Book Review: The Secret Book of Flora Lea
 | Author:
Rachael Elliott-Brug, Reading Leaves
Rachael Brug: MT43 News Vice President and Copy Editor |
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
by Patti Callahan Henry
Rachael Elliott-Brug
I get goosebumps each time I talk about The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry. Inspired by Operation Pied Piper, this dual timeline book is the tale of two sisters who were evacuated from London to the rural countryside ahead of the bombing in 1939.
Hazel, fourteen, and her five-year-old sister Flora are chosen to live with a very kind woman and her son at their cottage by the Thames River until it is safe for them to return to their mother in London. To comfort her sister, Hazel creates a beautiful secret land called Whisperwood, into which the sisters escape their worries and fears. One horrific day Flora disappears and is thought lost in the river forever.
Twenty years later, while working in a bookshop dedicated to rare books, Flora comes across a book written by a young American woman about the fairytale Whisperwood. Hazel is stunned. She and Flora had NEVER shared Whisperwood with anyone. The discovery takes Hazel on an incredible journey that you won't soon forget.
Patti Callahan Henry is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of several novels, including Surviving Savannah and Becoming Mrs. Lewis. She is the recipient of the Christy Award, the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year Award, and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year. She is the cohost and co-creator of the popular weekly online live web show and podcast Friends and Fiction.
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PhotoCredit: Rachael Elliott-Brug
Image 1 Caption: Book Cover for The Secret Life If Flora Lee
