Pierre-Joseph Redoute Les Roses
During the Napoleonic era in Europe, flowers and their “secret meanings” became a bona fide craze; for example, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, a painter and botanist from the Austrian Netherlands, was renowned for his watercolors of roses, lilies, and other flowers, many of which were published as large engravings.
Against this backdrop, two sisters are separated at an early age but are bound by a magical link, a secret language of flowers, to each other and their dead mother. Cornelia, the youngest, flees her cruel uncle’s home to join Napoleon’s army as a traveling naturalist. Her ability to harness botanical medicines to heal any wound and bring soldiers back from the brink of death earns her praise. She falls in love with a young French soldier and a female camp follower. Lijsbeth lives as a servant and is known for her ability to arrange flowers. She meets an English soldier and falls in love. The two sisters have several close encounters—on a battle field and in England when Cornelia is arrested as a spy and taken to Britain for trial.
I enjoyed the historical fiction aspects of the Napoleonic wars but felt the magic connecting the sisters was strained.
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The Book of Thorns (Graydon House, April 2, 2024) is available through:
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