I’ve been meaning to write a review for this for ages. Flora Segunda is a middle grade/early teen novel that takes on surprisingly complex themes in a deliberately light manner that serves to delineate the importance of the themes under discussion. Flora lives in a world where there are Great Houses whose sentient form manifests itself in the form of a butler. There is a dual world, magic and predetermined destiny – of Flora’s mother has anything to say about it. Flora is one of those characters who is immediately likeable and I found myself warming to her right from the very beginning.She lives in a Great House whose “butler” has been banished by her mother, the head of the Family (the Great Houses come with a Family attached to them) who thinks that magic is an easy way out. Of course it falls to Flora to do all the housework and look after the father who has not been the same ever since an incident in the past that cost them Flora the first. There is a pithiness to the novel that I like a lot. Flora’s best friend who follows her on all her adventures, their Harry Potter-esque missions and the colourful characters populating a fully realized world with its own myths, legends and history. I loved it.I also loved how Flora grows in the novel. She has some terrific adventures and makes some important discoveries but more than that, she realizes that her parents are people and that she too has agency and the right to speak out against the things she needs to. There is also a lot of adventure and some chuckles. I was impressed by this story and recommend it to anyone who loves reading spunky heroines, magic and creepy houses.
