Review The Wildflowers – Harriet Evans

This book “The Wildflowers” called out to me while I was browsing the local library. A perfect ‘winter’book, to curl up with when the rain is pelting down the windows. The Wildflowers is a story about a tight family that falls apart. But before they do they have many adventures in their beach house. Cordelia Wilde grows up in this very loving family. How can something this good become this bad?

Young

Cordelia and her brother Ben look forward to go to the beach house to spend their summers there, with their parents Tony and Althea. It’s the very best time of the year. Their parents are both actors and don’t spend much time with their children, except during the summer days. They also invite lots of friends over and it’s one big party all summer long.

Madeleine

One day they find a scrawny looking child looking in the window. After the initial shock they find out more about Madeleine. Mads has an abusive father, so she spends much time with this loving family. All her dreams seem to come true, when the parents decide she must spend as much time with them as if she were part of the family.

Past and present

The book jumps back and forth between past and present. We learn more and more about the secrets lying in Tony’s past. Whatever happened with his aunt who took care of him when he was a child? And what all happened in the beach hut that nobody knows about?

Decades

Decades go by, the family has drifted apart. Until Ben’s children take it upon themselves to visit their aunt Cordelia (Cords) to find out why. Of course the book has a happy ending, but not before there are many secrets revealed and many oohs and aahhhs exclaimed.

Harriet Evans

The author Harriet Evans lives and works in London. She worked for a publisher for years until she decided to write her own books. Het first ever book ‘Going home’ was an instant bestseller. She has written more than 35 books since.