The Wild Dark Flowers

Description

“I found myself addicted to Rutherford Park, much as I was to Downton Abbey” (Margaret Wurtele on Rutherford Park). Now comes the new novel of Rutherford Park by the acclaimed Elizabeth Cooke…

When May came that year in Rutherford, it was more beautiful than anyone could ever remember. More beautiful, and more terrible…

From inside their sprawling estate of Rutherford Park, the Cavendish family had a privileged perspective of the world. On the first morning in May, 1915, with a splendid view that reached across the gardens to the Vale of York, nothing seemed lovelier or less threatening. And yet…

At the risk of undoing the Cavendish name with scandal, William and Octavia Cavendish have been living a lie, maintaining a marriage out of duty rather than passion. But when their son Harry joins the Royal Flying Corps in France, the Cavendish family are forced to face the unavoidable truths about themselves, the society in which they thrive, and the secrets they can no longer bear.

In the wake of a terrible war, the emotional shifts between a husband and a wife, a wife and her lover, and a mother and her children, will shake the very foundation of the Cavendish family, and change the uniquely vulnerable lives of all who reside at Rutherford Park.Praise for Wild Dark Flowers:
“A charming, intriguing novel. Some scenes are reminiscent of two popular TV series, Upstairs, Downstairs, and Downton Abbey, which have similar subject matter. Her research is excellent. The various battle scenes in France are completely riveting, and her portrayal of the sinking of the Lusitania is heartrending. This book is a perfect summer read.” —Historical Novel Society

“Simply delicious…Like “Downton” …as addictive as a soap opera.” —Record-Courier

Praise for Rutherford Park:
“A breathtakingly beautiful book. Cooke portrays an aristocratic dynasty that in 1914 was poised on the brink of extinction, as ponderous as the huge dinosaurs but just as magnificent. The exquisite intimacy of the writing and of the haunting love story drew me into this elegant world so entirely that I couldn’t imagine ever leaving it. The vivid characters and understated heartbreak of their conflicts, above and below stairs, are depicted with sensitivity and insight. Superbly researched, a real treat.”—Kate Furnivall, author of The Russian Concubine
“I found myself addicted to Rutherford Park, much as I was to Downton Abbey. I reveled in delicious detail about life in a great country estate, all the while waiting to learn: would Octavia’s family survive or would they be torn apart by the forces converging on them: personal failings, society’s excesses, and Europe’s Great War?”—Margaret Wurtele, author of The Golden Hour
“Beautiful, melancholy and richly detailed, Rutherford Park elegantly depicts the lives within an English country house on the cusp of a new age. Elizabeth Cooke evokes classic authors like Vita Sackville West and Frances Hodgson Burnett.”—Natasha Solomons, author of The House at Tyneford
“Reminiscent of Catherine Cookson, a heart-aching story of an old world order and class divides set against Edwardian England.”—Judith Kinghorn, author of The Last Summer
“With its vivid descriptions and memorable characters, Rutherford Park drew me in from the first page.  Richly textured with historical details, the novel captures perfectly the pre-World War I mood and atmosphere of the grand Yorkshire house and the lives of those who inhabit it.  The final page left me thoroughly satisfied, yet wishing for more. Thank you, Elizabeth Cooke, for a wonderful story and the promise of another.”—Kelly Jones, author of The Woman Who Heard Color
“Comparisons with Downton Abbey on the eve of WWI are inevitable, but Rutherford Park gives a more comprehensive and realistic look at the farms and mill villages that sustained the great houses and shows us the inevitable cracks in their foundations.  Compelling.”—Margaret Maron, author of the Judge Deborah Knott seriesElizabeth Cooke lives in Dorset in southern England and is the author of twelve novels, including Rutherford Park. She has a long-established reputation for vivid storytelling and historical accuracy. Elizabeth’s family originate in the North Yorkshire Dales—Bronte country—and her grandfather worked at Kiplin Hall there, where he was one of the “downstairs” staff. His life, and Yorkshire itself—both its outstanding natural beauty and the industrial life of its mill towns and cities—were the inspiration for Rutherford.

1. INTRODUCTION
When May came that year in Rutherford, it was more beautiful than anyone could ever remember. More beautiful, and more terrible…

From inside their sprawling estate of Rutherford Park, the Cavendish family had a privileged perspective of the world. On the first morning in May, 1915, with a splendid view that reached across the gardens to the Vale of York, nothing seemed lovelier or less threatening. And yet…

At the risk of undoing the Cavendish name with scandal, William and Octavia Cavendish have been living a lie, maintaining a marriage out of duty rather than passion. But when their son Harry joins the Royal Flying Corps in France, the Cavendish family are forced to face the unavoidable truths about themselves, the society in which they thrive, and the secrets they can no longer bear.

In the wake of a terrible war, the emotional shifts between a husband and a wife, a wife and her lover, and a mother and her children, will shake the very foundation of the Cavendish family, and change the uniquely vulnerable lives of all who reside at Rutherford Park.

ABOUT ELIZABETH COOKE
Elizabeth Cooke lives in Dorset in southern England and is the author of twelve novels, including Rutherford Park. She has a long-established reputation for vivid storytelling and historical accuracy. Elizabeth’s family originate in the North Yorkshire Dales—Bronte country—and her grandfather worked at Kiplin Hall there, where he was one of the “downstairs” staff. His life, and Yorkshire itself—both its outstanding natural beauty and the industrial life of its mill towns and cities—were the inspiration for Rutherford.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The story opens with William Cavendish overlooking Rutherford. What does Rutherford symbolize for the Cavendish family, and how does its significance change, especially for Octavia?
2. When the Cavendishes visit the de Ray’s, they have a conversation about their sons who are not in active posts: “[James is] in the Foreign Office. Gordon shan’t go… ” Octavia brings up Rupert Kent’s death, the group falls silent, and there is the presence of implicit guilt. How does guilt function as an influence in the story, both in this scene, and elsewhere?
3. Harry’s plane crash and subsequent injury is narrated in chaotic terms: a “high-pitched jagged squeal…a scalding fire running through his thighs.” How do the raw physical experiences of Harry mimic the emotional experiences of his family?
4. When Harry is being transferred, the author writes: “Pain was a peculiar thing; it was almost visible in the train—a writhing spirit that pressed itself down on the bodies.” Where do we see pain most acutely in the book—and where is it physical vs. emotional or mental?
5. Harry considers the phrase uttered by the “drunk” officer, and he thinks: “The snuffing out of candles; and they were all candles. Particularly the young ones. Brief candles flickering in the dark.” Whose lives fulfill this description of “flickering candles” during wartime?
6. Octavia thinks, “The world was at the mercy of men, and that was the entire problem.” Discuss how men and women cope with their problems differently in the story. How might the world be different if it were “at the mercy” of women?
7. Harrison tells Nat he thinks that “God is looking somewhere else,” if there even is a god. Nat disagrees, and just after, is blown to bits. Sometimes it is said that the best men don’t survive wars—why is that? How are we made vulnerable by faith and goodness?
8. When Louisa has to urge Jack to give up the Shire, they have a conversation about sacrifice. What do both ultimately lose, and how is this moment—giving up an innocent and unknowing creature—a symbolic reflection of that?
9. After William’s heart attack, Octavia laments the way in which both she and her husband have dealt with their emotions: turning off feelings “as one might close off a faucet, or draw curtains against the dark.” What happens in the long and short term when the characters, and we, cut off or ignore our true feelings?
10. When Harrison’s line is fired upon, he first sees the machine gun bullets as “sprouting seeds.” How does the author juxtapose these images—of bucolic Rutherford, the flora and fauna, new growth—with those of death? What comment does the book make on the circle of life, and how is it impacted by war?
11. While William is recovering, he thinks back on the young prostitutes of his youth: “painted girls of sixteen and seventeen,” and he realizes he never considered their plight. He considers the “desperate callousness of youth…the mistakes, the greed.” Where do we see those mistakes and greed manifest in youth, like Harry? How do the older characters’ actions—like William, John, and Octavia—differ?
12. Octavia finds herself very frustrated at the limitations of being a woman when she goes to meet Harry. In what ways does Octavia subvert the expectations of her sex and position, and in what ways does she bend to them?
13. How does William change from the cold, pragmatic young man that he was, to the remove of his middle age, to his empathy later in the book? Most dramatically, he is sympathetic to Octavia regarding the fate of Gould—he seeks out information and, if subtly, comforts her. What prompted this evolution?
14. The story begins with William at Rutherford and ends with the marriage of Mary and David Nash at Rutherford. How do the masters and servants affect each others’ lives in an imperative way, for better or worse? How might Ms. Jocelyn serve as a microcosm for society, in the manner that she obstructs the comingling of classes?
15. Octavia says to William, “I wonder…if children ever appreciate what they do to their parents.” What does she mean? How do not only children, but lovers, spouses, friends, and comrades, not “appreciate” what they do to each other?

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