In the weatherboard house at the end of the lane, nine-year-old Alice Hart sat at her desk by the window and dreamed of ways to set her father on fire. Thus begins debut author Holly Ringland’s book. That powerful first line sets the scene of all that is to come. Alice Hart lives with her parents; a mother who appears to be fading away, and a father who is good with his fists just as he is with his hands. Clem Hart is known for violent outbursts that include throwing a puppy against a washing machine and constantly leaving bruises on his wife while terrorising Alice. After Alice barely survives a family tragedy, she is taken in by her paternal grandmother, June away from the coast that she knows to a completely new environment in the middle of the country. June is a flower farmer and teaches Alice, who has lost her voice due to the trauma, the language of Australian native flowers. June, who was estranged from Clem, is struggling with her own demons and copes by gardening and drinking. Her place is a sanctuary for women who have traumatic histories of their own and through the language of …