Thank you Netgalley & Amazon Crossing Publishing for an eARC ♥️♥️♥️


This book is a stunning exploration of female power, friendship, and the weight of family secrets. The story jumps between 1918 and 2010, following the Flores women as they navigate love, loss, and lacemaking.

In 1918, Eugenia's story broke my heart. Trapped in an arranged marriage, she uses her lace to secretly communicate with her friends, embedding messages in the intricate patterns. Her courage and resilience in the face of oppression are inspiring, and her story feels hauntingly relevant even today.

Fast-forward to 2010, and Alice's journey is absolutely captivating. She inherits a family heirloom - a lace veil with a hidden story - and uncovers her family's history, learning about the power of her own voice and the importance of preserving cultural heritage.

This book is a must-read for anyone who loves cultural fiction, feminism, and stories about strong women. It's a beautiful, emotional ride that will leave you feeling empowered and inspired. The writing is gorgeous, the characters are well-developed, and the story is both poignant and uplifting.

If you're looking for a book that will make you feel all the feels, look no further. This one's a winner!

An interesting concept that wasn't given enough room to breathe. Lopes has attempted to fold the stories of seven generations into a 200 page novel and it didn't work. I would have enjoyed spending more time with the lace makers. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Wasn't for me but fans of world fiction should give it a try.

In a Nutshell: An English translation of a Portuguese novel, focussing on a group of lace makers who lives are connected to the Flores curse. Interesting plot, powerful themes, complicated characters. Recommended to literary fiction readers. Check the triggers though.

Plot Preview:
2010. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eighteen-year-old Alice is a rebel, fighting the patriarchal society and the female oppression in Brazil. When a relative passes a family heirloom – a lace veil – over to her, she discovers some secrets sewn into it. The secrets come from seven generations ago, in 1918, when a group of women discovered lace-making, and used it to change their lives. They would gather at the Flores house and work, even though the Flores women were shunned by many townspeople for being cursed to be “always unlucky in love.” As Alice learns more about the past, she discovers the strength and the struggles of the women who came before her.
The story comes to us in two timelines, with Alice’s contemporary timeline in her third person perspective, and the historical timeline in the first person pov of Inês, one of the Flores women.

This novel was first published in Portuguese in 2019 as ‘A Maldição das Flores’. This English translation is due to be published on 1st July 2024.
I am not commenting on the translation quality because I have no idea whether the original Portuguese work was converted to English effectively. I didn’t feel like I was reading a translation; that’s a positive, I guess.


Bookish Yays:
😍 The characters in the historical timeline, whether functioning as friends, siblings, employees, parents, daughters, or husbands, are varied and interesting. Not all of them are likeable, which adds to the depth of the story. I especially liked Vitorina, Inês, and little Cândida.
😍 Because of the curse’s supposedly lasting seven generations, we get to see plenty of characters and their stories. Thankfully, not every single generation’s travails are detailed out. Though a test of our memory, keeping track is easy, as the author offers enough clues to help us keep everyone straight.
😍 Both timelines have rebellion and women empowerment as a common theme, with light also being shed on the status quo in Brazil wrt gender equality then and now.
😍 The novel often goes meandering into offshoot subplots related to events in the past or connected to minor characters. All of these mini-stories are interesting, but don't initially appear to be related to the core plot, until you finally see their relevance. This appears to be a common feature of South American writing, so if you already know the genre, you can ready yourself accordingly. I was prepared for the roundabout narration, and I really enjoyed the backstories. So, Yay!
😍 This quote: "The people who benefit from privilege can't see what things are really like."
😍 The author's note about her writing choices and the historical accuracies. Much appreciated!
😍 The stunning cover!

Bookish Mixed Bags:
😐 The title isn’t completely accurate as the “curse” is a side plot. The main focus is on Eugênia, but she is a ‘Flores woman” only in the sense that she worked at the Flores house before her marriage. And her story has nothing to do with the titular curse, unless we take it metaphorically. This doesn’t affect the storyline, but if you expect the curse to dominate the plot, you will be disappointed.
😐 I loved the idea of characters involved in lace making, and of using the delicate lace to transfer messages in code, and even of the work’s providing financial independence to women, but I wish there had been more details of the actual lace-making process itself.
😐 There is some blatant foreshadowing, which, while adding well to the shocks and twists, also spoils the reading experience when the event finally occurs on page. One event in particular shouldn’t have been leaked so far in advance.

Bookish Nays:
😕 The book is just 220 pages long (in the Kindle edition; 235 pages in the paperback.) We have three prominent female characters in the historical timeline, one FMC in the contemporary timeline, and seven generations of curse-impact stories. Imagine fitting this all into this length! I rarely ask for books to be longer, but in this case, the novel needed several more pages to fill in the gaps and avoid the hurried feel.
😕 I didn’t get why a first-person voice was used for the historical timeline. There were so many events that Inês wouldn’t have known in such detail about, so seeing her narrate all the happenings so extensively in first person was odd.
😕 The blurb makes the novel appear to be a contemporary story, but the main plot unfolds in the past. The modern-day timeline, though having its little agenda about showing the prevailing male patriarchal thinking in Brazilian society, is primarily a framework to know the historical events. It could still have functioned well if Alice’s character had been well-developed, but her role is quite flat. We know much about what she does, but rarely get to understand the whys of her rebellious nature.

All in all, I feel this novel would have worked even better had it focussed only on the historical events, and extended the character arcs with more depth. Despite this, it is still a powerful story about how women in historical Brazil, despite societal constraints, followed their own acts of rebellion against those suppressing their voices.

Definitely recommended if you are looking for a quick OwnVoices work with some strong feminist themes and set in Brazil.

3.75 stars.

My thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Crossing for the DRC, and Brilliance Audio for the ALC of “The Curse of the Flores Women”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Content warning: Domestic assault, sexual assault, death, gender discrimination.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook and reader copy of The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes in exchange for an honest review. This is such a beautiful and heartbreaking story. It was fascinating reading about the past and present and how women endured and then sought to change their situations. I also really appreciated the codes in lace. My mom, a textile artist, would have really enjoyed this.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a wonderful family saga full of rich history. The power of women comes through so strong throughout this book. The characters past and present are excellent. Highly recommend

This story is amazing and so so sad, which is typical of women's history.
Once I started the book I could not put it down. I had to know what happened and how it happened and how life turned out for all the survivors. I had to know how the women navigated things.
We forget that it was scarcely 100 years ago that women got the right to vote in America, and not yet 100 years ago for Brazil.
I loved the blind representation in this book. As a secretary for deafblind services I know these kids can do amazing things and that they "see" the world differently. Books just usually do not represent it all so well. The birds were an amazing touch.
I want to read 100 more books just like this.

I'm always interested in translated fiction and getting to know the work of previously unknown (to me) authors. It's not often I get to travel to Brazil while reading, so of course I was very excited to have the opportunity to do so with The Curse Of The Flores Women. My Portuguese isn't exactly up to standard to be able to read a whole novel, and I thought that this upcoming English translation was the perfect opportunity to finally try Angélica Lopes' writing. I have to say that this turned out to be a very satisfying read, and I will be looking forward to explore more of her work in the future.

The Curse Of The Flores Women uses a dual timeline structure, where we switch between 1918-1919 in Bom Retiro and 2010 in Rio de Janeiro. It focuses on the same family generations apart, linked by a curse that might have caused them to be unlucky in love... The men sure don't last long as part of their family, that's for sure. Dual timelines can go both ways for me, as I usually much prefer one over the other. In this case, I did prefer 1918-1919 as it was simply more gripping, but I did like what the 2010 timeline added as it gave us some answers as to what happened after the events in the past timeline.

This story is a mix of historical fiction and a family saga following the Flores women, and it also has a hint of the mystical with the curse. The main focus is on the lives of the women though and the hardships they face in a world where women don't have power. It is also about the lace making, and how this craft is used to gain a voice... This element is probably one of my favorite parts of the story, and I loved how prominent of a role lace making played in the plot. A little warning though: especially the 2010 timeline has a strong feminist voice, which could be a bit overpowering in parts.

As for the characters... It was so much easier to connect to the women in the 1918-1919 timeline than it was to Alice in the present. Her personality was actually quite hard to warm up to, but thankfully the role she played wasn't as big as some of the other characters. I enjoyed following the Flores women in the past though, and especially the younger generation. They all have their flaws of course, but it only made their character development more realistic. Their personal stories are used to portray the struggles women faced back then, and especially poor Eugênia had a hard time.

If you like the sound of a well written and immersive multigenerational story with a twist and are, like me, intrigued by the promise lace making, a Brazilian setting and a curse, I can definitely recommend making the time to read The Curse Of The Flores Women.

Okay, this was just a lovely read. I loved the connection between the women and how strong they all were. You know I love reading historical book that show that not all women were docile and accepted their circumstances. The connection between the knitting and sending secret messages between them.

This was just a great read and I want everyone to read it.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

ARC recebido pelo netgalley e leitura finalizada dia 31/05/2024 (rated 4,5)
Estou completamente fissurada nessa história emocionante de uma família amaldiçoada e seus códigos em pontos de crochê. Simplesmente chocada com os rumos que a história tomou e como tudo aconteceu e foi contado através de uma véu feito pela Eugênia. A leitura flui super bem, os capítulos são rápidos de ler e fáceis de entender, as histórias intercalam passado e presente, tendo mais passado, pra conhecermos melhor a história. Senti um pouco de falta de um desenvolvimento melhor da Alice no tempo presente, mas entendo que esse não é o ponto principal da história, o ponto é apresentar a família Flores para, através delas, pode contar finalmente a verdadeira história do ocorrido com a Eugênia. Muito lindo e comovente toda a movimentação da Inês para ajudar a amiga e muito triste o final, infelizmente mais do que comum naquela época e AINDA na nossa realidade.

Historical Fiction novels are some of my favorite, and this novel just kept that theme going. The Flores women faced several tragedies and endured through them all. The writing of this novel brought up all types of feelings as the writing is very well-developed and meaningful. This is such a beautiful story of the bonds of family and women.

I am glad I picked up this one, it was an interesting and fast read. I enjoyed reading about a time and place I’m not familiar with. The characters were diverse. There’s a lot of make you think moments which I appreciated. I enjoy reading about mothers and daughters and the complicated relationship that is always present.

There were some things that brought down my rating, though. One of them being the title of the book. The curse of the family isn’t really as featured as I thought it would have been. Actually this story isn’t truly about the Flores women. The curse felt like an after thought which is weird since it’s the title of the book.

There’s a lot of domestic violence and horribly violent and graphic scenes in this book. It is not a massive trigger for me. But it is for many and I was surprised there were no warnings at the beginning of the book.

Reading books that are translated into your native language are always interesting to me. I love reading about other cultures and traditions.

Solid concept, ineffective execution. Loved the idea of a group of young lace makers developing a secret code to send messages to a friend in an arranged marriage. That said, this covers seven generations of women in 235 pages. I think it can be challenging to bring that many characters to life in so few pages, and the struggle showed. I often felt like I was reading a list of names for which I had no reference points or connection. The longer I read, the more confused and detached I became. The modern timeline was unnecessary, as was the nonsense about the curse. Would have preferred the time be spent on the plight of these young women trying to save their friend. Had we spent more time with the characters, become invested in their relationships, experienced their hardships first hand, etc, this could have been very emotionally impactful. Sadly, that wasn't the case for me. My overarching experience was bored, not invested, and confused.

This was so beautifully written. I felt every emotion under the sun. The Flores Women are truly strong and powerful.

Historical fiction in a whole new light. I was drawn in immediately. The book is set 1918/2919 and 2010 Brazil. This is about a curse placed on the Flores family for seven generations by the gypsies passing through their small town. The curse comes to pass and becomes a subject that isn’t talked about and presumed to not occur if the story isn’t passed along to the next generation. The women make their own money through lacemaking. They make veils, table coverings, bed coverings. They were able to stitch words into their lace to send messages that only they would understand.. the story is told seamlessly from various POV. t the time an arranged marriage was the norm. Which likely would put the woman into an unhappy life of servitude. The women formed a circle of like minded family and friends. These women would spend their days making fine lace together and evenings working on lace alone. Their lace was sold together and the money divided so each woman would have her own allotment to do with as she pleased. Divorce was unheard of at that time. Yes, I would definitely recommend this book that contains a bit of romance with suspense. Such a good story which has been retold in English. It’s a five star bookworm me. Special thanks to the following for allowing me to review early and provide my own honest opinion:
#NetGalley,
#AmazonCrossing
#Author: Angelica Lopes
#Title: TheCurseoftheFloresWomen
#Translator: #ZoePerry
Publication Date: July 1, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Crossing, and the author for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't read a historical fiction novel in a while, and this was very, very good.

It's very much so unputdownable. The tragedies the Flores women endure will pull at your heartstrings. The beautiful writing will invoke all types of feelings from you as you read. The writing invokes feelings and brings to life a story full of family drama, violence, unwanted marriages, religious conflicts, and lacemaking. Each character is vivid and well-developed.

The only thing I did not like was the dual time period. I was much more engaged with the 1918 storyline than the modern-day storyline.

4/5 stars - I definitely will recommend it!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, but it was a really interesting and unique read. I loved how the author bounced between 1918/1919 and 2010 to tell a powerful story of healing generational trauma.

I do wish there was a little more time spent exploring the current mother/daughter relationship, but the focus of the book was clearly the events of the past and how they carried forward.

This was a great historical fiction read and definitely one I will be recommending!

“It was always an act of rebellion, albeit invisible.”

What a fantastic first line! I was already wondering what the act of rebellion was and why it was necessary to keep it hidden.

I usually don’t reach for a translated book, but the beautiful cover and the cultural aspect called out to me. I was intrigued by a skill (lacemaking) that I knew nothing about and the setting (Brazil in the early 1900s) that I knew next to nothing about. I saw this book as a learning experience - and indeed it was!

The first thing I noticed was the flow of the story. I wasn’t expecting this from a translated book! I was immediately engaged. Author Angelica Lopes swept me away with her story featuring the Flores women and the terrible curse they’ve endured for the past 7 generations. Lacemaking has been a craft these women had to learn to survive. The curse made sure that they were unable to rely on anyone else to support them.

I think the 2010 timeline with Alice and the heirloom was the perfect segue into this feature story about her ancestors. Not only that, each timeline was equally interesting and spotlighted the struggles of the era, the bonds of friendship and the political pull of oppression, activism and feminism. The interconnection as a result of their craft was inspiring - strong, courageous women united by the art of transforming thread and woven tape into lace!

The Flores women each told their story through either how they think, how they see, or how they act. Lopes explores feminism from the narrator’s (Ines Flores) point of view. We get to see how Ines thinks and deliberates. Because the main story is focused on the Sheriff’s daughter, Eugenia, readers get to know about this time in history through what Eugenia sees. She has a dream. Finally, Vitorina is the ‘doer’ and readers get to see her outlook on their shared history through her actions. My eyes were opened to things I’d never considered; the ripple effects from feuding families, the fear of the Coronelismo and the Cangaco. This story showcased some very clever plotting!

The lace coding was fascinating and I think this book will be forefront of my thoughts each time I hear a bird call this Spring! I equally loved the thought of us being “keepers of knowledge” as a legacy for the future as I loved the concept of there being resilience in Anna’s blood. I finished, satisfied that what her ancestors had struggled with was the very thing that would provide for Alice’s future.

I recommend this fascinating book, featuring secrets shared between the generations and the bonds of family and friendship.

I was gifted this copy by Amazon Crossing and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

In this captivating and haunting novel, the author masterfully portrays the enduring ties of womanhood as a young protagonist, Alice Ribeiro, delves into the rich tapestry of her family's history and the profound secrets that resonate across generations. Set against a backdrop of resistance and female oppression in Brazil, eighteen-year-old Alice grapples with societal norms and confronts her own mother, embodying a spirit of resilience in her relentless pursuit for justice and equality.

As a family heirloom, a veil is passed down to Alice, serving as a catalyst for her to embark on a journey that uncovers the hidden legacy of the women in her lineage. The narrative spans seven generations, delving into the story of the Flores women in Bom Retiro, whose lives were marked by the town's rejection due to a supposed "curse" that condemned them to loveless fates. Undeterred, these resilient women turned to lacemaking to forge their own destinies, only to face unforeseen challenges that transcended time.

Through Alice's exploration of her family's saga, the novel weaves together revelations of the past, its poignant connections to the present, and the indomitable spirit coursing through her veins—a testament to the strength and determination that her ancestors embodied. This story of empowerment, rooted in heritage and the struggle for autonomy, serves as an homage to the courage and unwavering spirit of womanhood.

Readers enamored with narratives that echo with resilience and the enduring power of familial bonds will find themselves deeply engrossed in this evocative and beautifully rendered tale. It's a testament to the enduring strength of women throughout history, resonating with those drawn to themes of empowerment, legacy, and the unyielding pursuit of equality.

I was intrigued by the title. So, there's this island in Indonesia called Flores Island, so I thought this was about that lol. How presumptuous of me! Flores in the title means "Flower" and that refers to the house with many flowers in the garden. Therefore, this curse refers to the family living in that house.

Surprisingly, I love this book. This is not my usual genre, but the narration (that is the translation) is so easy to digest and follow, even though in many parts the POV jumps here and there, but somehow it manages to flow neatly without being confusing. The use of multiple POV and dual timeline are also effective to keep the tension, the mystery, and the fight in the different generation.

The story revolves around three best friends: Eugenia, sheriff's daughter; Ines Flores, one of the Flores family; and Vitorina, grocery shop's daughter; who live in a small town in Brazil, Bom Retiro in 1918-1919. The other timeline told a story of Alice, in 2010. By the choice of voice and events, this is an obvious story about feminism, and the author writes it so well. Even though the story is told from Ines, as "I", but she acts omniscient through the eyes of so many other characters, therefore I can see a lot of what they're thinking before doing something. This is a good plot device when used correctly, because this evokes my sympathism toward everyone in this book, despite what they've done.

For example, in some parts I hate Tia Firmina (Ines' aunt) for being in denial for so long and her action is the true catalyst of the main action of the book; but I see the lives through Firmina's eyes, and when she convinced herself that she's doing this for Flores family, I believe her. I understand her fear and her fierce protectiveness for her family, because I see in her heart that she means well.

I think every woman in this book, with different personality and different background, has their own way to fight for themselves and for each other. Eugenia is a dreamer who has a vision, Vitorina who acts will do the action, and Ines the thinker will provide solution. Women's strength doesn't need to be sword and armor. Femininity and intelligence are also strengths. You can still fight in the corset and dress, while making lace and managing households.

In the end, when we are happy with our choice, and ready to face the consequences, that is the real freedom.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC.
Expected publication, June 2024.
Translated from Portuguese by Zoe Perry

New fave alert! I always struggle to write reviews for books that I really love- I know when a book has truly touched me, that I'll think of it often, and recommend it- and this novel is exactly that. An engrossing and affecting novel, seamlessly weaving together a historical and a modern timeline (something I usually don't enjoy, however the dual timeline was established wonderfully here). The Curse of the Flores Women was a story of female struggle and demonstrated generations of women struggling with the expectations placed on them by marriage and the expectations from the inhabitants of their small town. And lacemaking! I'll always enjoy a book in which I can learn a little about an activity that interests me and I know little about. 6/5 stars.