The Sunflower Forest

Bestselling author Torey Hayden’s new novel poignantly tells of a daughter’s attempt to grow up in the shadow of her mother’s haunted past. Warm, melancholy and evocatively rendered this book captures the essence of a family touched by sadness.
A haunting tale of a family who can’t escape the consequences of their mother’s tormented childhood. Hayden, a master storyteller, again turns her talent to fiction in this novel that combines a psychological thriller with a nuanced family drama.

Lesley’s Hungarian mother Mara - charming, childlike, lovable - is traumatized by her adolescent Holocaust experiences.

Though her American husband and daughters try to live a normal life, Mara holds them thrall to her moods and quirks. Lesley struggles to understand, but dealing with Mara is a severe strain which sets her apart from her peers.

But when Mara’s psychosis results in tragedy, Lesley goes to Wales in search of her mother’s remembered joy.