Search - Flowers From The Storm

Flowers from the Storm is a very emotional story about a man (Christian Langland) stricken with a catastrophic stroke which leaves him unable to understand or speak, and is committed to a 19th century insane asylum by his family, who thinks he's gone "mad." It's a really compelling story about a man's struggle to recover his health and rebuild his life against overwhelming odds. A romance develops, but that story is (almost) secondary in my opinion. This is Kinsale at her absolute best. Her website indicates that she had a family member suffer a stroke when Kinsale was quite young and it's apparent that Kinsale did a lot of research for this book. The writing and characterization of Christian are so authentic that you develop a great deal of empathy for him to the point where you intensely feel his frustration and despair at being locked inside a body that will not cooperate.

It so happens that the man stricken by the stroke is a Duke and also a brilliant mathematician. In the meantime, Christian's family is trying to have him declared incompetent, permanently committed to the asylum and stripped of his title. A Quaker woman, Maddy, has volunteered to help her cousin who manages what is considered a progressive insane asylum (for the time). Maddy is filling in for her cousin's wife (who was his clerical assistant) who has taken a pregnancy-related leave of absence. Maddy had met the Duke briefly when he and her father presented their mathematical work at a meeting of the Analytical Society and the Duke invited them to dinner at his estate afterward.

During a tour of the asylum, Maddy sees the Duke, who is chained in restraints (due to his violent behavior) and she has what the Quakers call an "Opening," believing she was sent there (by God) to help him. She speaks to him and treats him kindly and for the first time, he calms down. She seems to be the only one he responds to, (probably because she treats him like a human being) and she comes to the conclusion that he is not "mad" but "maddened." Against strong opposition, She requests to be his caretaker. She is the only person who has treated him like a human being rather than an animal and he immediately develops a strong attachment to her.

The book is a very emotional read, at times heartbreaking, but outstanding and very compelling. I must say it's not an easy read--the first 100 pages or so were downright painful to read (never cried at the BEGINNING of a book before), but it gets more optimistic after that. However, as the Duke slowly recovers, Maddy becomes more and more critical of him and his lifestyle, which goes against everything Quakers believe. I found Maddy's "holier than thou" attitude a little irritating, however. Maddy and Christian fall in love and Maddy is forced to choose between her religion and Christian. I love the characterization of Christian and his frustration with his life changing illness and struggle to recover.

Definitely a keeper and I'm very picky about what I keep. Even my husband wants to read it now after hearing me rave about it.

One of the best romances I've ever read. Seriously. Very different premise from the usual mamby-pamby feel-good stories. It's a non-stop roller-coaster ride from the first page to the last, a book so good that when reading it for the 5th time I found myself stopping at certain passages and thinking, "Wow, HOW did she write this??"
And the love scenes.... stunning, sexy, and wonderfully different. You won't see any cliches in this book. Christian's and Maddie's story is touching, amusing, heart-wrenching, and just about any other emotion you can imagine. You feel like you're right there through each scene experiencing everything the characters do.
Believe me, if you pick up no other Romance, you MUST read this one.

From the back of the book (which intrigued me enough to buy it, which rarely happens!)...
"He is London's most notorious rakehell--a charming, irresistible seducer possessing a brilliant mind and reckless passions. Until, in the wake of a shocking tragedy, he is condemned to a world of shadows...and madness.
An innocent beauty of modest birth and simple faith, once she feared the dashing nobleman who awakened within her feelings she had never known. Now she has come to free him from his solitary torment--never dreaming her warm, healing touch will etermally bind them together in need, in desire...and in love."

I always enjoy Laura Kinsale! I particularly like her heroes that are flawed. This partifcular hero is your typical womanizing rake until he has a stroke that affects his speech. Suddenly he's not so popular any more. He also develops a nasty temper in his frustration to communicate and his damaged pride in the man he has turned out to be. In comes a Quaker woman who thoroughly disapproves of his lifestyle. Two very unlikely people come together in a great romance. Especially good is the scene where, after she has left him, he comes into her church service and finally swallows his pride to tell her how he feels, in his halting and very difficult speech that will make you cry as he struggles to communicate his feelings. Ms. Kinsale always delivers the unique romance that touches on some of the more unspeakable elements of our human nature.

A beautifully written non-traditional romance.

Beauty and the Beast. The hero: a brilliant rake suddenly afflicted by stroke loses his speech and winds up in a brutal insane asylum. The heroine: a pious Quaker who has spent her entire life caring for the needs of others finds a man she recognizes in an asylum and takes up his cause.

Such an unusual story, at least the first half of it being mostly about this man's struggle to communicate - a mind that seems to think properly but can no longer process language - either taking it in or letting it out. In his frustration he is driven to violence. It seems maudlin, which it is, but it also slowly develops a relationship between these two wildly different people that wouldn't be believable without a slow start.

The story is so well researched and well written. The love story is paced brilliantly with just enough to keep things going. The love scenes are sparse but beautifully told, original, and sexy.

There is so much for this couple to overcome. He is a very unheroic character but has been set very low by his circumstances. She is such a bigot, in her Quakerly way. Their families, their circumstances, their background, even their religion is set to keep them apart. The story is a long arc of obstacles that they overcome to be together.

Such a beautiful book and story. A keeper for sure.

4.5 stars

The reason I read this book was because of the extraordinary reviews that was given to this book. I was slightly disappointed by it. But I also really enjoyed it at the same time. Maddy is definitely one of the biggest prudes I have ever read and Christian is ....just one in a million(: Great storyline. OK characters. Took me longer than usual to get absorbed in this book but I can say this book is worth reading. As if its a keeper, I'm still contemplating on that.

Good story, I couldn't wait to read because of all the recs as being "Favorite Book of All TIme" in an Amazon discussion. I can't agree there - a little slow, but worth my time to read.