Where the Wildflowers Grow
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Goodreads, Essence, Sunset Magazine, SheReads, BookBub, and more!
From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living.
Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die.
Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives.
While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm's owner, who sees through Leigh's defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she's not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.
But the past isn't so easily buried.
No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she's come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.
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Community Reviews
This was an amazing book. I could not put it down. Throughout the entire book I cried a little, I laughed, and I got up each day wanting to read more. It was such a good read. Since I started reading again, this was one of the first books I read and I was truly impressed. All of the characters brought this book alive. Satisfied Reader and a happy reader.
This is the first time I have read this author, and her turn of phrase and perspective engaged me from the very beginning. The story of Leigh unfolds with teases to the reader that keep one wanting to get the rest of the story, learning why she's in the predicament she's in, as she becomes a fugitive from the law. There are a lot of metaphors for life, for growth and change through the seasons, as Leigh works on a flower farm that grows and changes - ultimately to blossom. Through danger, redemption and wisdom, she finds her own kind of family, as well as romance and peace - and she changes throughout these 'seasons'. I enjoyed it, though it ran a little long for me. The way it ended, though, was lovely. There's a lot of explicit sex between Leigh and Jackson, which frankly, I found myself skipping through. But also, there was happiness in the end.
There was a lot of drama in this book. It was a pretty good story; but the never ending breathless drama wasn't my cup of tea. The epilogue was uplifting and it would probably be a good movie. I might have enjoyed reading it in book format better than hearing it on audio because the audio version created emotional overload for me.
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