Girl Vanished - Amazing

The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated."

--"Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw

And thus we are invited to step into the pages of A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor. In Victorian London, orphaned and disabled girls sold posies of violets and cress to passing ladies and gentlemen to make enough money to keep them out of the workhouse. Gaynor's poignant novel focuses on a home built to better the lives of these girls, providing them training, dignity and sanctuary.

We first hear Florrie's voice, protective of and loving her younger sister, Rosie. Florrie, eight years old in 1876 London and a victim of polio, sold flowers on the street with her mother and her four-year-old sister, Rosie. After their mother died of cholera, they were afraid to go home for fear of a beating from their father. The girls firmly bonded, basically living on the streets. Florrie's story is told through entries in her diary. In a flash, while on the streets, Rosie disappears. Florrie searches incessantly for her.

Twenty-year-old Tilly Harper, who tells the story from the early 1900s point of view, is assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw's Training Homes for Watercress and Flower Girls. The two stories and time periods coalesce when Tillie finds Florrie's journal with the tale of Rosie's disappearance. Tilly becomes obsessed with unraveling the mystery of Rosie. An interesting juxtaposition is Tilly's need to set distance between herself and the shadowy past with her own sister and Florrie's unending search for Rosie.

Disability was an ignored, shunned part of society in Victorian London until Christian preacher and philanthropist, John Grooms, (fictionalized here as Albert Shaw) founded the Crippleage and Flower Girls Mission. His goal was to provide sanctuary for disabled, fatherless girls from the late 1880s to the first decade of the twentieth century. Each home, named after various flowers, housed a dozen girls. The girls were taught to make fabric flowers, the appearance of which rivaled fresh flowers. The craftsmanship was excellent, the working conditions exemplary.

Images of flowers sold by the girls introduce each section of the book:

Part One - Purple Hyacinth "Please forgive me."

Part Two - Pink Carnation "I will never forget you."

Part Three - Primrose "I can't live without you."

Part Four - Pansy "You are in my thoughts."

What was life really like for the poor in late 19th century London? Gaynor crafts her story so well that we live alongside these flower sellers. She focuses on the lower class, an uncommon feature in historical fiction. Her descriptive technique and historical research are both spot on. We see, hear and smell the streets of London. Redemption, second chances, and family bonds are themes. Although the story is at times a bit predictable, it is complex in depth with a sweet aftertaste.

I thank Harper Collins Publishers for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Girl Vanished - Amazing by worldtalk