Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Flowers of Time

  • Lost in Time, Book 3
  • By: A. L. Lester
  • Narrated by: Zoe Brookes
  • Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Flowers of Time

By: A. L. Lester
Narrated by: Zoe Brookes
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Jones is determined to find out what caused the unexpected death of her father while they were exploring ancient ruins in the Himalayas. Along with a stack of books and coded journals, he's left her with the promise she'll travel back to England for the first time since childhood to try being the lady she's never been.

Edie and her brother are leaving soon on a journey to the Himalayas to document and collect plants for the new Kew Gardens when she befriends Miss Jones in London. She's never left England before and is delighted to learn the lady will be returning to the mountains she calls home at the same time they are planning their travels. When they meet again in Srinagar, Edie is surprised to find that, out here, the Miss Jones of the London salons is "just Jones" the explorer, clad in breeches and boots and unconcerned with the proprieties Edie has been brought up to respect.

The nonbinary explorer and the determined botanist make the long journey over the high mountain passes to Little Tibet, collecting flowers and exploring ruins on the way. Will Jones discover the root of the mysterious deaths of her parents? Will she confide in Edie and allow her to help in the quest? The trip is fraught with perils for both of them, not least those of the heart.

©2020 JMS Books LLC (P)2020 A. L. Lester
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Within the Vale cover art
Daughter of the Sun cover art
Tomes Apprentice cover art
Fae Song cover art
Luminous cover art
Snow & Poison cover art
The Lady's Guide to a Highlander's Heart cover art
The Music of Love cover art
The Well Spring cover art
The Gilded Scarab cover art
Shatter the Sky cover art
The Duke Heist cover art
Order of the Blood: Historical Vampire Mystery cover art
Jaran cover art
Torchlight cover art
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen cover art

What listeners say about The Flowers of Time

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Both story and narration is captivating

I can't stress enough how wonderful this book is! A non-binary explorer in 18th century Himalayas and a quirky, adventurous female botanist who doesn't know what to make of the explorer initially, but is intrigued and drawn to them. They are both so interesting and well rounded and the feelings that slowly develop between them are so believable. I wish I knew of more books likte this one, it was truely unique in my experience.

There is some magic and horrible beasts in the book, a cautionary tale about the dangers of using magic for your own ends, though it's not used like that by the protagonists. They are both intelligent and brave, and they both got this inner strength that is very appealing. Jones is so relaxed and themselves in their identity and Edie is curious of the world, accepting of what she finds and of others. I love them as individuals, but I love them even more as the couple they very slowly become.

The narration is perfect! Zoe Brookes gives all the characters great voices, but I expecially love Jones' and Edie's voices. As a non-native English speaker I also appreciated her clear pronounciation, it made it easier for me to follow with all the strange-to-me place names.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

An interesting paranormal adventure in the 1780s

Before he died from a sudden and mysterious illness in the Himalayas, her father asked Jones to try her hand for a while at being a proper lady in England. Though definitely not a lady, Jones kept her promise and suffered through the English good society of the 1780s until she got the opportunity to go back to exploring little known places and studying civilizations on the other side of the planet.

The only really good thing that came from her trip to Europe was meeting Henry and Edith Merton and their friend Bennett Carruthers. The brother and sister pair were about to travel to the Himalaya for botanical studies on behalf of the new Kew Gardens with Carruthers mapping ancient routes for the East India Company. When the trio meets with Jones in Srinagar, she’s not wearing dresses anymore but seems so comfortable in her breeches that they quickly get used to her true persona. Little do they know, however, that the explorer is trying to decipher her father’s journals and that what she’ll find will put them all in danger.

I’m not as happy as I’d like reviewing this. While I rather enjoyed the story, which got my heart rate to rush at times, I cannot get over the disappointing narration. I’ve become used to narrators performing the stories I listen to whereas this one is merely reading it, with all sorts of parasite noises.

Despite this book being part of the Lost in Time series, there’s no time travel in it and it can be read as a standalone. The paranormal and magical aspects blend well with the reality, the pace is appropriately slow and the romance, while light and very slow-burn (and fade to black) is sweet and plausible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Excellent story.

I really enjoyed this story. The setting was described so well you could picture it and the narrator did a great job bringing all of the characters to life. It was really nice to have non binary representation too.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!