Review: The Wildflowers

The Wildflowers by Harriet Evans
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Wildes are a family of means – father Anthony (Tony) and Mum Althea are both actors, living a glamorous life, but once which is jam packed with adultery. With their children, Cordelia and Ben, they spend their summers in the Bosky – a summer house down in Dorset. It is here that the family meet Mads, a year younger than Cordelia, but who has been abandoned by her own family. Each summer they take Mads under their wing, but it appears that their complicated lives start to unravel.

I have to be completely honest and say that I didn’t enjoy this book. The story didn’t really keep me guessing there was no magic twist at the end and one whole chapter towards the finish of the story was of Althea completely repeating what had already happened earlier on in the book. It felt like jury service – you sit and listen to all the evidence twice, once from the opposition and once from the defence, and then when you don’t think you can take anymore, you hear it all again in the judge’s summing up.

I felt no empathy towards any character…Cordelia annoyed the hell out of me, I thought she was spoilt and difficult, and I wanted Ben to grow a backbone.

Overall, I was really glad when the story ended, because I could then move on to something else.

I dislike giving books bad reviews, because an author will put blood, sweat and tears into composing a story that they want people to like, but I'm afraid that it just wasn’t for me, but that’s not to say that other people won't find it a wonderful story. After all, the world would be a very dull place if we all liked the same things!

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