Review: A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor

A Memory of Violets

by Hazel Gaynor

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 400

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  In 1912, twenty-year-old Tilly Harper leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London, to become assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls. For years, the home has cared for London’s flower girls—orphaned and crippled children living on the grimy streets and selling posies of violets and watercress to survive.

Soon after she arrives, Tilly discovers a diary written by an orphan named Florrie—a young Irish flower girl who died of a broken heart after she and her sister, Rosie, were separated. Moved by Florrie’s pain and all she endured in her brief life, Tilly sets out to discover what happened to Rosie. But the search will not be easy. Full of twists and surprises, it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places, including the depths of her own heart.


Kritters Thoughts:  Two parallel stories are happening in this book and they intermix and mingle at interesting times.  One follows Tilly Harper who has taken a job as a house mother at a home for girls who are orphaned and crippled and are able to make fake flowers to sell to ladies of the time.  The other story is a former flower girl who has died and died looking for her sister that she lost and could never find.

I absolutely adored each storyline and the way the author wove them together.  Tilly's story was easier to read only due to her lack of accent and ability to form real sentences, although I appreciated the authenticity of Florrie's telling her own story in her own words - it just took me quite a bit longer to read her chapters!  I loved when Rosie's perspective was introduced and the reader was able to see her side of the story, I wasn't sure that I was ever going to get it and was so glad when I did!

I loved learning about a true person in history with a fiction twist.  It was so interesting to read about the girls from the street finding a new way of life and a home and safety.  This one really pulled on my heartstrings which I enjoyed!

Hazel Gaynor is now on my official historical fiction list and I plan on reading anything she writes!

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2015 Challenge: 12 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.