A Memory of Violets

A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor

A Memory of Violets tells the story of two young handicapped Flower Sellers from London in 1876. Florie and Rosie are sisters born to impoverished Irish immigrants trying to survive and both are handicapped. Florie has a bum leg that slows her down and Rosie was born blind. They gather wild flowers and watercress, with their mother, to create bouquets to sell to passengers at the railway station. When they are just 8 and 4 years old, Florie must take over as both mother and provider when they lose their mother to Cholera, which leaves them with an abusive father who will beat them if they don't bring home a few tuppence from selling their flowers. More tragedy strikes the sisters when Rosie gets snatched from Flories grasp and is no where to be found.

Fast forward a few years to 1912 when Tillie embarks on a new venture to take on a new position to become a house mother in a home for former flower and watercress selling girls. The home had been created to help the handicapped flower girls of London by giving them a safe place to live and be gainfully employed making intricate silk flowers.

When Tillie arrives, she is putting away her things and discovers a wooden box with an old journal and a few "treasures" that belonged to Florie. Here their stories come together and Tillie is determined to find the sister that Florie spent her life searching for.

This is touching story that creates a vivid picture of the poverty and depravation that so many suffered from during that time in London's history.