Where the Wildflowers Grow by Vera Jane Cook is March 2013 Musa Publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Set in the south during the 1960's, the Cassidy family held up the image the perfect family. Upon examination we see they are far from the ideal family unit.
Ryan is a well respected doctor, Rose is involved in all the social clubs required of someone in her position and they have children with a big of an age difference. Rose and Ryan each have their own dark secrets. When their children become innocent victims of those impulses, the family begins to come apart at the hinges. It's a tangles web they weave.
Now, I can't really say too much without giving up a few major plot twist. Lily is sixteen and is seeing a guy named Pierce. They are pretty wrapped up in each other, but thier is something they don't know that if found out would cause the relationship to end.
The good doctor is hardly the perfect husband. He has affairs and his latest is becoming serious. Meanwhile, Rose has met someone at one her clubs that opens her mind up to possibilities she never would have considered before.
But, the whole thing will start to come apart in light of a horrible crime and the necessity of trying to keep all thier secrets from coming out.
When is first read the blurb on this one, I had no idea this book would have so many sexual situations, including a same sex scene. So beware, this is an adult novel which has been classified as literary fiction. The prose is literary and it is fiction, but the story is more or less a giant soap opera. Don't get me wrong, there is something about being the fly on the wall and seeing the dark secrets that people keep well hidden behind a superficial facade. You can help but to get caught up the heavy drama these people have created for themselves.
In the south is known for its conservative leanings expecially during the sixties. While the nation became more enlightened, the south held on to thier old fashioned beliefs as long as they could. So, much of the subject matter here was really taboo during those days. Being such a well respected family meant they more to lose if any of these things became public knowledge. So, a few strings were pulled and small town politics
I wasn't sure if I really liked any of the characters in this book, but that isn't really necessary. I just enjoy a book more if I can relate in someway to how a character is feeling and thinking and in this case that wasn't possible.
As in real life, some people ended up with more than they deserved, and some still ended up being unsettled and unable to really stay in a stable relationship. It was a bittersweet ending and it was nice to see some people reunited with the promise of having something returned to them that had lost long ago.
Over all this one is a B- (3.5)
