The Secret Book of Flora Lea

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 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 show more 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

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 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 show more 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

4.5 / 5.0 Stars

What a creative, captivating and insightful read author Patti Callahan Henry has given us - part history, mystery and quest - physically and emotionally. The story line toggles between 1939/1940 and 1960 and is set mostly in England.

The Linden sisters - 14 year old Hazel and 5 year old Flora Lea - are part of the ill-named, "Operation Pied Piper" and for their safety, have been sent away from their London home to Binsey, just outside Oxford. It's their first time away from their home and family and they're bivouacked in the cozy cottage of kind strangers. It's a rather scary proposition for Flora. So Hazel creates an imaginary land, known only to the two of them, where they can go and be whatever they like and enjoy a show more perfect world away from their own. They grow to love the Aberdeens - mum and her son Harry - as they spend joyful hours together in the bucolic countryside as bombs relentlessly fall upon London. All was well until that one day when Flora disappears without a trace. It is presumed that she drowned in the Thames. Hazel is wracked with guilt and can never forgive herself for having walked away from a sleeping Flora for a brief moment. After all, Flora disappeared on Hazel's watch. How could Hazel ever forgive herself?

Move forward to 1960, Hazel is working in an antiquarian and rare books shop in Bloomsbury and is affronted by a book which carries the name of Flora's and her secret world - "Whisperwood". How can this be? Who else knew about our special place? Hazel knew that she had not told anyone and if Flora didn't, could this mean that she is still alive somewhere in the world. Hazel is beside herself. Hope resurrects itself. If Flora is still alive, then perhaps redemption may be in the offing too. Thus begins Hazel's quest to look for her sister and in doing so, she may yet find herself.

The writing of this story is sweet and tender. A myriad of emotions are explored. The characters are well developed and the settings well described such that one can easily visualize the grassy meadows, muddy riverbanks and even the demolished residences of London. Hazel's quest, with its air of mystery, carries the reader right along throughout the story. With so many wonderful WWII historical fiction books out on the shelves, it is refreshing to have added to them a story about the bravery of the young who also endured the war and were challenged in the mental processing of it all. What better way to cope is there than to have a fairy-tale world to which one can escape until it's safe to step into the world yet again?

I am grateful to Patti Callahan Henry and her publisher, Atria Books for having provided a complimentary uncorrected reader's proof of this book through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.

Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Pages: 368
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 978-1668011836 show less

"Not very long ago and not very far away, there once was and still is an invisible place right here with us. And if you are born knowing, you will find your way through the woodlands to the shimmering doors that lead to the land made just and exactly for you."

This is the start of The Secret Book of Flora Lea, a reminder that we are a myth-making people; it is how we make meaning of the meaningless and sense of senseless. It is why we tell stories.

- Author's Note, by Patti Callahan Henry

In The Secret Book of Flora Lea, Patti Callahan Henry skillfully weaves a moving and magical story. I really enjoy reading Callahan's books as she always has the perfect blend of historical accounts and a magical fairytale-like atmosphere which surely show more comes from her love of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Set in 1939 in England, war has been declared, and Hazel (14 yrs. old) and Flora (just 5 yrs. old) are whisked away with over three hundred other children in London, in the British dubbed Operation Pied Piper.

Operation Pied Piper was enacted to safeguard the city's children from looming bomb threats. Hazel shares stories from her made-up world, Whisperwood and the River of Stars, to help little Flora cope with being far away from home. While the girls are forced to live with strangers in the country to stay safe from war, the unthinkable happens, Flora vanishes. Hazel's world is turned upside down.

Flora’s disappearance shapes and haunts Hazel’s adult life.
Hazel never gives up hope that one day she will find her sister, and when a book with a very familiar title comes across her desk at work, she is reignited by that objective alone. She must find out what happened to her sister, even if it means risking the life and love she has pieced together in the wake of her sister's disappearance.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long while. The Secret Book of Flora Lea has captured my heart ❤️, filled with profound joy, deep sadness, and everything in between.

Five stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for an extraordinary story that beautifully combines reality, fantasy, love, and hope.

Here are some more of my favorite quotes;

"Telling stories is one of the greatest powers that we possess. It's like a dream you can fill with what you want. And the knight doesn't always have to save the princess; sometimes she saves herself."

"Of course the story could never be exact; no story ever retold was perfectly told. But it would be true.
Her pen moved across the paper, her heart opened, her breath evened out, and she returned to her first love, the love she'd once left in fear and guilt: story."

"A choice to make? Therein was freedom, she thought, the ability to make a choice she never thought she'd have the opportunity to make. But she had to be careful. Freedom, for all its claims of wonder, also had its price." show less

This gorgeous book can’t be truly appreciated in a photograph. The river reflects light, as if it were made of starlight. The bucolic English countryside appears timeless, peaceful, and serene. Open the cover, and the end papers are filled with pen and ink drawings of a cottage, a girl, a fairy tale castle. Turn the page, and you are transported to “not long ago and not very far away.”

The best stories are soul-making.
from The Lost Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry

Hazel and Flora Linden lived in a scary world. An evil man with a mustache had already taken their father. He went away in an olive and brown uniform, never to be seen again. The government separated them from their mother. Operation Pied Piper, it was called. show more Children were removed from London to the countryside for their safety. But we all know that the Pied Piper stole children away, never to be heard from again.

To calm her younger sister’s fears, Hazel created a magical land, a place to escape to. Whisperwood with its river of stars was their own special secret. A place where the children could become owls or lions. A place of magic.

Hazel and Flora joined the train of children and found themselves in Oxford, waiting to be claimed by someone willing to take them in. A boy chose them. Harry brought his mother and convinced her to choose the girls. And so began the best and the worst year of the sisters’ lives, living with Bridie and Harry, free to roam the fields, learning the woods, the local stories. Hazel and Harry became especially close.

But every fair tale has its dark side.

In a moment’s distraction, Hazel and Harry lose Flora. Perhaps to the river that flowed through their woods. They blame themselves.

Twenty years later, in 1960, Hazel has made a good life. She has a handsome fiancé with rank and wealth. A job she loves and an offer for a dream job. Then a book comes her way. Someone has stolen her Whisperwood! And Hazel knows her sister had to be alive.

Hazel gives up everything to dredge up the painful past, looking for answers to this mystery. But she also discovers her true self.

A beautiful, magical story.

Thanks for Simon & Schuster for a free book through Book Club Favorites. show less

What a joy! This book was a delight from start to finish!

The story takes its time, moving slowly but with great atmosphere and nuance. The depictions of the relocated British children during WWII were very well-rendered, and this book struck all the right notes of sorrow and hope and fear and loss. The novel's plot is absolutely beautiful—sad but not bleak—with memorable characters on a quest for life and redemption. The author did a phenomenal job of imbuing the whole book with a fairy-tale-like quality, without ever once drawing on any supernatural element. The novel reads almost like a journey, taking its readers on a long adventure through dark and perilous places, and as the tale goes on, the tension grows and the drama show more unfolds, until finally the readers reach the journey's end and its thoroughly satisfying conclusion. show less

What a joy! This book was a delight from start to finish!

The story takes its time, moving slowly but with great atmosphere and nuance. The depictions of the relocated British children during WWII were very well-rendered, and this book struck all the right notes of sorrow and hope and fear and loss. The novel's plot is absolutely beautiful—sad but not bleak—with memorable characters on a quest for life and redemption. The author did a phenomenal job of imbuing the whole book with a fairy-tale-like quality, without ever once drawing on any supernatural element. The novel reads almost like a journey, taking its readers on a long adventure through dark and perilous places, and as the tale goes on, the tension grows and the drama show more unfolds, until finally the readers reach the journey's end and its thoroughly satisfying conclusion. show less