When the Wildflowers Bloom Again

Author: Donna Jo Stone
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 380
Release Date: November 15, 2024
Publisher: Aileron Books

Babies are a gift of God, a fact Marigold Parker knows full well.

Fourteen-year-old Marigold (Mary) Parker spends the summer of ’78 with her cousin and best friend, Sharon, biking the roads of their rural neighborhood in Pleasant Waters, North Louisiana. The girls while away the days at the local pond, listening to the BeeGees and talking about boys. Caring for her emotionally fragile mother is Mary’s only worry, until Sharon’s older half-brother finds Mary alone at the pond one day.

She can’t speak of what happened in the woods. The truth will destroy her family and cost her the relationships she holds most precious.

But secrets have a way of making themselves known, and when Mary finds herself pregnant, she’s forced to grapple with hard decisions. Babies are a gift from God. Mary knows this full well, but she doesn’t know how to deal with a pregnancy, or who to turn to for help.

Trials seem to multiply as Mary struggles to keep faith in the God her parents have taught her to trust.

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Reviewer: Elizabeth Eckmeyer

All I can say is, wow. I’ve never read anything by this author before, so I didn’t know what to expect. Her wisdom and understanding of this sensitive subject are shown through her story. 

Mary, an adopted daughter, is raped by her cousin. She then finds herself pregnant and alone. She is fourteen, lost somewhere between living a life as a normal fourteen-year-old girl and realizing that her life would never be the same. 

The characters in this story certainly made the details of this story more real and raw. It was a painful storyline that I certainly felt with Mary and her mother. 

This is a story that was hidden in her day. Most women were afraid to come forward and, with Mary being so young, she hardly understood what was happening. The author did such a great job not only giving this story words but showing God’s love, grace, and mercy in such a difficult story. I recommend this read. 

I received a complimentary copy courtesy of Aileron Books through Interviews & Reviews for my honest opinion.

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