From the multi-award-winning author of An American Immigrant comes the story of a woman walking through paralyzing grief and the unlikely friendship that might unlock a path to healing.
When Sandra and her family move from New York City to East Nashville for her husband’s job, she is hopeful for a fresh start. While she will deeply miss her tight-knit family and thriving career, she is desperate to leave behind the city that holds her greatest loss.
But Sandra quickly learns that moving into a new home she designed and having the freedom to be a stay-at-home mom for the first time is not what she thought it would be. Sorrow still follows her, and no new place can fix it.
When she meets her next-door neighbor, Mark, who is an elderly, widowed, retired pastor, an unlikely friendship quickly forms. His humor, spiritual wisdom, and affinity for gardening—a skill he was forced to learn when his wife passed away—brings a welcome distraction from Sandra’s suffocating grief, giving her hope for the first time since her tragic loss. Will this friendship be just what she needs to heal her broken heart? Or will unexpected news leave Sandra with even more heartache?
Read: April 11, 2026 – April 13, 2026
When I finished Where Wilted Flowers Bloom, I had to sit for a while and give myself time to think through what I just read. I’m still thinking about it, actually. This story is a tender look at grief through the perspective of a woman (Sandra) who lost her youngest child. In a bid to run away from her issues, she and her family move from New York to East Nashville where she meets Mark, her friendly neighbor who helps her learn more about faith, life, and friendship.
God is always able to take our brokenness, take our troubles, our regrets, everything–He gladly receives them all–and if we will let Him, He will exchange our ashes for a crown of beauty.
I thought the author portrayed the hurt and pain Sandra was experiencing very well. There were points where even I was frustrated with Sandra – how she was acting, pushing people away, yelling at her kids, etc… but I think that it was very clear her grief was making do things that were out of character for her. It was obvious that she was running away from her hurt and in an interesting way, I started thinking a lot about my own life. For me, this is a mark of good fiction and good writing – being able to see myself in the page beyond superficial thoughts. I had a very real reaction to this book and I appreciated it very much.
Mark was an excellent character (minus his upset over a major plot point near the end of the book lol). I loved the wisdom he provided and the approach he took to trusting in God. And gardening is a fantastic metaphor for our walk with the Lord. There is a delicate line between preachy and compassionate when it comes to Christian fiction, and I thought the way the topic of faith was handled pretty well. My favorite example of this was when Sandra opened up about how some of her friends and other moms from back home had made her feel like less of a Christian because of the pain she was still facing after her loss, and Mark’s response was to acknowledge the harm that responses like that cause… and then he spoke life into her and encouraged her to come to God with her pain, not run away because she’s struggling. Moments like that made me appreciate the story even more.
Sandra has a literal come-to-Jesus moment and I loved how she moved forward after that. Her faith did not become an excuse to shirk her responsibilities; rather, it strengthened her to deal with the things she’d been running away from. I like how that was done. Not portraying Christianity as a magic one-size-fits-all solution but a way of comfort in the Lord. I wish we had seem more of Sandra in grief therapy. I also wish we had gotten more conversations between her and Aaron (her husband), who was also grieving too. The story is told from Sandra’s POV and so we only got Aaron’s thoughts in bits and pieces, but I would have liked to see the family aspect of coming together as spouses in the face of such a great loss as that.
This book was such a departure from the more lighthearted romances that I’ve been reading. It was a heavy book that dealt with a heavy topic and it was done with grace and sensitivity. I’ve appreciated the headspace of reflecting on my life. I haven’t lost a child (haven’t had any, actually), but I started thinking about the things I might grieve in my own life – a dream, a desire, a job, etc… I saw a bit of myself in Sandra and reading the book was like looking in a mirror in the best way possible. I am so grateful for this beautiful reminder that the Lord is ready and waiting. He is not burdened by our needs but rather, calls us to come to Him with all our pain and He will give us rest and strength to get through. And I’m walking with that.
Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Christian Publishing, and WaterBrook for an ARC. All opinions are 100% my own.