The Secret Book of Flora Lea: A Novel

When a woman discovers a rare book connected to her past, secrets about her missing sister and their childhood in the English countryside during World War II come to light. In 1939 London, fourteen-year-old Hazel and her five-year-old sister Flora are evacuated to a rural village to escape the war. They stay with Bridie Aberdeen and her teenage son Harry in a stone cottage near the River Thames. Hazel creates a fairy tale about a magical land called Whisperwood as a secret world for Flora alone. When Flora suddenly disappears while playing by the river, Hazel blames herself and carries the guilt into adulthood. Twenty years later, Hazel works at a rare bookstore in London and is preparing to move to a career at Sotheby's. Her life changes when she receives a package containing an illustrated book titled Whisperwood and the River of Stars—the same imaginary world she created for Flora decades earlier. Wondering if the book holds clues to Flora's disappearance and whether her sister might still be alive, Hazel begins investigating her past. As she reopens old relationships and confronts painful memories, her career and future become uncertain.