Language of flowers - “Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” by Holly Ringland.
The story of each of us begins in the childhood. Alice Hart remembers the beauty and love. And sadness, pain, fear. And the power of history that can belong to us if we only want to. They can save, change lives ... They let them escape their own stories when the cards start to devour fire.
After an unimaginable tragedy, which deprives her of everything, even her voice, little Alice goes to her grandmother, about whose existence she had never known before. The woman grows Australian flowers on the farm with the help of other women, often battered by fate, June providing them some kind of shelter. Alice gradually begins to discover their stories and learns the language of flowers, which allows her to tell about what she can not say aloud. When on the threshold of adulthood one of her family secrets breaks her heart, Alice escapes to the heart of Australia, to the reserve. There, she wants to start again, find solace and healing. In the Australian desert, it begins to flourish amidst love and friendship, but unannounced stories and family secrets still find their way into her life. As the echo of the past begins to echo in what was supposed to be good and certain, Alice realizes she has to face the family secrets and tales that time has buried. She must go back to the roots if she ever wants to bloom.
Holly Ringland's debut is primarily a story about searching for your own identity, a large part of which is made up of family ties, mistakes made by future generations and lessons from the past, but only if we can understand them. The past of relatives is a destination for Alice. Alice's mother, her grandmother, women with whom she is bound by blood and destiny, father, beloved, all people she meets - heroes are born of stories and come back to them.
We listen to legends of the indigenous people, stories about people, places and times, family anecdotes, memories full of joy and sadness, from which the main character's life is woven. Most importantly, this multitude of voices does not create cacophony, nor does it suppress the voice of Alice herself, and problems raised by Ringland are not pushed to the background. The author listens with sensitivity to the more difficult issues, presenting them in the form of the history of the Hart family and symbols that connect her with other people. "The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” flourish thanks to symbolism, not only to the language of flowers, but also to find the emotional mean between what is fleeting, mystical, beautiful, and what is difficult, painful, true. Nature, elements, books, stories written down and told, and even feelings become a symbol that should be read and understood. The author puts this task not only before Alice, but also before the reader.
We accompany the girl on the journey through time and place, we observe how she is changing and growing up, together with her going through ups and downs. Holly Ringland managed to face the difficult task - we understand the protagonist, we sympathize with her, even if in her place we would make completely different decisions. The author shows a human figure who makes mistakes and is sometimes powerless, but in this erratic does not irritate, but makes her want to accompany her struggles with fate.
Ringland created a story about the ghosts of the past and an attempt to control them, combined with young rebellion. "Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” is an original story that deserves attention. But I lost my interest in between chapters, the spell breaks and magic disappeared.