Book Review of
The Secret Book of Flora Lea

Lynn's Review

The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry was published in 2023. It is historical fiction. 

In 1939 London, England, children were evacuated to the countryside in an effort to keep them safe from the bombs hitting London during WWII. It was called Operation Pied Piper. 

In the Secret Book of Flora Lea, Flora and her sister Hazel are two of the children sent to the English countryside. Hazel tells Flora stories in order to comfort her. These stories take her to a place other than where they actually are. In the stories, Hazel invents a land called Whisperwood. 

The unimaginable happens when one day when Hazel and Flora Lea are living in the countryside. Flora Lea disappears. She vanishes and no one knows what happens. 

Twenty years later, in 1959, Hazel is working at a rare bookstore when she comes across a book full of stories that are her stories. She comes across a book about Whisperwood.

Flora is the only person that Hazel told these stories. Hazel and Flora are the only ones that know about Whisperwood, so who wrote this book of stories about a land only Hazel and Flora knew? 

Hazel goes on a journey of finding out how Whisperwood ended up in a book written by an American author. 

This book takes you on a journey about family, love, hope, endurance, pain, and never giving up.

This book is historical fiction at its best!

This book will probably be one of my favorite fiction books of the year. It is so well written. It takes a horrible event and makes it charming and enchanted. 

It has twists and turns and mystery. The ending totally surprised me. I had no idea the book would take the turn that it did. And I loved that about it! 

I have read several of Patti Callahan Henry’s books and this is my favorite! 

I know a lot of people are tired of WWII fiction, but this is so different than any of the other WWII fiction books that I have read. It is about the war, but also not really about the war.

 If you love historical fiction this is a great read. 

This was a five-star read for me. It isn’t often that historical fiction gets five stars from me, but this one does. I loved it.