The Secret Book of Flora Lea: A Novel
General fiction, War stories, Serious and literary fiction
Synthetic audio, Automated braille
Summary
From the New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis comes a &“heartrending, captivating tale of family, first love, and fate&” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author) about a woman who stumbles across a mysterious children&’s book that… holds secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II.1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora evacuate their London home for a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her younger sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood. But the unthinkable happens when Flora suddenly vanishes after playing near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister&’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood. Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore for a career at Sotheby&’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, her future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to her beloved sister&’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that Flora is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play? Inspired by the history of the Pied Piper Children, this novel is a poignant reminder of the magical power of stories to draw us together—and ultimately bring us home.