The Last Camellia

The Last Camellia by Sarah Jio    320 pages

 I’m a fan of author Sarah Jio’s. I adored The Violets of March and Goodnight June. I also like Blackberry Winter, but that novel had its drawbacks. And as sorry as I am to have to say this so does The Last Camellia.

One of the things that I like about Jio is that most of her stories have dualing timelines, and this one is no exception. In 2000, Addison Sinclair’s ugly past is rearing its head. She grew up tormented in a foster home by a boy who also lived there. Now he is out of prison and stalking Addison. Luckily for her, her in-laws have purchased an old estate in England. She convinces her husband that Livingston Manor would be the perfect place for him to do research for his new novel. It didn’t take much convincing and within a week the couple is taking up residence at his parents’ new pet project.

The manor is daunting. It’s huge, with wings and suites. It also comes with a staff who seems to have been there since the before World War II, especially the housekeeper, Mrs. Dilloway, who reminded me of Mrs. Danvers from Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca. Addison, a botanist, is enchanted with the orchard, especially the camellia trees. When she stumbles upon the late Lady Anna’s old gardening notebooks, questions begin to rise.

In the dualing time line, Flora, and amateur botanist, leaves America for England in 1940 under false pretenses. She goes to Livingstone Manor as a nanny, but in actuality she is searching for the Middlebury Pink, a famed camellia that is virtually extinct. An international ring of flower thieves has convinced her to go look for the tree. The thieves threaten her parents if she doesn’t cooperate.

The story moves quickly and easily. In the beginning, it was unputdownable. But as the plot progressed, more and more questions were brought up than were answered. By the time I finished, I was ready to throw the book across the room. It was almost Jio got bored, didn’t want to make the novel any longer, or was on a tight deadline. There are so many unanswered plot points. 

Since I have loved, half hated The Last Camellia, it gets 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

OCD Love Story

OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu, 341 pages

There are a lot of reasons that you could be scared away from this book: from the bright yellow and pink cover with a not-great, somewhat out-of-context quote on the back, to the disappointingly generic start (you know the drill: go to school, argue with parents, talk about cute boys, etc.). Assuming you get past those initial hurdles, you could also be turned away by main character Bea's slow descent into increasingly troubling behavior.

The longer that you can stick with it, though, the more you'll be rewarded. This is a novel that's both informative and touching, heartbreaking and full of hope. The ending may be a bit clean, given everything that happens before it, but it's also necessary, like letting out a breath.

This is the kind of novel that is difficult to recommend broadly, but will be irreplaceable for those that struggle through.