The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

An enchanting and captivating novel about how our untold stories haunt us - and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.

After her family suffers a tragedy, nine-year-old Alice Hart is forced to leave her idyllic seaside home. She is taken in by her grandmother, June, a flower farmer who raises Alice on the language of Australian native flowers, a way to say the things that are too hard to speak.

Under the watchful eye of June and the women who run the farm, Alice settles, but grows up increasingly frustrated by how little she knows of her family's story. In her early twenties, Alice's life is thrown into upheaval again when she suffers devastating betrayal and loss. Desperate to outrun grief, Alice flees to the dramatically beautiful central Australian desert. In this otherworldly landscape Alice thinks she has found solace, until she meets a charismatic and ultimately dangerous man.

Spanning two decades, set between sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm, and a celestial crater in the central desert, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows Alice's unforgettable journey, as she learns that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own.

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400 pages

Average rating: 7.44

102 RATINGS

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4 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

Jlwill16
Aug 07, 2024
7/10 stars
Wasn’t sure I enjoyed the book because the grandmother’s character was so hard to understand. There wasn’t enough back story or likability to even think of beginning to have grace for the grandmother in this story. Kind of put a damper on this otherwise beautifully creatively written novel. Love the incorporation of the language of flowers and the appreciation for the natural world.
suzanneamelung
Oct 24, 2023
4/10 stars
I enjoyed the descriptions of Australian native flowers and their meanings at the beginning of each chapter. I did find the writing overall to be very sporadic and rushed, especially towards the end. I wouldn't recommend it.
Anonymous
Apr 07, 2023
10/10 stars
I think I’m on the cusp of changing my review criteria. 5 stars used to be very rare but I’m trying to embrace the good ones as opposed to look for the faults that take a star away or compare them to masterpieces. If it was possible maybe this would be 4.5 but it was really a good one.

I absolutely loved it. It charts the life of Alice hart from newborn to late 20s throughout the varied, harsh and beautiful land of Australia. It had three major phases and in each of them Alice is surrounded by interesting people and develops in a different way.

The language of flowers was absolutely beautiful - all the things that were hard for the characters to say was expressed through flowers. But I also think Alice is the turning point for that - she learned where some of her ancestors didn’t to stand up for herself, take responsibility for her life and communicate better.

Highly highly recommend this book particularly for Australians who will appreciate the landscape and the Aboriginal culture aspects.
shazjmorgan
May 03, 2022
9/10 stars
I struggled with the strong violence against women themes with this one. Yet, it was still a captivating and moving story. A roller-coaster of emotions. I wanted to put this book down and forget about it many times, due to sheer frustration with the main character. But I stuck with it. I'm glad I did. I feel like maybe my own experiences were getting in my way. For me, the book bought up a lot of personal memories. In parts, I found myself revisiting (for a fleeting moment) 'snippets' in my own life, that I have long since managed to detach myself from. Memories can creep up and confront us with the slightest trigger. The life and characters woven around Central Australia was wonderful. The landscape and place were described beautifully.

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