The Forgetting Flower

A secret, a memory, a scent, a death.

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Pub Date 18 Jun 2019 | Archive Date 19 Sep 2019

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Description

Secrets and half-truths. These litter Renia Baranczka’s past, but the city of Paris has offered an escape and the refuge of a dream job. The specialty plant shop buzzes with activity and has brought her to a new friend, Alain. His presence buffers the guilt that keeps her up at night, dwelling on the endless replays of what happened to her sister.

All too suddenly, the City of Light seems more sinister when Alain turns up dead. His demise threatens every secret Renia holds dear, including the rare plant hidden in the shop’s tiny nook. It emits a special fragrance that can erase a person’s memory—and perhaps much more than that.

As Renia races to figure out the extent of the plant’s powers, she’s confronted by figures from her past who offer a proposal she can’t outright refuse. Bit by bit, she descends into a menacing underworld of blackmarket mobsters, navigating threats and fending off abuse to protect the safe peaceful life she’s worked so hard for. Desperate to outwit her enemies, Renia maneuvers carefully, knowing one wrong move will destroy not only the plant, but the lives of her sister and herself.

Secrets and half-truths. These litter Renia Baranczka’s past, but the city of Paris has offered an escape and the refuge of a dream job. The specialty plant shop buzzes with activity and has brought...


A Note From the Publisher

Karen Hugg writes literary mysteries and thrillers inspired by plants. Her stories are set in worlds where plants, real or imagined, affect people in strange new ways. Her background is in horticulture and her passion is living green things. Her aim is to entertain and inspire readers, to get them thinking while their hearts are pounding.

She's a certified ornamental horticulturalist and Master Pruner. She's also a graduate of the Goddard MFA program. When not digging in the dirt she writes.

Karen Hugg writes literary mysteries and thrillers inspired by plants. Her stories are set in worlds where plants, real or imagined, affect people in strange new ways. Her background is in...


Advance Praise

"Superb characters and alluring prose make for a truly exceptional read." 

                             --Kirkus Reviews

"A lush mystery with the underpinnings of a fairy tale shot through with magic and tragedy. Karen Hugg is the rare author who can blend wonder and suspense."

                            --Emily Carpenter, Author of Until the Day I Die and Burying the Honeysuckle Girls

"The delight and grit of Paris, the desperation of poverty, the love of plants and family – all beautifully and authentically told.

The literary side of the novel brings sensitivity and texture to the struggling characters and their surroundings, and the thriller side kept me up late, anxious to find out what happens next."

                        --Sue Burke, Author of Semiosis

"Intriguing and atmospheric, The Forgetting Flower has a fairytale quality, a journey into the sensuous magic of plants. The florescent beauty at the heart of this eerie story of sisterly love and redemption is the extraordinary mountain hybrid Violet Smoke with its scent of burnt apricot, as dangerously potent in Paris as it was in its beginnings in Poland."

                        --Deborah Lawrenson, Author of The Lantern, 300 Days of Sun, and The Sea Garden


"Superb characters and alluring prose make for a truly exceptional read." 

                             --Kirkus Reviews

"A lush mystery with the underpinnings of a fairy tale shot through with magic...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9780578484075
PRICE $4.99 (USD)

Average rating from 44 members


Featured Reviews

A very interesting and unique story. Quite a slow build but well paced and very beautifully written. Recommended for a different read. Like nothing I’ve ever read x

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This is a really interesting and different story. It is a thriller set in beautiful Paris. It is unlike any story I have read before and that made it a compelling read. My own problem was that it got confusing in a few sections as to what was happening and when.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

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This book intrigued me as it was described as a slow-burn thriller, and it certainly was. Author Karen Hugg expertly juggles secrets, half-truths, lies, and flashbacks while gradually leading the reader into the labyrinth of the gritty underground of Paris. Renia Baranczka has a secret: she’s hiding a unique hybrid plant whose odor can cause amnesia. She ostensibly left Poland with the plant to save her twin sister who has fallen under the spell of the plant and whose boyfriend is dealing the flowers. Renia has slowly built a sanctuary in a botanically-oriented boutique, Le Sanctuaire.

An international thriller, The Forgetting Flower, is set between Paris and Poland, with vivid details of each. Overlying the setting is the role of the immigrant in large cities. Renia tries to fit in, but with her Polish accent, she really doesn’t. While Renia is living hand-to-month, her rich French boss's out-of-control spending threatens Le Sanctuaire. Working with Renia is Minh, a Vietnamese immigrant who’s forced to work under-the-table to help pay for her mother’s chemotherapy. Renia’s life spins out of control when her friend Alain is found dead and her sister’s old drug-dealing boyfriend finds Renia in Paris and pulls her into the dark underworld of drug dealing. I stayed up half the night reading this and was engrossed the whole time.

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Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

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A great novel, beautiful depiction of the characters with some tense moments thrown into the mix. Will definitely pick more books by this talented author.

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The Forgetting Flower by @karenhugg

Rating:🌺🌺🌺🌺

Dig into the past and present of a poor Polish girl Renia as she tries to make the life she dreams of in Paris. Renia works in Paris at a lovey flower shop called Le Sanctuaire but inside the shop she has a hidden treasure called the Violet Smoke. Not much is known about this plant except it has mysterious properties which can make you forget. Renia struggles to make her dream life in Paris come true until a man from her past emerges from the shadows and offers to help her sell the blossoms to some shady character to put money she desperately needs in her pocket. But with the man comes the horrible reason her and her twin sister are no longer talking. What would you do to accomplish your dream of living the perfect Parisian life and to get your beloved sister to speak to you again?

I enjoyed the fast pace of this book and how the character development is set up. From present day to past where you learn valuable snippets of what happened to make ones own sister not speak to you at all. The way you connect to Renia as she struggles to do what is best for herself even when she is scared for her life. I highly recommend you pick up a copy and set sometime aside cause once you pick this book up even with it being fast paced you will not want to set it down!

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I’m so excited about The Forgetting Flower by Karen Hugg!

What a beautifully written novel by an author I cannot wait to read more from. Get your hands on it right now!

Secrets and half-truths. These litter Renia Baranczka’s past, but the city of Paris has offered an escape and the refuge of a dream job. The specialty plant shop buzzes with activity and has brought her to a new friend, Alain. His presence buffers the guilt that keeps her up at night, dwelling on the endless replays of what happened to her sister.

All too suddenly, the City of Light seems more sinister when Alain turns up dead. His demise threatens every secret Renia holds dear, including the rare plant hidden in the shop’s tiny nook. It emits a special fragrance that can erase a person’s memory—and perhaps much more than that.

As Renia races to figure out the extent of the plant’s powers, she’s confronted by figures from her past who offer a proposal she can’t outright refuse. Bit by bit, she descends into a menacing underworld of blackmarket mobsters, navigating threats and fending off abuse to protect the safe peaceful life she’s worked so hard for. Desperate to outwit her enemies, Renia maneuvers carefully, knowing one wrong move will destroy not only the plant, but the lives of her sister and herself.

This is a fantastic book, I highly recommend it. I’m not the only one who loved it, The Forgetting Flower is getting awesome reviews. Here’s the link to buy it.

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Renia has a dream job in Paris but is haunted by secrets and half truths. She has a special plant that has powers she doesn’t completely understand, then her friend Alain unexpectedly dies and she has doubts about what really happened. A terrific mystery filled with suspense and surprise twists.

Thank you NetGalley and Magnolia Press for this early edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partner

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I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. What a beautifully written story! I felt like I was in Paris the entire time I was reading. This book kept me interested and wanting to solve all of the mysteries in the book. There were twists I didnt see coming. The only issue I had with this story was the constant shifting between the past and present. It made for a confusing read at times.

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Thank you to Magnolia Press and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

An enjoyable read, with a very intriguing premise - the flower of the title is a hybrid which produces blooms that drug those catching a whiff of the scent, and cause amnesia. The author writes beautiful, evocative prose that puts you in the middle of intersecting layers of the protagonist's lives. At once you are relaxing into the charm of Paris, while also sniffing the fear and desperation of being poor and barely scraping by - and the burden of memories of life before that you left behind, but are also always carrying with you.

During the course of the book, I got a bit frustrated with the obsequiousness of the heroine, but did also understand the constraining and conflicting circumstances in which she was caught - and so the ending was wonderfully satisfying.

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💐 When twins Renia and Estera are gifted a flower that’s scent provides the ability to forget, life takes an unexpected twist. People start to catch on to this little plant’s ability and they would pay good money to have it 💐

4 ⭐️ This was a good little read. Set in Paris it is a thrilling read. Not only is it based on a form of drug dealing and the danger that the main character Renia is faced with, but it’s a story of transformation. The change we witness Renia go through from the first chapter to the last page is inspiring. I recommend.

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“The Forgetting Flower” was hard to put down once I reached the halfway point. The beginning was a bit slow and sometimes the jumps between time periods were hard to follow. The story was beautifully written and the characters and scenes came to life before my eyes.

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