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A Memory of Violets:
A
Novel of London’s Flower Sellers
By: Hazel Gaynor
Releasing February 3rd, 2015
William Morrow
Blurb
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling
author Hazel Gaynor comes a beautiful historical novel about Tilly Harper, a young
woman who finds the diary of an orphaned flower seller who was separated from
her sister in Victorian England, and her journey to learn the fate of the long
lost sisters. Gaynor’s research into the events that inspire her novels is
outstanding, and the world of the Victorian flower sellers on the streets of
London in the late 1800s is utterly fascinating.
In 1912, twenty-one-year-old Tilly
Harper leaves her sheltered home in the Lake District for a position as
assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls in
London. Orphaned and crippled girls wander the twisted streets with posies of
violets and cress to sell to the passing ladies and gentleman, and the Flower
Homes provide a place for them to improve their lives of hardship.
When Tilly arrives at Mr. Shaw’s safe haven, she discovers a diary that tells the story of Florrie, a young Irish flower girl who died of a broken heart after being separated from her sister Rosie. Tilly makes it her mission to find out what happened to young Rosie, and in the process learns about the workings of her own heart.
Excerpt
London. March, 1876
Mammy
once told me that all flowers are beautiful, but some are more beautiful than
others. “Same with babies,” she said, ’cause I was after saying that little
baby Rosie looked like a rotten old turnip, what with her face all purple and
scrunched up. “All babies look like rotten old turnips at first,” Mammy said.
“She’ll be all smoothed out by Lady Day. You wait and see.”
She
was, too. All smoothed out. After turning into a real pretty little thing she
was then, ’specially with that hair. Red as the flames in the costers’ smudge
pot fires.
“Sure,
there’s no denying the Irish in that one.” That’s what Da said. Don’t think he
ever spoke about Rosie again. Barely noticed her, other than to let out a roar
at her or give her a wallop when she was after bawling too much. Awful mean to
Little Sister, so he was, so I gave her all the love I could find in my heart,
to try and make things nicer for her, like.
Truth
be told, I loved little Rosie Flynn from the very first minute I set eyes on
her—even with her squashed-up turnip face. I’d never had nothing of my own, not
until Little Sister was born—my very own sister, what had lived. Not like them
other poor babies what had been born all blue and quiet. Like wilted violets
after the frosts, so they were. But not little Rosie. Pink as a carnation she
was, bawlin’ good ’n’ proper in her vegetable pallet cradle, and there I was,
smiling at her like a great eejit. Loved her to bits, so I did.
When
Rosie was small, Mammy’d throw her into the shallow with the stock money and
we’d head off to Covent Garden in the soot-black dark. You’ve to get to the
Garden good ’n’ early, see—four or five o’clock—so as to get the pick of the
best blooms after the shopkeepers have bought their stock. We’d leave our cold,
stinking room at Rosemary Court and walk by the light of the gas lamps, Rosie’s
little turnip face peeping out o’ the basket and Mammy striding along like a
great ox.
“Keep
up, will ye, Florrie Flynn,” she’d shout over her shoulder. “For the love of
God, it’ll be Christmas before we get there at this rate.”
And
I’d gallop along behind, clinging to her skirts so as not to get lost or
snatched away by one of them bad men what takes little children and teaches
them thievin’ and such—like the natty lads. As unsteady as a tune on a
hurdy-gurdy machine, so I was, going up and down, up and down, my good leg
dragging my bad one along as best it could. Awful painful it was, for me to
walk. My leg won’t grow proper, see, ’cause of the polio I had as a baby. I’ve
an old stick for a crutch, but it’s about as much use as a frozen water pump.
Link to Follow Tour: http://www.tastybooktours.com/2014/11/a-memory-of-violets-novel-of-londons.html
Goodreads
Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21936857-a-memory-of-violets?from_search=true
Author Info
Hazel Gaynor’s 2014 debut novel THE GIRL
WHO CAME HOME – A Novel of the Titanic was a New York
Times and USA Today bestseller. A MEMORY OF VIOLETS is her
second novel.
Hazel writes a popular guest
blog ‘Carry on Writing’ for national Irish writing website writing.ie and
contributes regular feature articles for the site, interviewing authors such
as Philippa Gregory, Sebastian Faulks, Cheryl Strayed,
Rachel Joyce and Jo Baker, among others.
Hazel was the recipient of
the 2012 Cecil Day Lewis award for Emerging Writers and was selected by Library Journal as one of
Ten Big Breakout Authors for 2015. She appeared as a guest speaker at the Romantic Novelists’ Association and Historical
Novel Society annual conferences in 2014.
Originally from Yorkshire, England, Hazel now lives in Ireland with her
husband and two children.
For more information, visit Hazel’s website at http://www.hazelgaynor.com/ or Facebook
page https://www.facebook.com/hazelgaynorbooks or follow her
on Twitter @HazelGaynor
My Review:
The language of flowers has always interested me. There is something about the specific petals and colors of flowers, that they all remind me of something different. The book had really pretty pictures and I was instantly brought back to the Victorian era. I have read enough victorian novels to know that the disabled/orphaned were hidden from society. This book is the other side of that. What happens to the people that con not work? Especially children? They end up selling goods on the street. This story is about the kids that sold flowers, and about a women that wants to right the past. Tilly finds a sellers journal and how the writer was heart broken from losing her sister. Having sisters myself, I could relate to the special bond that only sisters can share. The author's knowledge of this time period was superb, and I really enjoyed traveling back in time with her, There were two plots, Tilly's and Florrie, and the go back and forth throughout the book. It was done in such a way that they flowed together nicely. I really liked the ending and I hope that this author writes more books! I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.
Giveaway
(3 copies of THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME by Hazel Gaynor)
(3 copies of THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME by Hazel Gaynor)
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