The Wildflowers at the Edge of the World by Shaylin
Gandhi is set at the height of the Yukon Goldrush in 1898. Sophia Bellerose
leaves behind her life in San Francisco to try her luck in the Yukon. When she
arrives in Caribou Crossing, she soon realizes that the town isn’t as glamorous
as advertised. She soon finds a home and a job at The Scarlet Blossom, the
local whorehouse, for Madam Irene Blumen. At the Blossom, Sophia learns that the
other women, Temperance and Annie, as well as the barman nicknamed the
Professor, have their own stories and secrets that have brought them to the icy
Yukon. Stories and secrets that they desperate to find and even run from if
necessary. When Irene dies in an accident, the three women must find a way to
move on and survive as the Reverend Gray begins to blackmail them. Told from
the perspectives from the different characters, it is a story of gold, greed,
love and redemption. Can someone truly find themselves in the wilderness of the
North?
I loved Ms. Gandhi’s debut novel, By the Light of Embers,
and eagerly looked forward to reading her new novel. I liked how The
Wildflowers at the Edge of the World began with drama and suspense, but the
last quarter of the novel seemed to drag as if Ms. Gandhi really didn’t know
how to end the story. It had far too many chapters. While they were short
chapters, the constant changing narrators was distracting that I missed a major
detail as I turned the page. This story didn’t live up to the magic and emotion
that captivated me in her first novel. I wasn’t as investigated in any of the
characters. One issue I had is that a couple of the characters were bisexual,
but it felt out of place and fell flat as nothing came of it. It was teased and
built up but, in the end, the bisexuality of these characters didn’t affect the
outcome or the plot. Why have the bisexuality in the first place? It was a
detail that wasn’t necessarily, especially if the detail doesn’t contribute to
the story. It felt like the detail was added just to be there. Overall, I
enjoyed the book and I look forward to other books by Ms. Gandhi, unfortunately
The Wildflowers at the Edge of the World didn’t have the same magic.
The Wildflowers at
the Edge of the World
is available in
paperback and eBook
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