ITS TIME TO CAST YOUR VOTE!
Pick the best books of the year from 300 nominees across 15 categories!
Opening round: Nov. 14-26.
Congratulations to Patti Callahan Henry with The Secret Book of Flora Lea—Opening Round Nominee for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Award!
Category: Best Historical Fiction
for the Opening Round
Nov 14-26, 2023
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THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA
While you are there, check out all the categories and vote for your favorite.
FROM PATTI IG: I woke up to this news and it was better than a killer cuppa coffee! If you loved The Secret Book of Flora Lea maybe you'd consider casting a vote for her! Thank you readers; you are the ones to bring Flora Lea to this list. You brought Flora Lea alive and to the world and I could not be more grateful (or giddy)! xo VOTE between November 14-16th!
And congrats to so many friends on the list including my @friendsandfiction cohost @kristinharmel @goodreads #GoodreadsChoice @atriabooks @simonandschuster
About the Secret Book of Flora Lea
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY
When a woman discovers a rare book that has connections to her past, long-held secrets about her missing sister and their childhood spent in the English countryside during World War II are revealed.
In the war-torn London of 1939, fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the kind Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son, Harry, in a charming stone cottage along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks and games to distract her young sister, including one that she creates for her sister and her sister alone—a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own.
But the unthinkable happens when young Flora suddenly vanishes while playing near the banks of the river. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, and she carries that guilt into adulthood as a private burden she feels she deserves.
Twenty years later, Hazel is in London, ready to move on from her job at a cozy rare bookstore to a career at Sotheby’s. With a charming boyfriend and her elegantly timeworn Bloomsbury flat, Hazel’s future seems determined. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years?
As Hazel embarks on a feverish quest, revisiting long-dormant relationships and bravely opening wounds from her past, her career and future hang in the balance. An astonishing twist ultimately reveals the truth in this transporting and refreshingly original novel about the bond between sisters, the complications of conflicted love, and the enduring magic of storytelling.