The Sunflower Forest - Torey L. Hayden

To me it is a sure sign that I have read a book that I put it down hungry to know more and believing in the characters of the novel. This book was like that, so a pleasant discovery whilst trying to find out a little more about this author was that there is another page to add to the ending of this book at http://www.torey-hayden.com, the author's website, though I could have read more even after the 460 pages of the book. Torey Hayden has written a number of books based on her work as a psychologist and special needs teacher, of which I only have one "Somebody Else's Kids", in a french translation (long story), but which I also ...  Read the complete review

The sunflower forest - Torey Hayden Having previously read many of Torey Hayden's non-fiction books, and having thoroughly enjoyed reading them all, l am always keen to read any book written by this author. So when someone offered to lend me this novel, l didn't really know what to expect. This is because it was fiction rather than her usual no-fiction, but l thought l would have a read anyway and if she matched her ability to write fiction with her ability to write non-fiction, l knew it would be a good read. Many of the books ld previously read had related to Torey's personal experience as a special education teacher and an educational ...  Read the complete review

Torey Hayden is a very talented writer who for many years has detailed her struggles as a special education teacher in books such as Ghost Girl and One Child. She is a truely gifted writer and I am a big fan of her books. I spotted 'The Sunflower Forest' whilst shopping in Asda one day and was very surprised as I hadn't heard of it before. I quickly picked it up and read the blurb on the back of the book. I began to understand that this was a story written in the voice of a teenage girl detailing her life with her mother Mara who is childlike and traumatised by events from the war. Lesley begins to question more why her mother is so ...  Read the complete review

For those of you who read my last Torey Hayden review "Overheard in a Dream - Torey Hayden," you will know I am a huge fan, so huge infact that I have every single one of her books and am in the shop as soon as the new one is released. So after reading Overheard in a Dream and loving it I decided I would definitely buy her second novel "The Sunflower Forest." I had high expectations as I always do with Hayden's work, however after reading the first 3 chapters of this novel I was disappointed that it wasn't matching up to its predecessor and thus I wasn't really feeling very involved in the book. By that I mean I couldn't really picture the ...  Read the complete review