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A Novel
by Terah Shelton Harris
From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living.
Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die.
Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives.
While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm's owner, who sees through Leigh's defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she's not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.
But the past isn't so easily buried.
No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she's come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.
To what audience would you recommend Happy Land? Is there another book or author you feel has a similar theme or style?
...ially readers looking for books by BIPOC authors. Just a few other historical fiction books I recommend (aside from Take My Hand by the same author): Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris The Seven Daughters of Dupree by Nikesha Elise Williams Blood Sisters and The Bone Thief by Vanessa Lillie All That We Were Promised by Ashton Lattim...
-Janie-Hickok-Siess
"Shelton Harris delicately unfurls Leigh's story, threading in details from the past to help the reader understand Leigh's reluctance to be seen, making every moment she opens up all the more rewarding to witness. Book clubs and readers who love stories of found family and women triumphing over hardship won't want to miss this one." ―Booklist (starred review)
"Themes of grief, betrayal, love, and trauma are navigated with Harris's signature compassion; her sentences and epiphanies will cause readers to pause to fully digest the novel's insights and each character's metamorphosis. Harris's fans will relish the intensity of the characters' relationships." ―Library Journal
"Where the Wildflowers Grow is a rich, atmospheric, lyrically told love story where the best parts of humanity bring about deep healing. I don't remember when I've loved a book this much, it is a masterpiece." ―Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author of It's a Love Story
"If you haven't read Terah Shelton Harris yet, you now have three incredible books to choose from. Her latest, Where the Wildflowers Grow, is as stunning as a garden in bloom. Harris lovingly tends these characters as they struggle and fight for a place in the sun. Humming with beautiful prose and a slow burn romance, Wildflowers will delight Harris' many fans and those just discovering her for the first time." ―Joshua Moehling, USA Today bestselling author of And There He Kept Her and A Long Time Gone
This information about Where the Wildflowers Grow was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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.
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