Though inspired by personal experience, and diaries discovered upon the death of a family member, the contemporary novel, Wildflowers in Winter, is a work of fiction. This heart-warming and heart-wrenching family saga is told through both the point of view of the main character, ninety-two-year old, Edna Pearson, and that of her grandson, David. Wildflowers in Winter follows Edna Pearson through her last years of life as she confronts bitterness, increasing episodes of dementia, and reunions with loved ones.
For Edna, family is the bloodline pure and simple. When her son, Larry, dies Edna is left childless. She resents Larry’s second wife, Kora-Lee, who he met overseas while stationed in Korea. Edna blames Kora-Lee and her daughters, Alicia and Lorraine, for breaking up her son’s marriage and causing a rift between herself and her grandsons—sons from Larry’s first marriage. Now, Edna fears living her remaining years in the company of the very people she resents.
But her heartache brings her great joy when at the funeral, Edna is reunited with her grandson, David, whom she has seem only infrequently since his parent’s divorce.
As David becomes reacquainted with his grandmother after many years of absence, he notices her unkempt appearance and sees the frightful living conditions of her home. Questioning Larry’s family’s commitment to their grandmother, David is persuaded to take an active role in his grandmother’s life.
For the next few years, as Edna’s reality increasingly slips away, David takes on progressively more responsibility for her affairs. When Edna is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, David convinces Edna to move across the state to be nearer to him. His decision is viewed as selfish and controlling by Kora-Lee’s daughters in spite of their own reluctance to become involved in Edna’s life.
Removed from the only home she has known for several decades, and isolated from her few remaining friends; Edna drifts further into her past memories. Accustomed to her new life in western Washington, she lets go of her anger when her second grandson, Nathan, returns to Washington and Edna is at last reunited with her legitimate family.
With Edna at last content, an unexpected phone call from Alicia brings news that disrupts everything Edna has believed for so long. After a lifetime of resentment toward her son’s wife and children, Edna learns Alicia is Larry’s biological daughter, not his step-daughter as Edna believed. Will this revelation alter Edna’s definition of family and heal the bitterness between them before it’s too late and Edna’s time runs out?
