A Flood of Posies by Tiffany Meuret ~ a Review

by MK French

In 2025, sisters Doris and Thea have very different lives despite living near each other. Doris had the ordinary life while Thea skulked about the edges of society as the world slowly flooded. Along with the water came Leviathans that swam through the depths, as well as Posies, dangerous creatures that are just one of the many dangers facing the survivors of the floods. Thea now calls herself Sestra, and maneuvers through this world with Robert. When they discover a tugboat that they thought was abandoned, it calls into question what they know about the floods.

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February 2021; Black Spot Books; 978-1645480266
ebook, print (258 pages); post-apocalyptic

The story moves between that of the flooded world and what had happened before the immense rains began. Thea's drug use and behavior are discussed and described, giving a good picture of the strain between them. We also get flashes of Doris as a child, then as a teenager with Thea as a toddler; their mother is a piece of work from the beginning, and I feel sorry for the both of them escaping her as best as they could. I thought Doris's anger toward her husband and the car accident she had been in prior to the flooding was because he had cheated, or worse yet, cheated with Thea. I really don't like infidelity in stories, and that would've turned me off of this book completely. Spoiler, it's not infidelity. But the distance means that the two of them are emotionally distant when the book opens, and her husband isn't there when the flooding begins. Instead, it's Thea that helps her.

While A Flood of Posies depicts a watery end of the world, it's as much about the ties of family and sisterhood, and the drama that comes when people can't connect. Pain comes in many ways, and the hurt that lay unspoken between the sisters was still present, even at the end of the world. They don't magically reconcile, and Thea's struggle to survive when half-starved and angry takes up a good part of the present-day thread of the novel. Nightmares and dreams can blend into the waking world, and there aren't easy solutions for their survival.

The title comes from Rob's name for the tentacled monstrosities beneath the water. He calls them poseidons, and Sestra shortened it to posy. Whatever they are, and their existence is never really explained, they remained in the watery depths just out of sight. It adds to the dread and the terror of the unknown in this situation, and we're sucked into the emotions that Rob and Sestra have to deal with. They're uncomfortable, and neither really talk about truly bothers them, or what they grieve. In the end, memories of loved ones prove to be just as strong and important as present-day alliances.

Buy A Flood of Posies at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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