Posted by The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart is one of the most exciting TV series released by Amazon Prime in 2023. Based on the bestseller book by Holly Ringland, the series follows the story of Alice Hart from childhood to maturity, while she discovers the secrets around her life and all lessons that need to be learned. The plot surely needs to be explained, and a full recap is necessary: what happened in the fire that killed her parents, Clem and Agnes? Why did June keep all those secrets? And what’s the meaning of the story? Let’s explore everything together.
You can watch the official trailer for The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart here on Youtube.
The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart explained: a full plot recap
When Alice Hart was a child, her life was pretty challenging. Her father, Clem, is a violent man who often beats her. Alice is a sensitive girl who loves reading and often visits the library with her mother, Agnes. The librarian, Sally, shows special care for Alice: the little girl reminds her of Gemma, Sally’s daughter, who died some years before.
The plot of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is triggered by a decisive event that will need to be explained in a full recap. When Alice was 9, a fire burned down her home, and her parents, Clem and Agnes, died. Agnes was pregnant: we will discover later in the series that the baby will survive.
Alice survives, too. While she’s in the hospital, her grandmother shows up: June is Clem’s mother, who never met Alice and didn’t speak to anyone in her family for years. We discover that Agnes has decided in her will that June will have custody of Alice, but if there are doubts about her capacity to care for her, the custody will go to Sally, the librarian. This surprises everybody: Agnes wasn’t so close to Sally to justify this decision.
While the plot of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart continues, we discover more connections between Sally and Alice’s family. Gemma, Sally’s dead daughter, was actually Clem’s daughter. So Sally develops a special relationship with Alice, driven by the physical resemblance with her own daughter (Alice and Gemma have the same biological father). We also discover that Agnes saw a friend in Sally, and she was sharing with her a plan to leave Clem with Alice and find refuge at June’s farm, through the books they kept borrowing. After Alice’s parents die, Sally does her best to obtain custody, but she ultimately accepts that June will take care of her. One crucial element is later explained by the plot of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and needs to be highlighted in this recap: the baby who survived the fire will be adopted by Sally and John. So Charlie, the boy we see in the second half of the series, is Alice’s brother, who miraculously survived the fire.
All this happens while Alice grows up in June’s flower farm. We discover episode after episode that June developed a web of secrets around Alice. While growing up, Alice falls in love with Oggi, her schoolmate. Still, June sees that relationship as a threat to her safety. June will report Oggi to the Immigration office, causing his deportation. After that, June sends a fake email to Oggi, pretending to be Alice breaking up with him. Oggi will write letters to Alice for years, but June will hide them all. The trigger that makes Alice run away is the discovery of Oggi’s last letter: when Oggi tells her that she kept writing to her for years despite her breakup email, Alice understands that June is responsible for everything that happened. We also discover that June did the same with Charlie: she kept Alice unaware of her brother’s existence so she wouldn’t be tempted to leave the farm. When the other women in the farm discover June’s secrets, they are shocked.
This kicks off the second part of the plot of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, where many more elements will be explained (as you find them in this recap). Now 23, Alice escapes the farm and reaches a small town named like her mother. She meets Moss, a good man who works there as a vet, but she’s fascinated by Dylan. After a first phase, where Dylan seems to love Alice authentically, he progressively shows his real face: he is a violent man, abusing and attacking Alice, making her feel always guilty, although she does nothing wrong. From this, we understand the meaning of the second part of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart: history repeats itself for Alice, a new violent man is now in her life, and her mother’s words push her to let that happen without reaction.
Alice will be a victim of an episode of violence by Dylan’s hand. She will discover the violent side of men and will ask for help from June and Twig. After returning to the farm, June intends to fix the mistake she made in life: she reveals the truth about Charlie to Alice, and Alice will leave to meet her brother. After meeting Sally again, she will also learn the truth about the fire: it wasn’t her who killed her parents; it was Agnes, her mother, to kill her father Clem while he was choking her. Agnes tried to save Alice and escape with her to June’s farm, but she dies intoxicated by the smoke.
When June dies, she will leave a letter to every important woman in her life. June’s letter to Alice is her last life lesson: Alice will learn to speak against violence and prevent men from silencing their voices. The ultimate meaning of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is explained in the plot ending: through all the experiences and the stories shared by the women at the farm, Alice will grow and learn how to face this cruel world.
