Where the Wildflowers Grow
- Judith D Collins
- Jan 18
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 19
Narrators: Terah Shelton Harris, Tracie Thoms, Diontae Black
ISBN: 978-1464229220
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 02/17/2026
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
TOP BOOKS OF 2026!
From acclaimed author Terah Shelton Harris comes a poignant story of survival and redemption that questions what it means to stop existing and start living.
Leigh is the last of the Wildes. She knows this because she watched them all die.
Grief never truly fades and even as the tragedy haunts her, Leigh carries on, because survival is in her blood. So, when the transport bus taking her to prison careens off the road, killing everyone onboard except her, she does what's in her nature. She survives.
While searching for a place to hide, Leigh stumbles upon an unexpected sanctuary: a flower farm in rural Alabama tucked away from the world. What Leigh doesn't expect is the found family there who have built something from the wreckage of their own lives. Especially Jackson, the farm's owner, who sees through Leigh's defenses, offers her small moments of tenderness, encourages her to face her own tragedies. Slowly, Leigh finds peace with the hard pace and soft nature of the farm, taking comfort in the life blooming around her. Maybe she's not beyond redemption, not too broken for something good. And maybe, just maybe, Leigh starts to heal.
But the past isn't so easily buried.
No matter how far she runs, the truth of who she is and the ghosts of the Wildes follow. And when those secrets catch up to her, threatening everything she's come to love, Leigh will have to truly face what she can survive.
Praise
NAMED A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Goodreads, Essence, Sunset Magazine, SheReads, BookBub, and more!
"Harris’ novel explores some dark places―grief, shame, abuse. But the story ultimately celebrates the show and steady power of courage and human kindness."
― Goodreads
"Where the Wildflowers Grow tackles tough topics like death, survival, trauma, and healing with great ease while gifting readers with beautiful and colorful characters that speak to matters of the heart."
― Essence Magazine
"Shelton Harris delicately unfurls Leigh’s story, threading in details from the past to help the reader understand Leigh’s reluctance to be seen, making every moment she opens up all the more rewarding to witness. Book clubs and readers who love stories of found family and women triumphing over hardship won’t want to miss this one."
― Booklist, STARRED review
"Themes of grief, betrayal, love, and trauma are navigated with Harris’s signature compassion; her sentences and epiphanies will cause readers to pause to fully digest the novel’s insights and each character’s metamorphosis. Harris’s fans will relish the intensity of the characters’ relationships." ― Library Journal
"Where the Wildflowers Grow is a rich, atmospheric, lyrically told love story where the best parts of humanity bring about deep healing. I don’t remember when I’ve loved a book this much, it is a masterpiece."
― Annabel Monaghan, New York Times bestselling author of It's a Love Story
"If you haven’t read Terah Shelton Harris yet, you now have three incredible books to choose from. Her latest, Where the Wildflowers Grow, is as stunning as a garden in bloom. Harris lovingly tends these characters as they struggle and fight for a place in the sun. Humming with beautiful prose and a slow burn romance, Wildflowers will delight Harris’ many fans and those just discovering her for the first time."
― Joshua Moehling, USA Today bestselling author of And There He Kept Her and A Long Time Gone
"This novel is an insightful depiction of the tenacity and bravery it takes to start a healing journey and of the beauty that lies on the other side. It was both devastating and a delight."
― Sarai Johnson, NAACP Image Award Winning author of Grown Women
"Raw, tender, and utterly compelling, this vividly written novel is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. I lived inside this story, walking alongside Leigh through every shadow and every fragile bloom of hope. Immersive and powerful, it’s a unique work of storytelling that reminds us that healing can be found in nature, in community, in love, and in facing the past. Where the Wildflowers Grow is this author’s best yet."
― Rhonda McKnight, Christy Award-finalist and author of The Thing About Home and Bitter and Sweet
"In Where the Wildflowers Grow, Terah Shelton Harris explores the pain of loss and the long-lasting repercussions of trauma through beautiful prose. Set against the backdrop of a flower farm in rural Alabama and aligned with the natural transitions of the seasons, Harris uses the power of community, understanding, and persistent tenderness to guide her protagonist through a journey toward growth and healing that, at long last, enables her to become the person she was meant to be."
― Charlene Carr, author of We Rip the World Apart
"An engrossing affirmation that the mind and the heart can flourish in the most unlikely of places, Terah Shelton Harris’s Where the Wildflowers Grow is a powerful, instructive exploration of the will to survive, and of the character required to make hard choices."
― Charles B. Fancher, Author of Red Clay
About the Author
TERAH SHELTON HARRIS is an author and former librarian, who now writes upmarket fiction with bittersweet endings. She is the author of One Summer in Savannah and Long After We Are Gone. Her books have been chosen as a Target Book Club pick, LibraryReads pick, Kobo Best Book, Together We Read pick, Publisher’s Marketplace Buzz Book, and a Goodreads Choice Awards nominee for Best Debut. Terah was also named Target’s first Author of the Year. Her third book, Where the Wildflowers Grow, will be published in February 2026.
