I loved listening to the audio book "The Flower Sisters", by Michael Collins Anderson. It features an excellent ensemble cast that bring the story to life. Full of twists and turns, and family secrets of three generations of women and about an event that effects an entire town. This is a must listen for fans of historical fiction!

I've been in a historical fiction mood for awhile now and tend to gravitate towards Holocaust/WW2 based books. I went into this book without knowing anything about the historical event nor having done any kind of research. This book was a pleasant surprise- it was historical fiction with elements of mystery and "who did it". There were plenty of twists to keep the reader engaged throughout, right from the first chapter. This book is based in the prohibition era and was a traumatic event that whipped almost a whole generation away from a town. Absolutely fascinating. I also enjoyed the multiple points of view- I think that the various points of view flowed well and made for a quicker read.

I listened to the audiobook for this one and it was a full cast. I enjoyed the narration, and it definitely helped with the multiple POV and that there were so many characters to get used to and learn how they fit together. So the full cast was a definite plus in the audio narration. It took a couple of chapters to get into the book and start to fully engage with the characters, but one I did, I didn't want to stop reading.

While the characters are quirky, and it was an interesting small town called Possum Flats, Missouri is a fictional town, the story itself had some depth and dealt with some difficult issues that needed to be reckoned with by the town. It reminded me a little of Dreamland Burning but with quirkier characters, more like the ones in Fried Green Tomatoes. The plot uses a real life dance-hall explosion and uses the premise that it has happened fifty years before the story begins. I really enjoyed the character of Daisy, and she was the quickest for the reader to connect with, she is working as an intern journalist and comes across the story and then begins to research and investigate the story for a 50th anniversary look back. The relationships between the characters and the secrets that they are hiding as she investigates this tragedy reveals a lot more tragedies that were not revealed previously.

The story is told from many points of view, by different people of the town. There is much flipping back and forth in the timeline, but it flows well. We see the same characters in the present day and in the past. The townspeople range from a pastor to a postmistress to a pharmacist to a mortician and more. The personalities were interesting, and it was multilayered on many to see how their characters grew and developed from this tragedy. I loved the character arcs and found most of them believable except for Dash the Pastor. The ending was a little weird with him. I think it might have been better as an epilogue, but it didn't truly diminish the book for me because by the end I really loved it already. It was a little Hallmarky with the ending, but I could see what the author was going for and it was okay.

I really enjoyed this story. There are a lot of secrets, the basis of many good books, as I love the intrigue. The more I got into it, the more I wanted to know how everything worked out. It's a slow burn, but an interesting one. I think historical fiction based on stories we haven't heard before but have social impact are a favorite of mine and I know my students love them as well. I will definitely add this one to our library and share it with my students. I think it is one they will learn a lot from in the best possible way through a good story.


Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

This thoroughly enjoyable, ensemble-cast narration was a delight. The topic could have easily become too heavy with grief and sadness, but it never did.
Recommended for purchase by the Scottsboro Public Library.

In Possum Flats, Missouri, Rose Flowers has been running her family’s mortuary for a long time. When her estranged daughter drops off her granddaughter, Daisy, Rose doesn’t know what to do with her at first. Fifteen year old Daisy dreams of her new life in California with her mother and can’t wait to get out of this one horse town. That is until she gets a summer internship at the town newspaper. It’s there that she learns about the Lambs Dance Hall explosion of 1928, a tragedy that killed a number of teens and still haunts some of Possum Flats residents to this day. The more Daisy digs the more secrets she uncovers, but there are some people in this town who want to make sure some secrets never see the light of day.

I went back and forth with this book. At first, I was interested, and then it lost me but then brought me back. I enjoyed Daisy and Rose, and I wish the story would have focused more on their relationship. I loathed Dash. He just kept getting worse every time he opened his mouth, and I did not look forward to his POV chapters at all. The ending felt (to me) a bit too syrupy sweet, and didn’t seem to match the tone of the story. I get what the author was trying to do and why she made the narrative choices she did. I just didn’t love the ending. And I didn’t care for Lettie at all. In the end, this is still a good story with some good surprises.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. I enjoyed the narration by Jim Frangione, Andrea Gallo, L.J. Ganser, Laura Knight Keating, Christina Moore, and Graham Winton.

This is a fictional story based on a real event. It is told in two timelines- 1928 and 1958. There are various POVs.

In 1928 in a small Missouri town, an explosion at a dance hall killed dozens. Among the victims was Violet Flowers, twin to Rose Flowers. No one in the town ever spoke of the tragedy. Fifty years later, Rose's granddaughter, Daisy, comes to stay with her for the summer. She becomes an apprentice at the local paper, where she is sent to the archives to find some stories for a "today in history" type column. There, she learns about the explosion. And that her grandma had a twin sister who died.

Daisy begins interviewing citizens about the explosion. Several, including her grandmother, do not want to talk about it. A series of events are triggered by Daisy's interviews- shedding light on a lot of secrets surrounding that fateful night.

I enjoyed this story. It had me reading up on the real Bond Dance Hall explosion. For some reason it reminded me of the Italian Hall Disaster on Christmas Eve 1913 in Michigan. (Mainly due to a disaster on the second floor of a downtown building, making it even harder to survive.) Anyway, I always appreciate when a book sparks an interest in me. I love history and reading about events- even tragic ones. This book took me down a few rabbit holes.

I will say I sometimes had a hard time remembering that Daisy's timeline was 1978. It felt closer to 1968. But, also, I was not born until the 80s, so I only can go off the book compared to my sense of time periods before I was born.

I hope none of the revelations are meant to be a surprise to the reader. I saw them all coming from the first couple of chapters.

The story is told by multiple POVs and the audiobook uses different narrators for each. I always appreciate that. Despite having at least six different voice actors, they fit together well in terms of tone and pacing.

If you are a fan of historical fiction based on real events, give this one a try.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗯𝘆 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 is an emotional exploration of family, tragedy, and the enduring power of secrets. Through dual timelines, Anderson skillfully navigates the aftermath of a devastating explosion at Lamb’s Dance Hall in 1928 and its reverberations fifty years later. Violet and Rose Flowers, once inseparable twins, are torn apart by a tragic event that leaves one dead and the other forever changed. Fast forward to the present, where Daisy Flowers, Rose's granddaughter, unravels the town's secrets while interning at the local newspaper. Anderson captures the essence of small-town dynamics and the weight of untold stories. With sensitivity and depth, she delves into themes of love, loss, and the quest for belonging. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥 𝗦𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 would be perfect for book clubs seeking engaging discussions on family dynamics, hidden histories, and the resilience of the human spirit.

Such a good read!! I could not put this book down. It's captivating from the very first chapter, and then the twist toward the end was so good. I did not see that coming. An entire generation keeping secrets from fifty years earlier only for a teenager to uncover them and help them heal from that horrible tragedy was portrayed perfectly throughout the entirety of this book. The story is told so vividly with perfect detail I was surprised that this is a debut author. I will be recommending this book to anyone looking for their next read.