Inspiration for Secrets of Flowers by Sally Page

By Sally Page

Hello Women Writers,

My discovery that the Titanic was ‘a ship full of flowers’ led to a novel that was five years in the writing. The Secrets of Flowers is a contemporary tale of Emma, a young widow, interwoven with the true story of Violet, a stewardess who worked on the Titanic. A stewardess who survived the sinking of two White Star liners and the near destruction of another. 

I think I have always been a flower lover. When I won a prize at my elementary school I chose a book that was a guide to wild flowers. It is still on my shelf beside me – along with many, many more flower books. Some of which I have written. I wonder what that nine-year-old would have thought!

After studying history at university I went to live in London and I worked in advertising, but once a week I attended a course in floristry – my favourite part of the week. I started visiting Covent Garden flower market, seeing for myself how the flowers were sold and it wasn’t long before I started my own shop. However, a few years on, I came to realise I couldn’t really mix running the shop with bringing up – by then – two daughters and I sold the business and we moved to the country.

There I ran a market research business, using some of the skills I had gained working in advertising. It was when my girls were teenagers that they persuaded me to take a part-time job in a flower shop. They could see that their mum missed working with flowers. It was here that I started to photograph and write about the life of the shop for my book; A Year in the Life of an English Country Flower Shop. It was such a joy to watch the seasons change and see the different flowers coming into the shop. I was also fascinated by the stories that people told us as they ordered flowers. So much seemed to be about friendship, whether it was supporting, sympathising or celebrating. 

Not surprisingly these are the themes that run through my new book The Secrets of Flowers, a book packed with beautiful blooms. Emma, the main character, takes a job as a trainee florist to help her move on from her loss. As a result of the people she meets she becomes fascinated by whether there were flowers on the Titanic and a strange connection she feels with a stewardess who worked on board. And so, her quest begins, and the book turns out to be a floral story of discovery and recovery. 

And so, my own research began, after one evening idlily browsing through online information about the Titanic. My investigation into the flowers onboard led me to libraries and museums in London, Southampton and Ireland, and changed how I viewed this ill-fated ship. I had known the Titanic was an opulent ship, but I began to realise it was also a fragrant, floral world. Passengers recorded that the air was so full of scent that it reminded them of being in the French Riviera. The plants and flowers were delivered the night before the Titanic sailed. The plants were distributed around the ship that evening, but the flowers were put in storage to be arranged later. Flowers were also delivered to passengers for their cabins. In the manifest, 500 vases were listed as being loaded and there were special areas on board where flowers were stored.

            Yet this floral, fragrant world was only known to those who sailed on that maiden voyage. It is a secret that went down with the ship. In my novel The Secrets of Flowers I wanted to share my discovery and also to consider who was it who arranged the flowers. Was it Violet, who I came to appreciate was also a passionate flower lover, like me? 

By now I was in my late fifties and for the first time was considering creative writing, rather than my non-fiction work on flower books. Could I weave this story into a novel? The answer was yes and no! I could write the book, but could I find an agent and a publisher? They were much harder tasks. I remember around this time hearing an interview on the radio by the novelist, Elizabeth Strout, in which she said that every time she was rejected, she thought – well, I will just have to write better.

I took this to heart and kept going. I am so glad I did. Eventually, after a considerable amount of editing (and writing four more books) I was signed by an agent and she set about trying to get a deal for my books. Funnily enough it was one of my later books The Keeper of Stories that eventually was taken up by Harper Collins in the UK and Blackstone Publishing in the US, and my debut novel was published, just as I turned sixty. 

What happened next was rather like a fairy-tale. Driven by reader’s word-of-mouth recommendations, The Keeper of Stories became an international bestseller, translated into 30 languages. At this point I would say to any would-be-authors, take heart. It only needs one editor to spot your book and you soon forget all the rejections! Bloggers and reviewers started to say, ‘We can’t wait to see what Sally Page writes next’. Well, as luck would have it, I had more books tucked away in my drawer! The first I reached for was The Secrets of Flowers. After all, I had always been a flower lover. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SALLY PAGE’S debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, combines her love of history and writing with her abiding interest in the stories people have to tell. For her latest novel, Sally returns to her greatest love: flowers in The Secrets of Flowers. Her eldest daughter, Alex, is studying to be a doctor and her youngest daughter is the author Libby Page. Sally lives in Dorset, England.

THE SECRETS OF FLOWERS

From the author of the phenomenal bestsellers The Keeper of Stories and The Book of Beginnings comes an utterly beautiful and uplifting novel.

One year on from the death of her husband, Emma feels no closer to moving forward with her life. Seeking distraction, she quits her job and begins working at the local garden centre.

Here, Emma begins to open up and finds herself attending boss Les’ talk on the Titanic. Intrigued, Emma sets out to research who would have arranged the flowers on-board.

Alongside her story unfolds the tale of a stewardess on the Titanic, who Emma can’t help but feel connected to…

With an array of inspiring and heart-warming characters, this is a novel of friendship, unexpected connections, and of hope.

BUY HERE

Category: On Writing