The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was an emotional journey. I cried my eyes out at some parts and I highly recommend you get this book if you want a gutsy, honest story, rich in Australian depth and tradition. Following Alice's life over twenty odd years was such a rollercoaster of emotions and the storytelling was so fulfilling I was devastated that it ended. I'm sort of glad it did though because it really made me feel that Alice needed to be on her own to really live inside her world and I have come away from this book with my own perspectives changed, learning from her experiences.
Alice Hart is a lonely girl. Living with her emotionally fragile mother and abusive father, her best friend is her dog and her hope, the packages of library books her father begrudgingly supplies her.
When Alice's parents die in a fire, she is sent to live with her estranged grandmother on their flower farm and slowly learns to live again and the history of her family through the language of wildflowers.
But her grandmother keeps a secret from her that throws Alice into another journey. One of escape, fuelled by the anger and misery she can no longer hold back and she finds herself taking solace in the red dusty landscape of the Australian outback. Finding herself comforted by the harsh but beautiful world, she immerses herself in her new job as a park ranger, discovering the indigenous language of flowers, fire and a strength she never knew.
When she has the strength to discover who she truly is, she finds an incredible piece of herself she never knew she was missing.
"Have courage, take heart"