Flowers For The Season

“Flowers for the Season” is my first fictional novel. My first few years as a writer I wrote a series of health book for those who, like myself, are gluten and dairy free for various reasons. Then, the next few years I wrote nonfiction on the topic of women's history. Which I find fascinating and hope you will too

As for this book, Flowers For the Season: Our main character is Helen. She is a 19 year old red head living in 1910 Chicago with her mom and dad, her sister Margaret, her brother Frank and their housekeeper/cook Sarah. She has an older sister, Betsy who is married and lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The story begins with her making the decision to spend the winter with her sister and her husband in Little Rock. Her first trip alone as an adult. The cover of the book is her reading a magazine on the train.

She drops that magazine in her train car that she is sharing with a handsome young stranger who bends down to pick it up for her. From there, fate takes over. Jack, a Border Collie plays a pivotal role in the first few chapters, at bringing these two together.

This book is about coming of age, young love, and the value and strength of family during difficult times. There are very human interactions, and discoveries. Characters that will make you laugh, like the fancy lemon lady. There is also the terrifying moment when Helen's brother Frank is kidnapped. Helen calls on the instructor of her typewriting class, Edna Joyce, to help her solve the case.

Helen also has a reoccurring dream throughout much of the book only to have the devastating meaning of the dream revealed at the end. The dream starts with Helen in her bedroom, awaken by storms outside. When she gets up to peer out of the window she sees that the rains have caused catastrophic flooding and her beautiful flower garden is gone. Helen races downstairs and outside to where her flowers once stood and then realizes along in the flood waters is all of her scrap books where she has pressed flowers for years. Flowers she kept from various occasions that meant a great deal to her. Momentous occasions that meant something to her. The scrapbooks and her dried flowers are completely ruined. She has this same dream multiple times over the course of several months. Always leaving her with a feeling of dread. What could it mean?

Throughout the book the romance of Helen and her new handsome beau, Charles, continues to grow, ending with the sinking of the Titanic in April of 1912 which will have an impact on Helen and her family.

The romance of Helen and Charles comes to a halt with a tragedy in the family but they keep in touch by way of letter writing. It is also, because of this letter writing that Charles is able to play a big part in helping Helen solve the mystery of her brother Franks kidnapping.

This book is set in 1912 Chicago but this book is filled with progressive forward thinking characters set on building a world that is fair and equal to all. Love and support abounds not just with blood family, but the family that they create with friends.

Helen, the main character in “Flowers For the Season” also appears in my book “The Christmas Tree Girls” and I am currently working on the sequel to “Flowers For the Season” which is entitled Evergreen, due out later this year.

You can purchase the kindle edition, download via your KU Subscription or buy the paperback or hardback edition of this book here, in my amazon store: https://amzn.to/3fsB3O8