Just Jennifer

A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor (William Morrow)

On the streets of late nineteenth century London, Irish sisters Flora and Rosie Flynn sell nosegays of violets and primroses with their mother.  After their mother dies, leaving the two young girls orphans, they continue to try and eek out an existence, clinging to each other and their sweet flowers until the two are inexplicably and tragically separated.  Forty years later, Tilly Harper leaves her home in the Lake District to be the housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls, a place that provides shelter, food and care for flower girls who are either orphaned or no longer able to sell their flowers, giving them a place to live other than in the doorways of the London streets.  As Tilly settles in, she finds the belongings of Flora Flynn, including her diary, seeded with dried flowers.  Flora’s diary is the heartbreaking search for her sister Rosie and Tilly decides to take up Flora’s quest and try and find out what happened to Rosie, not realizing where her search will lead her and the profound effects it will have on her own life.  Beautifully written, with careful attention to detail both characters and setting, A Memory of Violets depicts two eras in London’s history connected by time and circumstance.  The only thing that could make this book more beautiful would be if the illustrations at the head of each chapter were rendered in color.