Having loved The Book of Beginnings by Sally Page, reviewed here, I was thrilled when a copy of Sally’s latest book, The Secrets of Flowers arrived. My enormous thanks to Libby Haddock for sending me a copy.

Published in paperback on 29th August 2024 by Harper Collins, The Secrets of Flowers is available for purchase through the publisher links here.

The Secrets of Flowers

Follow the flowers and you will find your way home…

One year after her husband’s death Emma has become a wallflower, hiding among the brighter blooms in the florist where she works.

But when a colleague invites her to a talk on the Titanic, she begins a quest to uncover who arranged the flowers on board.

As Emma discovers the lost story of the girl and the great ship, she realises that flowers may unlock long buried secrets in her own life…

Will she be able to unlock the mystery of the Titanic and heal her heart too?

Escape into the world of Sally Page with the perfect summer read for a weekend away or cosying up in your favourite armchair! From the author of phenomenal bestsellers The Keeper of Stories and The Book of Beginnings comes another novel that will warm your heart.

My Review of The Secrets of Flowers

Emma is drifting through life after the sudden death of her husband, Will.

The Secrets of Flowers is a wonderful book that works brilliantly on so many levels. It is a fascinating dual era, partly historical, partly modern, book that has been assiduously researched and brought to vivid life by Sally Page. It has mystery at its heart. It is also a love story and a tale of loss and forgiveness. But those descriptions don’t do justice to the emotional, absorbing and compelling narrative. It feels like a book written by an author who understands the full spectrum of personality and human emotion.

The characters are truly realistic with the broken, vulnerable, grief stricken Emma, the resilient Violet, the stoic Les, Emma’s selfish mother and the magnificent, if garrulous, Betty. Whilst it is Emma who develops most over the narrative, even the more minor characters like Tomas are as rounded as any usual protagonist. I loved meeting them and ended the story feeling as if I’d spent time with real people. I keep wondering how they are doing – not least because some of Sally Page’s characters were, in fact, real people.

The plot is skilful and evocative. There’s an authentic sense of time and history in Violet’s sections that is enhanced by Emma’s more modern events, making it completely absorbing. I felt The Secrets of Flowers had a filmic quality so that it was as if I were watching an epic movie every bit as much as reading a book. Sally Page conveys setting with perfect detail, but without ever stalling the action. Her writing is beautiful, especially with regard to the flowers, to the senses and the opulent ships, making the narrative a real joy to read.

Woven into this glorious story are themes that have resonance for all readers. That need for connection, whether through family, marriage, friendship or interests, that all of us recognise, is highly affecting in the story. I have a feeling that many readers will be introducing pillow post! Other themes like grief, self-awareness, guilt and forgiveness add depth so that it feels as if the author has listened hard to the reader’s innermost thoughts and provided a path to overcoming problems and doubt. There’s so much humanity and understanding in this story. The Secrets of Flowers is a super, entertaining book, but it is also a wonderful guide to living. 

I’m aware my review here feels a bit vague but I don’t want to spoil the read for others. I would, however, say that you don’t really read The Secrets of Flowers so much as absorb it into your soul. It’s a wonderful book and not to be missed. I loved it.

About Sally Page

After studying history at university, Sally moved to London to work in advertising. In her spare time she studied floristry at night school and eventually opened her own flower shop. Sally came to appreciate that flower shops offer a unique window into people’s stories and she began to photograph and write about this floral life in a series of non-fiction books. Later, Sally continued her interest in writing when she founded her fountain pen company, Plooms.co.uk.

In her debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, Sally combined her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. Sally now lives in Dorset. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her youngest daughter is the author, Libby Page.

For further information, visit Sally’s website, follow her on Twitter/X @SallyPageBooks or find her on Facebook and Instagram.