This week’s topic for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) is “May Flowers”. There are a number of suggestions for ways to approach this topic, such as books with flowers on the covers or books about flowers or gardeners, but I’ve decided just to list ten books with names of flowers in the title.
These are all books that I’ve read and reviewed on my blog – and I’ve managed to find ten different flower names!
1. Blackberry and Wild Rose by Sonia Velton – An interesting historical novel about the community of Huguenot silk weavers living and working in London’s Spitalfields in the 18th century. I was drawn to this book by the pretty cover, but enjoyed the story as well.
2. The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils – The novel which inspired the opera La traviata. I read a translation by Liesl Schillinger and enjoyed this story of Marguerite Gautier, who uses bouquets of red and white camellias to send messages to her lovers.
3. The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau – Historical thriller set in New York’s Little Italy during Prohibition. It’s a fascinating setting and we do learn a little bit about growing orchids too.
4. Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton – This is a contemporary crime novel about a man serving a life sentence for murder and the lawyer he chooses to help him overturn the verdict. A typical Bolton novel with lots of twists and turns!
5. The Red Lily Crown by Elizabeth Loupas – An excellent historical fiction novel set in 16th century Florence and following the story of an alchemist’s daughter who enters the household of Francesco de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
6. The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas, père – I would never have imagined that a book about a tulip-growing contest could be so exciting, but this one is! I love Dumas and have thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve read by him so far.
7. The Poppy Field by Deborah Carr – A dual-timeline novel split between the present day and 1916-18 where the story unfolds of a VAD nurse at a casualty clearing station in France during the war. Interesting but predictable.
8. Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden – This classic novel from 1939 follows a group of nuns who set out to establish a new convent in the Himalayas. I loved the atmosphere Godden creates as she explores the relationships between the nuns and how they adjust to the unfamiliar environment.
9. Jasmine Nights by Julia Gregson – A novel about a singer working for ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) during World War II, performing for the troops in North Africa. An aspect of the war I hadn’t read about before.
10. The Daffodil Affair by Michael Innes – This 1942 mystery novel about a stolen horse, a missing girl and a haunted house is part of Innes’ Inspector Appleby series. I found it too bizarre to be very enjoyable and would recommend starting with a different Appleby novel.
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Have you read any of these? Which other books can you think of with flowers in the title?
She Reads Novels 
Putting together a bunch of books with a common title element is one of my guilty pleasures. It’s also nice to mix things up especially when they’re from multiple genres.
I haven’t read any of those you listed, but ‘Black Narcissus’ is on my classic interest list.
Yes, I tried to include a variety of genres in my list, as well as a mixture of different flower names! I found Black Narcissus interesting, but haven’t read anything else by Rumer Godden yet.
I’ve really like The Black Tulip and The Lady of the Camillas. I want to get to Black Narcissus soon, because I’m a fan of Godden’s work.
Here’s my list: https://franlaniado.wordpress.com/2024/05/07/top-ten-tuesday-may-flowers/
That’s the only book I’ve read by Godden, but I do want to read more.
I enjoyed a few of her books, but for some reason the only title I can remember right now is The Peacock Spring.
Eco’s The Name of the Rose was the first title that came to my mind, I must admit; then there’s the more generalised Flowers for Algernon which I’ve also read. Perhaps Rosemary’s Baby as well?
I seem to have read a lot of books with ‘rose’ in the title (including the Eco one) – I could nearly have put a top 10 together just with those!
I’ve read The Black Tulip and Black Narcissus, so I guess it’s a black day for me!
I could probably have done a whole top 10 list of books with ‘black’ in the title, I think!
I love that you found ten different flowers in your ten titles. The only one of these that I’ve read is Daisy in Chains, which isn’t my favorite Sharon Bolton book, but a perfect book for this list. 😀
Daisy in Chains isn’t one of my favourites by Bolton either. I didn’t think it was as atmospheric as some of her other books, but I still liked it.
I read The Daffodil Affair back in 2014 and have described it as being decidedly weird. I’ve also read The Lady of the Camellias and Black Narcissus.
I’ve read Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit.
Yes, I thought The Daffodil Affair was very weird and not in a good way! I’ve enjoyed other Michael Innes books much more.