BOOK REVIEW: The Wildflowers by Harriet Evans

Tiny and Althea Wilde. Glamorous, argumentative... adulterous to the core.
They were my parents, actors known by everyone. They gave our lives love and colour in a house by the sea- the house that sheltered my orphaned father when he was a boy.
But the summer Mads arrived changed everything. She too had been abandoned and my father understood why. We Wildflowers took her in.
My father was my hero, he gave us a golden childhood, but the past was always going to catch up with him... it comes for us all sooner or later.
This is my story. I am Cordelia Wilde. A singer without a voice. A daughter without a father. Let me take you inside.

Publisher: Headline Review

Pages: 512

I am so glad that I took this book on holiday as it is wonderful. At 512 pages, it is a book that you can completely immerse yourself in. The story of the Wildes is compelling, gripping and perfectly executed by Harriet Evans.
The book has a feel of a saga, it covers Tony Wilde's childhood, his children, Cordelia and Ben's childhood and continues right up to the present where Ben's twin daughters are growing up. Tony and Althea Wilde are both beautiful and intriguing characters, imagine the glamour of the older generation of actors (Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier etc). They both have so much to give yet they are both quite selfish as they focus on their careers and the adoration they crave.
Cordelia and Ben in many ways have had an idyllic childhood, they have spent their summers at ;the Bosky', the beachfront home their father inherited from his great aunt, Dinah. Their father's adulterous ways have a devastating effect on both of them, his choices effectively tear the family apart. Cordelia and Ben keep secrets from each other in an effort to protect one another but the consequences for both are awful. Add to this mix, Mads, a young girl who also spends her summers at the Bosky. She is drawn to this enigmatic family, wanting more than anything to be part of it but she has no idea just how complicated and dangerous that will be.
Tony Wilde is an enigma to many, one of the finest actors of his generation, he has everything, the career, the beautiful wife, the doting children- yet he risks it all by sleeping around. Only Althea truly understands him; she knows what he experienced as a child of the war and why he behaves as he does. She just had no idea the effect this would have on her own children and now she only has limited time left to put things right.
I really did love this book, Harriet Evans effortlessly moves from one time period to another. I was so impressed by how she presented the devastating effects of the war.
The Widlflowers is beautifully written, I can highly recommend this and all of Harriet Evans' previous books.