The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart: The beautiful and inspiring international bestselling novel from a much-loved award-winning author, now a major TV series on Prime Video

By Holly Ringland

Winner of the 2019 ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year Award.

The international bestseller, now sold to over 30 territories internationally, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart tells the enchanting and compelling story of a young girl, daughter of an abusive father, who has to learn the hard way that she can break the patterns of the past, live on her own terms and find her own strength.

'Lush, powerful ...an engrossing novel of female survival.' Bookseller + Publisher

Now an AACTA Award winning TV series on Prime Video.

A young girl loses both her parents in a tragic event, and is taken to live with her grandmother on a flower farm. Growing up, Alice learns the language of Australian native flowers as a way to say the things that are too hard to speak. But she also learns that there are secrets within secrets about her past. An unexpected betrayal leaves her reeling, and she escapes to try to make her own - sometimes painful - way through the world, and to find her story.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a story about stories: those we inherit, those we select to define us, and those we decide to hide. It is a novel about the secrets we keep and how they haunt us, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive.

Spanning twenty years, and set between sugar cane fields by the sea, a native Australian flower farm and a celestial crater in the central desert, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart follows the life of Alice as she discovers that the most powerful story she will ever possess is her own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Apr 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781460708835

Holly Ringland

Holly Ringland is an Australian writer, storyteller, and television presenter. Her internationally bestselling debut novel, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, has been published in 30 territories and adapted into an Amazon Prime TV series, starring Sigourney Weaver. Holly is the co-presenter of the documentary series, Back To Nature, which aired to critical acclaim. Her bestselling second novel, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding was followed by her first non-fiction book The House That Joy Built: The pleasure and power of giving ourselves permission to create. Holly lives between Manchester, England (where she wrote the first draft of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart) and the Gold Coast, Australia. She tends to her gardens of native Australian flowers in both places.

Reviews for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

[angelajmaher · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Flowers and their meanings give uniqueness and beauty to this story of a woman's journey to her true self.There are some confronting scenes some people will find very uncomfortable to read, but they are important, the sort of story that happens daily but is rarely told.The cast of characters is primarily female but it is far from what could be termed a 'girly' novel. A myriad of strengths and weaknesses, tied together by wordless sisterhood. Each on their own journey, but tied to one another to some degree. Men also have their own roles, each important to the story.The conclusion is an unexpected turn, but is satisfying in its way.I received my copy through NetGalley. My views are my own.

[clarerhoden · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The moving and exquisite tale of a young girl, Alice Hart, navigating her way to womanhood through a miasma of domestic violence and family secrets, The Lost Flowers is an impressive debut novel.
In particular, the first half of the novel is captivating. The use of the language of flowers is a clever concept to tie elements of the story together, but a couple of times it seemed a little forced.
The book is presented beautifully, and somebody (or somebodies) at the publisher deserve resounding congratulations for the cover art and the detailed illustrations of flowers inside. Simply for the pleasure of holding this book in your hands, it's very much worth reading.
The first sentence! Such an attention grabber!
There is, of course, a dissonance between the beauty of the flowers and the horror of the domestic violence, loss, damaged relationships, grief and guilt at the heart of the novel. I always cringe when reading these scenes because I know it's going to end badly - especially for the dog - more than once in Alice's life. Like many children of abusive fathers, she enters a relationship with another abuser, and that is a situation that is unresolved. Violent but gorgeous Dylan gets away not only with knocking Alice about, but also (like many bullies) with turning the tables on her by reporting her for domestic violence. I felt that, for Alice and for many domestic abuse victims, there really is no getting away from it.
Towards the end of the novel, it seems that the carefully crafted story-with-flower-language hurries on to a conclusion, and that was a little disappointing. The sudden recovery of the lost brother after the death of June (the alcoholic grandmother with the magnificent flower farm) felt a little forced - and Sally, much as I loved her and wondered what had become of her, is really too good for the tenor of the rest of the novel, in that she doesn't display human flaws (apart from stupidly having a one night stand with Alice's horrible father Clem Hart. Ugh.).
I found I could enter the mindset of most of the women in this novel, which is no mean feat. I found it more difficult to engage with the male characters, either because I am predisposed to think that there is no excuse for domestic violence, or because the author actually places the reader in the position of the abused - we don't understand, we just suffer.
All in all, an intriguing novel and one which will repay the reader with much to think about and talk about. If you are part of a reading group, definitely put this on the list for 2018!

[amzzz_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There is so much sadness and so much beauty in this book. I loved that there was no tying together of different threads and characters in different places. There was no neat resolution because that’s not how life works, but there was hope. I felt bad for June.

[mercef_9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one surprised me. I must admit I had judged the book by its pretty cover and uninspiring title and mentally dumped it in the “looks like a Light Between Oceans type of read.” However, I tried out the audio version and found myself sufficiently invested in the characters and the drama that I needed to renew the book twice in order to finish it (a 12 hour epic, I think).
I would even say this novel sits in the Bildungsroman genre - a term I only recently learnt...so go look it up. Domestic violence is a key theme of the book.

[amaraki-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A pleasant read despite dealing with the bitter issue of domestic violence. It moved along at a brisk pace--I devoured it in a few days--and the background stories and illustrations were thoroughly interesting. My objection is the sophomoric treatment of love/attraction, which was indeed central to the plot, where everyone falls in love at first sight. She 'coup de foudre's the hell out of the story and this diminished my appreciation of it.

[freelunch_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. Not my usual style but I'm glad I picked it up. Recommended.

[heatherlinc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart". From the first page, I was captured by Alice and felt I was beside her as she journeyed through life. At times it was heartbreaking but she always found solace amongst the local plants.Women and their stories played a vital role in this novel as did the sense of place, whether it was the can fields, the ocean, the river with its gigantic gum, Agnus' garden, the flower farm or the harsh beauty of the Northern Territory. They were brought alive by the talented penmanship of the author. The descriptions of Kililpitjara (Earnshaw Crater) fascinated me, especially with the Sturt desert peas growing in its centre. I desperately wanted to visit it and see this magical sight.I liked how each chapter started with a description of a native Australian flower. While I knew a number of them, there were some I didn't know and had to Google them to see what they looked like. I would love to have seen a photo or coloured illustration included with the descriptions. I think that would have added charm to this novel.Dealing with family, loss, love identity and secrets, "The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart" was a fabulous debut.

[n0ty0urcuppatea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. Not my usual style but I'm glad I picked it up. Recommended.