Bed of Flowers

by Erin Satie

June 19, 2018 · Little Phrase

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Bed of Flowers is a historical that has a lot of things going for it: it’s got a loveably grumpy hero, it depicts female friendships, and it features secondary characters of color. I appreciated all of those elements, and I liked the vaguely gothic feel it had. I really, really enjoyed this book, but I have to admit the ending was a little weak. That said, I was willing to overlook it because my experience reading was so pleasurable.

Bonny Reed is the most beautiful woman in the port town of New Quay, and her family is banking on that beauty to secure her a good match. They had previously been quite successful, but a fire destroyed the dockside warehouses her father owned and the property stored within, which bankrupted them. Now Bonny, her parents, and her younger sister live in near-poverty.

Bonny is being courted by Charles Gavin, a handsome bachelor with a wealthy family. When the book opens he finally proposes marriage to Bonny and her family is elated. The match will provide them with some security and will give her sister, Margot, better marriage prospects as well. The problem is that while Charles looks good on paper, he’s actually a selfish asshole who will make a terrible, terrible husband.

It’s Baron Orson Loel who warns Bonny of this. Loel is persona non grata in New Quay–he was the one who accidentally set the fires that burned down Bonny’s family’s warehouses and damaged property belonging to many other people. His accidental fire meant many families suffered financial hardships and the community has totally ostracized him.

Bonny shouldn’t even be talking to Loel, but she’s curious. She and her best friend, Cordelia, run a lending library and every week deliver new books to members in town. One day Bonny goes to an estate on the outskirts of where a widow, Mrs. Twisby, gives her several new books for their precious collection. On the way back home she passes Loel’s crumbling estate, thinks maybe he has some books to donate (and is also just really curious about the man who everyone thinks is a monster), and saunters in. That’s where she finds him in his secret orchid hothouse.

If you’re getting vague Beauty and the Beast vibes from this, you wouldn’t be alone.

Loel is destitute. His parents disowned him and willed all of their belongings to his eventual heir, so while he can live in the house he can’t sell or utilize any of his late parents’ belongings. He eeks by selling orchids that he lovingly and meticulously cultivates in a greenhouse he built. Loel is a loveable curmudgeon and chases Bonny away, but not before warning her that Charles Gavin is a real sack of assholes. Example: he has a very young, illegitimate son that his family could afford to care for. Instead the kid is already in service because his mother, a former maid, can’t afford to care for him and the Gavins don’t care.

Charles is all like, “can you believe that low born woman seduced me and then got pregnant, how dare she!? OMG. I have responsibility here whatsoever.”

Fuck that guy.

Most of the book is Bonny secretly meeting with Loel (under the pretense of caring for an orchid she almost killed) while really questioning everything she’s been told. The man she was supposed to set her sights on, the one everyone adores, might be an awful person. The man she was told was an awful person might be a victim of circumstance who has been abandoned by his community. Of course Loel and Bonny fall in love.

One of the things that I liked so much about this book was that it actually featured secondary characters are aren’t White. Turns out history had people of color! Who knew! Mrs. Twisby is Indian, having moved to England after meeting her English husband. One of the friends Bonny makes later on, Tess, is an African woman whose patroness is Queen Victoria. Her situation is complicated and the story doesn’t skirt around this:

“I was given as a gift when I was very young, by a British naval captain who vehemently opposed slavery.” There was enough acid in Tess’s voice to etch her implied, unspoken opinion of this onto a steel plate.

It’s Tess, Cordelia, and their friend Olympia who support Bonny when she decides not to marry Charles Gavin. Bonny’s own family is far less kind:

“You’re saying it would be better if I married Mr. Gavin without knowing who he is? What he’s done?”

“It’s the way of the world, Bonny,” said her mother. “You can reject Mr. Gavin, but at best you’ll find a replacement who hides his vices better.”

Bonny’s jaw dropped.

“There are hard words for an innocent to hear, I know,” said her mother. “But if you insist on discussing subjects that aren’t meant for innocent ears, you must be prepared for the answers.”

“Are you telling me I should expect all men to behave like tomcats?” Bonny demanded. “Or that I should expect them to neglect the illegitimate children they father?”

“I’m asking you to think,” her mother said. “Are you going to break your engagement? Is that where this is leading?”

Bonny shrugged. She didn’t know.

“Because if an hour in the company of that houseboy broke your heart, explain to Margot here that you care more about Charles Gavin’s bastard than your own sister.”

Yikes, Mom.

Conversely Bonny’s friends support her when she doubts her engagement will lead to anything other than misery:

“It’s exactly that simple,” Cordelia said firmly. “Bad men make bad husbands, and bad husbands slowly drain their wives energy and spirit. Unless you want to be a sad, empty shell of a human being by the time you’re forty, you’ll break the engagement. Simple.”

“My family needs this marriage–seeing the Gavins so angry scared them. Really scared them.”

“Did you hear me say ‘sad, empty shell of a human being’?”

“He’s no worse than most men.”

Cordelia gave her a contemptuous look.

“That’s what my mother said.”

“Your mother is wrong.”

If I’m being honest, I think the depth of these female friendships shone more brightly than the relationship between Bonny and Loel. Cordelia is her ride-or-die friend, and when the shit really hits the fan, it’s Cordelia who takes the most risk for Bonny.

In the end Bonny has to choose between what’s right for her and what her family expects of her. She has to choose between material comfort and love. Any relationship, even a marriage, between her and Loel will ostracize her from her community and family. It’s a complex situation and the book doesn’t present any easy answers.

With all of that conflict I expected more closure in the ending of the novel, but it sort of ends more on a whimper than a bang. It’s less black moment, more slightly overcast moving to party cloudy and eventual sunshine. It’s hard to describe without ruining the book, but I wanted more resolution.

I was willing to take a weak ending though given how much I enjoyed reading Bed of Flowers. I love a grumpy curmudgeon, I love the inclusive cast of characters, and I love that Bonny’s friends have, perhaps, the most powerful impact on her life. I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the series when it’s released.