#BookReview-‘The Flower Girls ‘ by Alice Clark-Platts

About the book…

‘I couldn’t put it down’ Sophie Hannah

It’s been nineteen years since ten-year-old Laurel was given a life sentence and six-year-old Rosie was given a new identity.

The sisters were the very picture of innocence: two little girls who loved to listen to their mother’s bedtime stories and play make-believe in the garden. But then an act of unparalleled horror tears their family apart, leaving Laurel behind bars and Rosie moved to a different part of the country.

Neither sister has laid eyes on the other since then, during which time their lives have followed very different paths. But now – with Laurel coming up for parole – they look set to be reunited in court, and the world will be watching.

‘The Flower Girls’ is published by Raven Books and is available now hardback, audiobook, ebook and shiny new paperback editions from today! That cover is absolutely gorgeous!
I am resharing my 5 star review of this tremendous debut thriller to celebrate the paperback release of this book.

‘The Flower Girls’ takes a taboo subject theme-the murder of one child by another-and sets it both a retrospective, and conetemporary setting. Laurel and Primrose have forever been labelled ‘The Flower Girls’ after the horrific toddler abduction and murder they carried out as children.

One of the girls was old enough to be charged with the offence and was sentenced to life imprisonment whilst the other was too young so the entire family was given new identities and relocated.

The aunt of the little girl who was murdered made it her life long mission to keep the one girl behind bars, and sets up a social justice action group to keep the name of the victim in the public consciousness so that the perpetrators will never know peace.

However, in a seaside hotel, during a snow and ice storm, a five year old girl, Georgie, goes missing. A frantic race against time begins to find the child before she dies of exposure but why are the parents acting so suspiciously, why is the timing of Georgie’s disappearance so hard to get right, why is the chef being obtrusive and what happens when one of the guests thinks they recognise the relocated, grownup Flower Girl?

This is only the beginning in a story that twists and turns and leaves you breathless. It can be uncomfortable reading in the way that most of us believe in the innate goodness of children, so how, therefore, could one be evil enough to kill a child? Let alone siblings? Was it their upbringing, did they absolutely commit this crime as the incarcerated Flower Girl maintains her innocence?

What happens to the carefully built façade around the free one (and is she really even free?) Does she reveal herself or wait to be revealed by the guest who makes it clear they know it’s her? Which is the lesser of the two evils? her partner is aware of her crime but what will happen when her step-daughter to be finds out? It would be easy for a novel discussing such things to resort to the lowest common denominator and say evil is evil, it cannot be remedied, it cannot be excused. However, as with ‘The Rumour’, ‘The Flower Girls’ really gets the reader thinking about collective responsibility, rehabilitation, the justice system and social media as a weapon.

I remain grateful to Netgalley and the publishers, Raven Books for letting me read this in return for an honest review, please check it out at your nearest bookshop, online retailer or local library and if you enjoy this, or any other books, please consider leaving a review !

About the author…

I am a former human rights lawyer who used to work for the UK Government. As a litigator, I worked on cases involving Winnie Mandela and the rapper Snoop Dogg. I loved my job but then we re-located to the tropics and now I live in wonderful Singapore.

I also write short stories which have been published in in various anthologies. And when I’m not writing, I’m running The Singapore Writers’ Group which I founded in 2012. This is a fantastic group of both professional and amateur writers who meet monthly and attend workshops and critique sessions

Links-https://www.facebook.com/aliceclarkplatts/

Twitter @aclarkplatts

@BloomsburyRaven