March has arrived! It's too early to plant, so take a nice trip
through the outback of Australia with this memorable book reviewed here!
Many of us are getting very itchy fingers! We all want to start
digging in the dirt! That's not a bad thing, but here in my neck of
the woods, it is far to early to even think about starting all those
seeds! So what's a bonafide gardener to do? My suggestion, is
read a book! 
By accident, I came across this book,
"The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart"
by Holly Ringland. I was itching to get my hands dirty, I knew it was
too early, yet I needed something to take that itch away. Talking
about flowers seemed to be a good idea. I must confess that I got this
book from the library (thank you
Libby app.). To say that it piqued my interest is putting it mildly.
Alice Hart's life is a story that has been lived by many people in some form
or other. Using her love of flowers, helps her to grow, learn, heal
and above all live her life! The flowers just help her with their
stories and meanings. They help her to express what she sometimes
doesn't understand or can't put words to.
I have always wanted to travel to Australia, but I'm pretty sure that I
will only be doing that virtually, especially in these times. So, I
was getting rid of two itches at once (gardening and travelling) while
delving into the pages of this book.
Trying to get rid of the itch to garden too early can be difficult, but
this book took me away to places I have only dreamed of. That helped
me a lot. Alice Hart (the main character in the book) grabs you right
away. You want to hold her hand as she traverses a new normal amid
family secrets and stories that make life "Okay" again.
So many things are not spoken, and through the language of flowers, Alice
finds a way to embrace what is going on in her life.
Do Flowers have a language? Oh yes indeed they do! The first
book I read about the
Language of Flowers
was a book reviewed right here by our own writer, Renaissance Woman! I
was so taken with this book that when I found
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, I knew I had to read this book too!
While enjoying the story, I also learnt of trees and flowers that require a
"burn" in order to spread their seeds, birds of the Australian landscapes
and flowers that we will never be able to grow here in the north. In
addition, the need to keep our hands off of flowers that will die when we
pick them.
I'm sure that you will enjoy this book as much as I did and it just might
help you get through that itch, that for us is starting far too early.
Waiting till April will make our efforts of digging in the ground much more
fruitful and successful too.
You can learn a lot by reading and hearing the stories set in far away
places. When they are a novel that is fictional, but interspersed with
truths of gardening and the habits of flora and fauna of distant places, you
know you will be changed.
Here's hoping that spring will come along in due time and our itches to get
our hands in the ground will be fruitful and result in beautiful gardens for
the year to come.
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