I’ve read this book so many times that I know passages by heart, but this is the first time I’ve listened to it on audiobook. Karen Commins did an outstanding job! It felt like she was experiencing the story as she told it.
This is one of Grace Livingston Hill’s most rollicking Roaring Twenties adventures – a wonderful journey story with planes, trains, and automobiles; danger and glamor; good vs. evil; and true love!
It’s also one of her most deeply meaningful. Chan is a complex character whose inner battles and joys feel very real. Rachel is much more than a damsel in distress – she’s a portrait of the social, moral, and emotional conflicts young women faced in the time between the World Wars.
As fantastic as it may seem to some modern readers, the dangers Rachel confronted were very real in Grace’s day, and are relevant today as well. I’ve actually witnessed a similarly harrowing situation on a train trip. Because of “The White Flower,” I found the courage to step up and make sure a young woman had the support she needed to stay safe.
As always, Grace writes to a universal audience and works the message of practical Christianity into her tale in a seamless way. There’s no condemnation or preachiness to make a non-Christian reader feel uncomfortable, and a Christian reader will feel like coming home to old friends.
This book is perfect for fans of movies like “National Treasure.” It’s a great choice for family road trips, especially if you talk about 1920s history afterwards. “Live pure, speak true, right wrong, and follow the King”!