In 2017, I read Wildwood by Elinor Florence and wrote that I ripped through that story in just a few short days. Once again, I ripped through another of her books, this time, Finding Flora.
Now, I had all these wonderful thoughts I planned on writing with all the reasons why I so enjoyed Finding Flora, but I was levelled, absolutely levelled by the flu and it kept me from sitting here and writing them out. Even now, I’m plagued with lingering exhaustion and it keeps me from writing clearly, and sharing what I felt to be profound thoughts at the time.
I’m not sure how this will end up now, because I really wanted to write a well-structured review as there is quite a bit to say about everything I appreciated about Finding Flora, from it’s wonderful characters, to the story itself, and to the seamless Canadian history lesson inside. There is a tremendous set of characters written about in here, of course the main being Flora, but there are plenty others that love and also hate. We first meet Flora when she’s jumped from a moving train to flee an abusive husband. She lands somewhere in the Canadian Prairies, intent on never being found by her husband.
There is a lament that Canadian history is boring. But Florence has seamlessly blended into this page-turning story, Canadian history with lessons on homesteading, the naming of Alberta and the expansion of the railway into the west, tales of the Canadian government and brutal Canadian winters. It truly flows effortlessly from this story about Flora and the group of women she finds herself with as they set out to build their own homesteads. There is Flora, there is Peggy, a widow with three very young children, Jessie a Metis woman, and the “Chicken Ladies”, Miss Greenwood and Miss Edgar. Through their stories we vividly experience the harsh and perilous Canadian winters, the fight against intimidation and threats of men intent on ensuring these women fail, and of the hypocrisy, discrimination and misogyny embedded in Canadian laws and practices, but we also read of this fantastic story about these women banding together to survive and thrive. Thrive they do, survive they do, fight they do. It’s excellent. I will always cheer and live for those books that show the strength, tenacity and endurance of women. It’s always a pleasure to read about. It’s also always frustrating to read about men just working so hard to undermine, intimidate and threaten women from living their lives. There are moments inside where you cheer and many moments where you jeer.
I first said when finishing Finding Flora, that it would be a little bit before I picked another book up, because I really wanted to sit longer with these amazing women. It was hard to let them go. This was truly an excellent and exciting page-turning novel. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for sending a copy to me. It is greatly appreciated.
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