- Title:
-
The Flourishing of Floralie Laurel
- Written by:
-
Fiadhnait Moser
- Read by:
-
Marisa Calin
- Format:
-
Unabridged CD Audio Book
- Number of CDs:
-
7
- Duration:
-
7 hours 44 minutes
- Published:
-
June 28 2019
- Available Date:
-
June 28 2019
- Age Category:
-
Children (10+)
- ISBN:
-
9780655603023
- Genres:
-
Fiction; Children's Fiction
- Publisher:
-
Bolinda/Audible audio
Qty
Format
Price
Bolinda price
A middle grade, magical realism debut about a young girl who sets out to discover the truth behind her mother's disappearance.
Floralie Laurel, freshly expelled from Mrs. Coffrey's School for Young Girls, works as a flower seller in an English village with her guardian brother, Tom, miles and miles away from their real home in France. Tom and Floralie are drowning in debt, but fortunately, Grandmama arrives to save them. Unfortunately, Grandmama's idea of 'saving' means sending Floralie to the Adelaide Laurel Orphanage for Unfortunate Children and shaping her into a proper lady – i.e., ridding her of imagination, daydreams, paintings and poetry.
Before Grandmama can take her away, Floralie discovers a hidden box of dried flowers and a letter from her mother, who had mysteriously disappeared years ago. The letter promises that the flowers will lead Floralie to Mama if Floralie decodes them with a floriography – a dictionary of flower meanings – written by Claude Monet's gardener.
Accompanied by an orphan boy who speaks only on paper, a blind librarian and a thieving dormouse, Floralie sets off for Monet's house in France to find Mama. But Mama's fate may not be quite as Floralie expected, and the gardener may be hiding secrets deeper than Monet's water lily ponds ...
'This fast-paced and vibrant debut is packed with twists and turns that lead to a satisfying conclusion.'
Publishers Weekly
'First-time author Moser weaves mystery, flowers, poetry and art into her 1920s-era novel.'
Booklist
'A beautiful bouquet of lush language, magical landscapes, and colorful characters. Moser has written a story designed to be sipped and savored like nectar.'
Laura Marx Fitzgerald