The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

Nine-year-old Alice Hart grows up in an isolated, idyllic home between sugar cane fields and the sea, where her mother’s enchanting flowers and their hidden messages shelter her from the dark moods of her father. When tragedy irrevocably changes her life, Alice goes to live with the grandmother she never knew existed, on an Australian native flower farm that gives refuge to women who, like Alice, are lost or broken. In the Victorian tradition, every flower has a meaning and, as she settles into her new life, Alice uses this language of native flowers to say the things that are too hard to speak.As she grows older, family secrecy, a devastating betrayal and a man who’s not all he seems combine to make Alice realise there are some stories that flowers alone cannot tell. If she is to have the freedom she craves, she must find the courage to possess the most powerful story she knows: her own.

‘Not everyone who visits the central Australian desert understands the landscape of it. Holly Ringland does and shares her heart instincts in this epic telling. Each page arrives to us like the first flight of the butterfly from its cocoon. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a literary gift.’ -- Ali Cobby Eckermann, Indigenous Australian Poet, author of Ruby Moonlight
‘A complex, literary debut that examines the dangerously fine line between care and control, sanctuary and prison. Holly’s writing is rich, vibrant and alive with the messy, sometimes violent song of human connection. She is a writer to watch out for.’ -- Jenn Ashworth, author of Fell
‘The best fairy tales traverse the darkest corners of the human heart, and this beautiful novel is no exception. Truth and illusion, devastation and triumph, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart will spit you out whole.’ -- Myfanwy Jones, Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlisted author of Leap

Holly Ringland is an Australian writer, creative writing Phd researcher, speaker, traveller and advocate of stories for change.Holly grew up barefoot and wild in her mother's tropical garden on the east coast of Australia. Her interest in cultures and stories was sparked by a two-year journey her family took in North America when she was nine years old, living in a camper van and travelling from one national park to another. In her twenties, Holly worked for four years in a remote Indigenous community in the central Australian desert. Moving to England in 2009, Holly obtained her MA in Creative Writing from the University of Manchester. Her essays and short fiction have been published in various anthologies and literary journals. She now lives between the UK and Australia. To any question ever asked of Holly about growing up, writing has always been the answer. Louise Crawford is a drama graduate from Queensland University of Technology with a major in acting. Louise has a successful career on stage, film and television in Australia. She appeared in the film The Hard Word, and on television in Natalie Wood, Farscape, Beastmaster and All Saints. She hosted Scream Test and was a series regular on Breakers and Echo Point. Her theatre appearances include The Vagina Monologues, The Importance of Being Earnest, Uncle Vanya, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Caucasian Chalk Circle. Louise has also been a scriptwriter on Home and Away and Breakers.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.