lunarlight76 's review for:

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland

2.0

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I wanted to love this book, and it does contain many admirable elements - some beautiful lines, and striking evocations of landscape. But the second half of the book was less convincing. The flower motifs began to feel heavy-handed and lacking in nuance, and characters behaved in ways I did not find believable. It's been said that the male characters here are somewhat short-changed, but I actually felt the women characters were at times under-realised or lacking compelling motivation. Finally, although I support the author's attempt to examine the impacts of generational trauma, this just did not feel grounded in reality (though it was apparent she had researched the topic). I think Ringland will nevertheless have a bright future, given the sheer readability of her prose and the topical and important subject matter.