Is The Secret Book of Flora Lea ©2023 by Patti Callahan Henry a good book? Yes. Did I enjoy it? In retrospect, not so much. The basic plot of this book is that of a mystery. Fourteen-year-old Hazel and her five-year-old younger sister Flora Lea are separated from their mother and evacuated to the British countryside to escape the bombings of London in 1939. Flora Lea goes missing one day during their sheltered time in the countryside. The general belief, without any confirming evidence, is that Flora Lea drowned in the river. Any missing child is devastating for the family and community, not to mention depressing for the reader.
Twenty years later Hazel comes across a book about a mythical land called Whisperwood. The jarring fact is that Hazel had made up that place to calm her little sister in times of stress. It was their secret place to escape. Had Flora written that book? Was she still alive? This premise intrigued me. A quote from the Washington Post comments succinctly on The Secret Book of Flora Lea.
Henry deftly examines the bonds of sisterhood while seamlessly melding the horrors of war with the comfort of fairy tales.
So, other than the missing child, why was my enjoyment somewhat diminished? I did do this book a disservice by my intermittent and rushed reading pattern. It was overdue at the library so I tried to snatch bits of time to get through it rather than taking the time to immerse myself in the story. I also dislike the genre of novels set in times of war, a very popular scenario it seems to me these days. Granted, the war element in this novel was not extremely graphic. After all, the girls had been sent away to the country to avoid the horrors. But the emotional drain throughout the novel I found unsettling.
The book keeps jumping between two timelines, twenty years apart. In this particular novel, the author does an effective job of keeping me unconfused. However, secretly, it bugs me that many authors today appear to feel that multiple timelines are a necessity; I think they are overused.Yes, I realize that per AI Google results...
Authors often use multiple timelines in a book to add depth and complexity to the story by allowing them to explore different points in time, reveal character backstories, show how past events impact the present, and create a richer narrative experience for the reader
I had previously been exposed to the stories of the children evacuated during that horrid time in London. I'd read up about their experiences when I made two Paddington Bear quilts for my daughter's twin nephews in the summer of 2021. Paddington Counts (left image) is described in my DianeLoves2Quilt blog as the 8/28/21 post and There Goes Paddington (right image) is discussed in the 9/7/21 post. Paddington Bear had been modeled after a teddy bear in a gift shop in a London train station from which children had been evacuated during WWII, suitcase in hand and name tag around the neck. Patti Callahan Henry did an excellent job of imagining how those children would have felt, waiting, nervous and afraid, during the selection process for which country home they were destined. The discomfort, wariness, and homesickness of the children in their new temporary home was well portrayed and tangible.
On the human relations side, the bond between the sisters was heartfelt and a joy to read. Hazel's determination to act as both comforting mother and loyal sister to the young Flora Leas was admirable. There was a romantic interest on Hazel's part in both timelines that held my curiosity, guessing the outcome, even outside that of the inherent mystery. The main and secondary characters both were well-developed. Patti Callahan Henry managed to stretch out the resolution of the mystery to the very last pages and the ending was satisfying. The addition of a short epilogue was appreciated, too.
Circling back to my initial statement of reduced enjoyment of this book, I myself am somewhat puzzled why: sisterly relationship was a plus, character development was a plus, plot complexity was a plus, prolonging of mystery was a plus, mystery resolution was a plus, the dual timeline was well handled. I suspect I just could not get over the angst of a missing child. The book was unsettling, but it was well worth the read.
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