Patti Callahan Henry

Y’all! This book is pure magic!

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the show more city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District.

This story captivated me. It has a little bit of everything…history, mystery, great characters and drama.

I loved Clara! She has great hope even though she fights this hope every day. This is the reason she sails to Europe to hunt for her mother one last time. She has hope!

Now, I don’t want to give anything away. Did I guess it? Yes and no! You will need to read this to find out. But, I swear, every time a new female character was introduced, I was sure it was going to be Clara’s mother.

Need a tale which will have you engrossed from start to finish…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest opinion. show less

Almost skipped this one because it is WWII adjacent, but much of the action takes place in 1960, and the focus is Operation Pied Piper (poorly named), Britain's initiative to send children out of London into the safer countryside. This began in 1939, so they were definitely thinking ahead, though not so much about how the plan would be executed and what impact it might have on the children. Hazel Linden is 14 and her sister Flora Lea is only 5 when they leave their mother to take what was show more essentially like an Orphan Train out to Oxfordshire. As a source of comfort, Hazel creates a story world, WhisperWood for her and Flora and makes up imaginative tales about its river of stars and all things beautiful and natural - and safe. The girls are lucky - they stay together and land at the small cottage farm of Bridie Aberdeen and her 15 year old son, Harry. Both are infinitely kind and live a life of whimsy and attachment to the seasons and the land. Their time there is almost idyllic, until Flora disappears - under the watch of Hazel and Harry who were off stealing a kiss. The presumption is she fell into the river and drown, and sometime in the 50s some bones are found, so the authorities consider the case closed. But Hazel and her mother have never stopped hoping that Flora is alive somewhere. In present-day 1960, Hazel is in her 30s, employed at a rare bookseller and almost engaged to Barnaby. One day at work, she opens a package - a newly printed first edition book from America, with the original illustrations enclosed - a children's story called WhisperWood. Hazel's life is upended by this. Only she and Flora knew this story. So begins a search of hope and healing and confrontation of long buried guilt and misplaced blame. High points: The sisters' relationship in childhood is beautiful - and the Aberdeens are story-book quality themselves. But the war casts a wide shadow and leaves behind so much destruction, even 20 years later - not just in the physical damage to Britain, but the scars of sadness and loss. The book balances this well. I'm not 100% convinced of the ending, but I definitely enjoyed the story's journey that took me there. show less

Wow!! This was a completely random find at the library and I was intrigued by the premise and cover, but I honestly did not expect this story to impact me so much. No amount of anticipatory grief could have prevented the silent tears that fell during the last 30 pages.

I have always been a fan of C.S. Lewis and his stories have shaped my childhood and imagination in so many ways. The way in which Callahan unfolds the story of his life and how it also connects to the characters she has show more created was so unique and fascinating.

This is a beautifully written, clean story and one of my favorite things was how there was this underlying message and reminder that not everything is ours to hold onto, and that there is a certain peace that comes with releasing control. A truly incredible read that I didn’t even know I needed, but won’t soon forget.

Some quotes that jumped out at me:

"Now he believes adults don't know what's what any more that he does." (page 2)

"Because even with the dark parts and the light parts and the good parts and the bad parts, dinner must still be served." (page 102)

"You can take what hurts and aches and perform magic with it so it becomes something else, something that never would have been, except you make it so with your spells and stories and with your life." (page 241)

"As if one can pre-grieve and get it out of the way. It's not true. Grief is the price I paid for loving fiercely, and that was okay, because there was no other choice but to love fiercely and fully." (page 266) show less

There's something so enchanting about imagined worlds inhabited in childhood. The Hundred Acre Wood. Calvin and Hobbes. Narnia. Anne Shirley's fanciful stories about the landscape around her. These invented places are a comforting and happy place to be and a safe refuge when the world is too much. Patti Callahan Henry obviously understands the importance and charm of these worlds in her latest novel, The Secret Book of Flora Lea.

1939. Operation Pied Piper. Hazel is 14 and her little sister show more Flora is 5. Their father has been killed in the war so despite their grieving mother's despair at letting her children leave, she sends them away from London, away from the bombs, to rural England. Hazel and Flora end up being taken in by Bridie Aberdeen, a warm and loving woman who has a son Harry, who is the same age as Hazel. Much of their time in the countryside is idyllic aside from the backdrop of war and missing their mother. When the sisters need to escape even this cozy life with the Aberdeens, Hazel tells Flora their own special, made-up, private fairy tale set in the magical land of Whisperwood to help them cope with the uncertainty in their world.

1960. Years after the war, Hazel is working for Hogan's Rare Book Shoppe in Bloomsbury. It's her last day on the job before moving over to Sotheby's when she finds a manuscript written by American author Peggy Andrews titled Whisperwood and the River of Stars. It is the story she always told little Flora, who went missing, presumed drowned, while they were billeted in the country. But neither she nor Flora ever told anyone else the story so she can't understand how this American author could possibly know it. Impulsively Hazel takes the valuable manuscript when she leaves Hogan's, and sets out on a quest to finally answer what happened to her little sister.

This story is an delightful look at imagination and the power of stories through the lens of the very real Operation Pied Piper and the specter of the "lost children" (those who were evacuated but never returned home) from that time. Hazel is a sympathetic character, trying to live her life but really still stuck back in 1939, feeling guilt and grief over Flora's disappearance. The manuscript is so similar to the story she used to tell her sister that it makes hope bloom in her, pushing her to uncover what happened back then. The book spills over with the enchantment of stories and shines with enduring love for family. Readers will themselves want to be invited into Bridie's welcoming country home and work in the back room of the rare book shop. Hazel seems to be a sweet, intelligent, fairly modern young woman and the reader winces when people around her encourage her to let go of her quest, cheering her at every turn as she continues on regardless. The end was the weakest part of the story as it was telegraphed with flares and predictable, but there were a few welcome twists and turns to get there, which helped make it less frustrating in the end. Obviously this is a WWII book but it's really more about the homefront than it is about the war. The mystery pacing starts off slowly and picks up speed as things start to come together for Hazel and the alternating time line helps to build anticipation. This is a endearing read, especially for those who spent a lot of time in books or other imagined worlds when they were young.

This book is one of the 2023 Women's National Book Association's Great Group Reads. show less