The Secret Book of Flora Lea

by Patti Callahan Henry

a rainstorm she was trying to catch in a thimble.

She wanted to be one of them, be one of the patrons who called themselves writers or authors. She wanted to be one of the women who wrote books that found their way to the shelves of libraries and bookshops. She wanted to be… an author.

“Maybe because they tell me that there is something more I can’t see. Or if I can see it, I can only see the littlest bit of it when there is much, much more.”

“Breaking free isn’t always graceful or painless, you know that better than anyone.”