is, in some way, reminiscent of The Echo of Old Books (see Dusty Shelves, September 2024).
Hazel knows the quote above, and all about Whisperwood, because it is her story, from her imagination shared only with her sister Flora. She started each tale about Whipserwood with these words, and Henry starts this book with the same words.
Hazel (14) and Flora (6) were "vaccies." They were sent away to a temporary home that was far away from London to keep them safe from dropping bombs in 1939. They were fortunate; they ended up in a home with a mom who loved them, and a “brother” named Harry. Their real mom visited them often, and they stayed safe from much devastation and death in London.
But one day her little sister Flora disappears and isn’t seen again. The police think she drowned in the river, but her body is never found. The time in this book travels between 1939 and 1960. So we see Hazel and Flora during the war, and we see Hazel (the main character) in 1960, having found this book that tells the story that she made up and no one knows about except Flora.
So, of course, the essential question is, “Is Flora sill alive? Did she write this book?” And that’s what we witness as we read this tale, which the author calls historical fiction because of the truth around the evacuees and children who become lost. We witness her search for the answers, while we experience the love she still holds for her younger sister.
I LOVED this book! The story; the development of Hazel as a character; the intrigue in finding the answer to “Is Flora dead?”; as well as excellent and engaging writing all combine to make it a page turner. I may suggest it for book club next year.
I absolutely recommend reading The Secret Book of Flora Lea. The author has written 20 books. I just requested her last book, which has only been out six weeks, at the library, If you have read any of her straight fiction or her historical fiction, please let us know in the comments section!
May 2025