3.5 stars. ( )

A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor is a heart-warming story that opens in the 1880s and deals with the state of many of London’s children, born into poverty, and living lives of misery and starvation. Two small children, Florrie and Rosie are selling flowers on the streets to make enough money to survive. Their father is a drunkard who beats them if they don’t bring their earnings to him, their mother was also a flower seller but she died leaving the girls to fend for themselves. As the elder sister, Florrie, who is crippled herself, takes care of her younger sister, who is practically blind. When one day a man tries to snatch Rosie, the girls are separated and can’t find their way back to each other. Florrie spends the rest of her life searching for her little sister. Rosie meanwhile gets away from the man, and hides in a carriage, and eventually is adopted into a rich family.

We move forward a number of years and now follow the story of Tilly, who in 1912, leaves her home in the north of England to come to London to work as a house-mother for a charity that houses and trains young girls to make silk flowers. Tilly learns the story of Florrie and Rosie, and decides to also try and find out what happened to Rosie all those years ago. Tilly has her own family difficulties to work through as she needs to come to terms with her own father’s death and the estrangement with both her mother and her sister.

While the story was perhaps a little overly sentimental and relied upon implausible coincidences to move the plot forward, A Memory of Violets did paint a vivid picture of the terrible conditions that poor and homeless children were faced with. The charity is based on the real life of John Grooms, an engraver and evangelical preacher who became concerned with the plight of poverty-stricken and often disabled girls who faced a hard life on the streets. This is the second book by this author that I have read and both books felt that they were too drawn out and could have been shortened to a better effect. ( )

About a third of the way through this book, I resigned myself that I would have to rate it as 3 stars - there were just way too many "coincidences." Some were not as obvious as others, but the book was becoming a bit too predictable. The final quarter of the book changed my mind. The author did a remarkable work of using repetition, with increasingly more detail. She also developed empathy in unlikely characters. All in all, the "coincidences" were tied up much more neatly than I could have at first imagined. The story lines are finely interwoven and ending is satisfactory. At the conclusion of the book, I now have to rate it as 4 stars. ( )

A very enjoyable and interesting read, although fictional based partly on a real person and it's good to know that some disabled girls were well cared for and given the employment of making artificial flowers in the Victorian/ early 20th century. Highly recommended ( )

The story is told in dual timelines beginning in 1876 with Florrie, Rosie's older sister, sharing their daily life as orphans on the streets of London selling posies of violets and watercress. Florrie is disabled from polio, and Rosie is blind, but together they face their hardships until they are separated in a crowd one day. Florrie promises that day that she will never stop looking for Rosie.

In 1912, Tilly Harper left her parent's home in the Lake District to become assistant housemother at Shaw's Training Homes for Watercress and Flower Girls in London. With the discovery of a wooden box in the wardrobe of her room, Tilly begins to read a notebook written by Flora Flynn to her little sister with pressed flowers between some of the pages. The entries touch Tilly's heart, and she becomes determined to discover if the sisters were ever reunited.

The story is beautifully written and is as heart-wrenching as it is heartwarming. History and the author's creativity are woven together in storytelling with tenderness and eloquence and found me in tears in both sorrow and joy. Lovely floral illustrations at the beginning of the 4 parts of the story and each chapter enhanced the feelings of discovery of the pressed flowers in Flora's notebook.

Even before the 1st epigraph, I thought of Eliza Doolittle when I read the subtitle, and memories came to mind of playing Eliza in the drama club production of "My Fair Lady" in 9th grade. Reading The Story Behind the Book and the author’s experience deepened the connection to the author’s writing and a novel I will long remember. I postponed writing the review finding it difficult to express in words how it captured my heart and touched the deepest parts of my soul. In my reflections, it is a book that receives more than 5 stars.

At the novel's end, additional meaningful features include The Language of Flowers – The Lost World of Floriography and John Groom: The Real Albert Shaw. Book clubs will be appreciative of the Reading Group Discussion Questions.

For those on Pinterest, make sure to follow Hazel Gaynor. In particular, the inspiration board for this novel is an added delight. ( )