The Forgetting Flower intrigued me as it is described as a slow-burn thriller, and it certainly is. Author Karen Hugg expertly juggles secrets, half-truths, lies, and flashbacks while gradually leading the reader into the labyrinth of the gritty underground of Paris. Renia Baranczka has a secret: she’s hiding a unique hybrid plant whose odor can cause amnesia. She ostensibly left Poland with the plant to save her twin sister who has fallen under the spell of the plant and whose boyfriend is dealing the flowers. Renia has slowly built a sanctuary in a botanically-oriented boutique, Le Sanctuaire.
This book intrigued me as it was described as a slow-burn thriller, and it certainly was. Author Karen Hugg expertly juggles secrets, half-truths, lies, and flashbacks while gradually leading the reader into the labyrinth of the gritty underground of Paris. Renia Baranczka has a secret: she’s hiding a unique hybrid plant whose odor can cause amnesia. She ostensibly left Poland with the plant to save her twin sister who has fallen under the spell of the plant and whose boyfriend is dealing the flowers. Renia has slowly built a sanctuary in a botanically-oriented boutique, Le Sanctuaire.
An international thriller, The Forgetting Flower, is set between Paris and Poland, with vivid details of each. Overlying the setting is the role of the immigrant in large cities. Renia tries to fit in, but with her Polish accent, she really doesn’t. While Renia is living hand-to-month, her rich French boss’s out-of-control spending threatens Le Sanctuaire. Working with Renia is Minh, a Vietnamese immigrant who’s forced to work under-the-table to help pay for her mother’s chemotherapy. Renia’s life spins out of control when her friend Alain is found dead and her sister’s old drug-dealing boyfriend finds Renia in Paris and pulls her into the dark underworld of drug dealing. I stayed up half the night reading this and was engrossed the whole time.
********************
The Forgetting Flower is available through:
