Book review: Heart of Flame: Katherine Mansfields Flowers and Trees

Compiled By Beverley Randell and Illustrated by Jenni Shoesmith

"I had so many flowers when I was little, I got to know them so well that they are simply the breath of life to me. It's no ordinary love; it's a passion."  - Katherine Mansfield

Heart of Flame was compiled by Beverly Randell and beautifully illustrated by Jenni Shoesmith’s who makes it easy to identify the various flowers and plants Mansfield loved so much.  Katherine Mansfield the outstanding original short-story writer who adored the natural world - flowers, trees and seasons. Her passion shone through in her short stories (such as The Garden Party), poems and letters which have been carefully assembled in this book which incorporates more than 300 quotations. Katherine Mansfield’s brief life (she died at age 34 in France in 1923) is also summarised Heart of Flame.

Mansfield created hundreds of vivid and enduring images of flowers scents and gardens, which she often wove into her stories:

“a clump of toe toe waving in the wind and looking for all the world like a family of little girls drying their hair”.

“Very large astonished daisies are beginning to flower everywhere …”

“There was a great cabbage tree growing in the front garden and the shadow it cast on the front door looked like a many-armed monster …”.   

Beverly Randell is a nationally and internationally recognized author of books for children. Her 1955 book, John the Mouse who Learned to Read, sold more than 267,000 copies and from 1962 she began writing and editing books for children in early stages of learning to read.  Over her career, she has sold more than two hundred million copies worldwide. She was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004 for services to children's literature and education as well as the French Order of Merit the following year.

Jenni Shoesmith is a freelance illustrator and artist now based in New Zealand. She has a degree in digital animation and has worked in children's television in the UK, including Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. Following illustrating this book she has become a keen gardener.

Heart of Flame is a beautiful book that reflects the life of Katherine Mansfield, her love of nature and how she was able to express herself through flowers.  While a garden requires constancy and time, neither of which Mansfield had, she saw the world through a gardener’s eyes.  It is a book that is easy to pick up and read and is recommended for anyone who has an interest in Katherine Mansfield and her writing or who is interested in flowers and gardens.   

Black Teal Bay rating: 8/10