What ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’ Can Teach Us About Using Our Voices

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just domestic abuse that young Alice witnesses and experiences in her home, but also the abuse endured by the Wildflowers who live at Thornhill — the flower farm owned by her grandmother, June, where she goes to live after the fire that consumes her childhood home.</p><p id="e636">The Wildflowers are women and Thornhill is a sanctuary. Everyone there has a story they’ve shared at some point with June. She keeps their secrets and keeps them safe from their abusers and the outside world.</p><blockquote id="2913"><p>The stories of “The Lost Flowers” are of women whose lives and histories have been erased, mainly by men. Men who will never be made accountable for what they have done. Because they are our sons, they are our brothers, our fathers, our lovers, our heroes. To speak out against them, people who we love, that we trust, who live in our homes, who should be there to protect us, to tell those stories and be heard, believed, it is so hard.” — June Hart, <a href="https://amzn.to/3qYFbM3">The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart</a></p></blockquote><p id="cff6">June talks about the shame we feel when we are silent. And how it lets those who have done these things to us rewrite history and be the only voice, erase us, and define who we are.</p><p id="b3aa">She tells us she found her voice by listening to others tell their stories. I found mine by writing mine and sharing it with others so they would know they weren’t alone — and listening as well. But it’s not easy, it took me years to speak out against my abusers, years of being told I shouldn’t speak up. Years of being told I was lying, that I didn’t have the right to challenge the status quo, that I didn’t have the right to potentially ruin someone else’s life just to make myself feel better.</p><p id="9c25">What about my life? Does it not matter? Well in society’s mind, probably not. But it does. Regardless the subject matter, using our voices is the best possible way we can heal ourselves, our trauma. Beyond that, it’s how we can help others heal. Those who aren’t ready to share their stories yet, the ones who are

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alone and hurting, who think they can’t possibly be in a position that anyone would understand.</p><p id="3344">Do you know how it feels to read someone else’s words and see yourself in them? To know that someone else can possibly remotely understand what you’re going through?</p><p id="277e">The first time I read words that felt like I could have written them, I breathed a sigh of relief. That’s what using your voice does. How will you find yours?</p><p id="0e37"><b>They don’t get to rewrite your history. It’s your story, too. Tell it.</b></p><p id="2854"><i>Links in this article are affiliate links to <a href="https://amzn.to/4612xzA">Amazon</a>, so if you treat yourself while shopping I may earn a small commission.</i></p><div id="9684" class="link-block"> <a href="https://demetervdelune.medium.com/women-crying-in-their-cars-on-social-media-isnt-about-low-marriage-prospects-84249b0fdf9c"> <div> <div> <h2>Women Crying in Their Cars on Social Media Isn’t About Low Marriage Prospects</h2> <div><h3>It’s about lack of community and support.</h3></div> <div><p>demetervdelune.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*97EB2tEOiAAHaaGw)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="9289" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-survivors-work-out-their-trauma-is-personal-so-stop-shaming-them-f2f8ba649d4b"> <div> <div> <h2>How Survivors Work Out Their Trauma is Personal So Stop Shaming Them</h2> <div><h3>Let’s live and let live, okay?</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*7XVfbheb-Ypk9i1JTY9jTQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

When we’re silent, it allows those who’ve harmed us to rewrite history.

CW/TW: Domestic Abuse, Abuse, Violence against women. Spoilers for the Amazon Prime show The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

I watch a good amount of television. To be more accurate, I should say I keep a lot of shows on in the background when I’m home for company. Since Damian hasn’t been here, I like to have some “noise” going when I’m working, usually something I’ve watched before so I’m not distracted, or something not too serious.

The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is not one of those things. It’s been on my list for a bit, waiting until I had time to give it my full attention before I watched it. I also wanted all the episodes available before I sat down to watch because I had a feeling I would be binging the entire series.

I wasn’t wrong but I also couldn’t wait once I got started — I was impatient and started watching before the series was finished, there was one episode remaining to drop and it only took me two days to blow through the six available in two days. It only took that long because my regular day job interfered.

From Amazon: After losing her parents to a mysterious fire, nine-year-old Alice Hart is raised by her grandmother June on a flower farm where she learns there are secrets within secrets. But years on, an unearthed betrayal sees Alice forced to face her past.

This is a simplistic way of saying The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is a complex story about domestic abuse. Not just domestic abuse that young Alice witnesses and experiences in her home, but also the abuse endured by the Wildflowers who live at Thornhill — the flower farm owned by her grandmother, June, where she goes to live after the fire that consumes her childhood home.

The Wildflowers are women and Thornhill is a sanctuary. Everyone there has a story they’ve shared at some point with June. She keeps their secrets and keeps them safe from their abusers and the outside world.

The stories of “The Lost Flowers” are of women whose lives and histories have been erased, mainly by men. Men who will never be made accountable for what they have done. Because they are our sons, they are our brothers, our fathers, our lovers, our heroes. To speak out against them, people who we love, that we trust, who live in our homes, who should be there to protect us, to tell those stories and be heard, believed, it is so hard.” — June Hart, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart

June talks about the shame we feel when we are silent. And how it lets those who have done these things to us rewrite history and be the only voice, erase us, and define who we are.

She tells us she found her voice by listening to others tell their stories. I found mine by writing mine and sharing it with others so they would know they weren’t alone — and listening as well. But it’s not easy, it took me years to speak out against my abusers, years of being told I shouldn’t speak up. Years of being told I was lying, that I didn’t have the right to challenge the status quo, that I didn’t have the right to potentially ruin someone else’s life just to make myself feel better.

What about my life? Does it not matter? Well in society’s mind, probably not. But it does. Regardless the subject matter, using our voices is the best possible way we can heal ourselves, our trauma. Beyond that, it’s how we can help others heal. Those who aren’t ready to share their stories yet, the ones who are alone and hurting, who think they can’t possibly be in a position that anyone would understand.

Do you know how it feels to read someone else’s words and see yourself in them? To know that someone else can possibly remotely understand what you’re going through?

The first time I read words that felt like I could have written them, I breathed a sigh of relief. That’s what using your voice does. How will you find yours?

They don’t get to rewrite your history. It’s your story, too. Tell it.

Links in this article are affiliate links to Amazon, so if you treat yourself while shopping I may earn a small commission.