[alert variation=”alert-info”]Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, eBook, Audible, Audio Book
Purchase: Powell’s | Amazon | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble | iBooks[/alert]
Hazel Gaynor’s gut wrenching account of the poorest of the poor in London during the late 1800s will grab readers immediately. Flora and Rosie Flynn are hanging on for mere existence while selling flowers on the streets of London. Their meager survival is compounded by their parents’ deaths and Rosie’s blindness. Flora is a very protective older sister and when she loses Rosie one afternoon on the street, Flora can not forgive herself. She wanders all over London trying to find Rosie and meets Mr. Shaw, a benefactor of orphaned girls. Flora is rescued and sent to an orphanage by the sea, but her search for her sister never ends. A Memory of Violets also tells the story of Tilly in 1912 London. Tilly has relocated from the country to become an assistant housemother for Mr. Shaw’s home for orphaned and crippled girls. Tilly finds Flora’s diary in her room and is determined to find out what happened to Rosie. Tilly also has a past she is grappling with and ultimately becomes more than immersed with Flora and Rosie’s fates.
Gaynor has written an immersive tale of what life was like in London for the poor and unfortunate. The reader cannot help but become attached to the unlucky cast of characters. Gaynor’s details are crisp, the story is engaging, and the end is satisfying.
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