Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris
There are many books that you read. There are a few books that take your hand, wrap you in the warmest embrace and ask you to sit with yourself for a while. Some books are written to heal and nurture, and this is what you will find in Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris.
Harris is no stranger to writing stories that meet you where you are while forcing you to reflect on your life and those around you. This novel is filled with forgiveness, acceptance and compassion.
A Second Chance Takes Root
This story follows Leigh, a fugitive, who spent all of her life surviving through her family’s difficulties and mental illness while being raised off the grid. She was dealt a life of being invisible and a past that she ran to forget. While being transported on a prison bus, it crashes, giving Leigh a new chance to live free from her past. Through this moment, she quickly recalls living in the forest off-grid while listening to the inner voice of her father teaching her how to survive in the wilderness. A few days or so after Leigh finds herself in a new town too small for her liking, she finds refuge on a flower farm in Gees Bend, Alabama. On this farm, she meets strangers who become family and a life that she never imagined could be possible. Full of monumental transformations of healing, love and mindfulness, Leigh is given a new chance to live a life she’s only dreamed of.
What I loved most about this novel is that it is not rushed nor forced. It gently paces you through navigating Leigh’s trauma and her new family on the farm. It provides an honest perspective on how one can heal when provided the opportunity to exist authentically. There’s never an instant press of a button or a quick fix to become a new person. It takes patience, grace, support and safety to allow one to be vulnerable enough to see that there’s a life worth living and smiling about. Through this novel, we are granted the opportunity to witness Leigh doing everything she can to forget her past. Unfortunately, I felt this part of the novel went by too fast. I wanted more of Leigh learning to love Jack and finding true friends in Tibb and Luke. Although the ending felt rushed and ended too quickly, I can say this book is full of quotes to help you reflect on your own life. This book is filled with survival, the sacredness of being known and the slow, stubborn work of healing. Allowing one to accept the time it takes to heal and grow, and learning what it means to be resilient. This book reminds us that wildflowers thrive in the most unlikely of places and grief is the receipt of love that you hold on to.
About Terah Shelton Harris:
Terah Shelton Harris is an author and former librarian, who now writes upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings. She is the author of One Summer in Savannah and Long After We Are Gone. Her books have been chosen as a Target Book Club pick, LibraryReads pick, Kobo Best Book, Together We Read pick, Publisher’s Marketplace Buzz Book, and a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Debut. Terah was also named Target’s inaugural Author of the Year. She lives in Alabama with her husband.
