The Moonflowers

A Novel

By: Abigail Rose-Marie

Narrated by: Abigail Reno

In a powerful and poignant novel, an artist unravels her mysterious family history and its generations of women who depended on each other to survive.

Tig Costello has arrived in Darren, Kentucky, commissioned to paint a portrait honoring her grandfather Benjamin. His contributions to the rural Appalachian town and his unimpeachable war service have made him a local hero. But to Tig, he’s a relative stranger. To find out more about him, Tig wants to talk to the person who knew her grandfather best: Eloise Price, the woman who murdered him fifty years ago.

Still confined to a state institution, Eloise has a lifetime of stories to tell. She agrees to share them all—about herself, about Tig’s enigmatic grandmother, and about the other brave and desperate women who passed through Benjamin’s orbit. Most revealing of all is the truth about Whitmore Halls, the mansion on the hill that was home to triage, rescue, death, and one inevitable day that changed Eloise’s life forever.

As Tig begins to piece together the puzzle of her mysterious family tree, it sends her spiraling toward a confrontation with her own painful past—and a reconciliation with all its heartrending secrets.

©2024 by Abigail Rose-Marie. (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The Moonflowers is a stunning debut novel fueled by troubling secrets and the strength and extraordinary courage of Appalachian women. Abigail Rose-Marie writes with emotional intensity, reminding us that much has changed in our world but the challenges that women face are still the same. A fascinating and necessary tale.”—Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic & Desire

“Through its powerful braid of weaving together women’s voices across generations, The Moonflowers shows us that the past is always present, that buried secrets will find their light, and that hope lies in the fierce collective of showing up for one another when all else fails. In this compelling debut novel, Abigail Rose-Marie has offered us an absolute gift of a book that is as moving as it is necessary for our current times.”—Anne Valente, author of Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down

“When the young Michigan artist Antigone Costello receives an invitation to small-town Kentucky to paint a portrait celebrating her grandfather, she finds a region haunted by the past. Tales of murder, betrayal, and escape emerge, along with the hidden history of heroic women and the secrets of her own family. Read The Moonflowers—a novel as dark and moody as the deep woods where it’s set, yet ultimately inspiring.”—Lawrence Coates, author of Camp Olvido

Finally! A book with an ending that feels complete!

This book is beautifully written and this performance is lyric and soothing. Loved it: the stories within stories; the descriptions; the strong women themselves. Fabulous.

Main Character's Name Mispronounced!

"Ant-uh-gone"? OMG. This is 7th grade Sophocles. It's "an-TIG-uh-nee" for crying out loud. Ridiculous! This was distracting every time it was pronounced.

Amazing Story, Rich descriptions, Excellent

The story was so rich in description and content. I saw the scenes, felt the emotions. This author is a master storyteller. The subject is timely and impactful. Highly recommend.

Great story!

Narrator was excellent and the story was riveting. Good read. Will be one of my favorites

An-ti-gone?!

I adored this book so much, but the reader pronouncing Antigone (it is Greek and pronounced an-tig-a-nee) incorrectly every single time was infuriating! It is the name of our main character for crying out loud!! The book is incredible, but this took away from the experience overall. An-ti-gone?! Seriously?!

Unexpected emotional journey

This book was so slow to start but it slowly built into this historical mystery that had a strong intense message. This book tells the silent story of our grandmother and their grandmothers. It tells a story of our future if we are not careful. Women matter and people need to feel these emotions written so rawly in this story or suffer the consequences of repeating history

Great Character Development

I enjoyed the story, but the inaccuracy of the various accents was distracting. The performer should have done better research into Kentucky Appalachian accents.

timely story. narrator can't pronounce the main character's name and it is maddening

brilliant audio needs to edit their narrators. anti-gone is an unforgivable error. imagine if the narrator for harry potter pronounced it hermi-own.

the story was good, but honestly probably better without audio just because it's so dumb that someone paid to read an entire story didn't think to look up pronunciation for the main character.

Love love the narrator!!

great story! the description puts u entirely in the scene! the narrator was awesome and loved her voices!

Women desperate for help

I found the ending of the story to be quite intriguing. It held my attention.