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Wild Lily
Hattie Big Sky, Sabrina, and Downtown Abbey collide in this gorgeously written story of one unforgettable girl's coming-of-age . . . for all ages to treasure.
It's the 1920s -- cars and planes are new. Lily Gabriel is scruffy and confident and takes no nonsense from anyone. Antony is rich, spoiled, and arrogant, and Lily is completely and utterly -- no nonsense! -- in love with him.So join Lily as she falls... Falls in love... Falls out of the sky... Falls through time...And effortlessly, inescapably, falls into her future. Life is never what you expect or what you predict. But if you're lucky, you hold onto exactly what you need -- a young and wild heart. Wild Lily is a striking, timeless coming-of-age story that reminds us that the untamed life is always worth living.
It's the 1920s -- cars and planes are new. Lily Gabriel is scruffy and confident and takes no nonsense from anyone. Antony is rich, spoiled, and arrogant, and Lily is completely and utterly -- no nonsense! -- in love with him.So join Lily as she falls... Falls in love... Falls out of the sky... Falls through time...And effortlessly, inescapably, falls into her future. Life is never what you expect or what you predict. But if you're lucky, you hold onto exactly what you need -- a young and wild heart. Wild Lily is a striking, timeless coming-of-age story that reminds us that the untamed life is always worth living.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2016
7 people are currently reading
603 people want to read
About the author
K.M. Peyton
109 books149 followersKathleen Wendy Herald Peyton MBE, who wrote primarily as K. M. Peyton, was a British author of fiction for children and young adults
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
January 17, 2024
It is not typical, particularly in 1921, for a soon-to-be-seventeen-year-old to causally request an airplane for his birthday. Antony’s English home, however, is eccentric at its tamest. His father grants permission. The mostly absent, mysterious man who makes mountains of money, is an indulgent single parent. His only sibling is constantly chaperoned by her nurse-maids, so Antony has learned to enthusiastically embrace his freedom and entertain himself.
Care-free, full of fun and wholly inclusive, Antony does have a certain appeal. On the other hand, his fierce focus on only a couple of arbitrary, short-term goals coupled with his disdain and dismissal of any actual problem, makes it difficult to qualify his redeeming qualities.
Lily is genuinely good. Wearing responsibility like a second skin, she is raising her baby brother and working on her father’s gardening crew. She bears her burdens intuitively, refusing to allow them to tame her ferocious appetite for life and furious joy for adventure. At the tender age of thirteen, Lily has a laundry list of admirable traits.
Inexplicably, Lily is unquestionably in love with Antony. Although this curious commitment could carry the story (it’s so beautifully written, I bet Ms. Peyton’s grocery lists are poetic), Wild Lily is not a romance. Ample action and adventure balance brilliantly with tragedy, compassion and caring. Mayhem, and maybe murder, make for a fast-pace and simple twists invoke suspense.
I found this to be an enjoyable and engrossing book. When it ended, I was pleased and mostly satisfied. Writing this review, however, made something click. My perspective broadened and suddenly I understood Lily better. Now, I love her even more.
This review was written for Buried Under Books by jv poore.
Care-free, full of fun and wholly inclusive, Antony does have a certain appeal. On the other hand, his fierce focus on only a couple of arbitrary, short-term goals coupled with his disdain and dismissal of any actual problem, makes it difficult to qualify his redeeming qualities.
Lily is genuinely good. Wearing responsibility like a second skin, she is raising her baby brother and working on her father’s gardening crew. She bears her burdens intuitively, refusing to allow them to tame her ferocious appetite for life and furious joy for adventure. At the tender age of thirteen, Lily has a laundry list of admirable traits.
Inexplicably, Lily is unquestionably in love with Antony. Although this curious commitment could carry the story (it’s so beautifully written, I bet Ms. Peyton’s grocery lists are poetic), Wild Lily is not a romance. Ample action and adventure balance brilliantly with tragedy, compassion and caring. Mayhem, and maybe murder, make for a fast-pace and simple twists invoke suspense.
I found this to be an enjoyable and engrossing book. When it ended, I was pleased and mostly satisfied. Writing this review, however, made something click. My perspective broadened and suddenly I understood Lily better. Now, I love her even more.
This review was written for Buried Under Books by jv poore.
May 15, 2017
3.5, really. I almost enjoyed this enough to 4 star it, but I had to admit that had it been by anyone other than K.M. Peyton, I might have found it the sort of book to read once and not to keep. As a Peyton fan though, I'm just so happy that at 90 (?!) she's continuing to write and publish. The set up of this novel, which opens in the early 1920s, is interesting enough. Lily is the daughter of the gardener at a great estate, built by a shady businessman/war profiteer, and she spends a childhood alternately working herself to the bone and tagging after the owner's overly pampered and yet emotionally neglected son, Antony, and his Eton pals. When Antony gets an aeroplane for his 17th birthday, he develops an obsession with parachute jumping. Having no one else to fly his little plane, allowing him to parachute, he asks Lily to do the jump in his stead. This is the first of a series of plunges, literal and metaphorical, that take place over the course of the novel. Lily nurses a passionate love for Antony and would probably do the jump without a parachute if he asked her. As I write this out, I find myself warming more to the story, and yet, in the reading of it, I was just not that emotionally involved. Mostly, this is because I never really believed in the world of this book. So many elements of the set-up, including, but not limited to: Antony's father's limitless wealth, the beauty of a mysterious grotto on an island in the lake on the estate, the unearthly radiance of Antony's deaf and blind sister (who somehow sings, always at emotionally appropriate moments, with a weird wordless beauty) seemed so improbable to me that I almost felt as though I were reading fantasy. There is a definite dream-like quality to the tone of the narration, that makes it easy to admire the story while feeling somewhat distant from it. None the less, I turned the pages quite readily, curious to see what would become of them all.
Last random observation: every time I see that cover out of the corner of my eye, I think I'm seeing an issue of the New Yorker. I guess it's a combination of the stylized illustration and the position and type of the title.
Last random observation: every time I see that cover out of the corner of my eye, I think I'm seeing an issue of the New Yorker. I guess it's a combination of the stylized illustration and the position and type of the title.
October 26, 2017
It's not quite what I thought it would be ( I think I was expecting more sci-fi, but I do like historical fiction as well), though I do like the book's overall message. I also like the "vintage settings" - 1920's, 30's, etc. I am unfamiliar with K.M. Peyton's other works, though she does seem to be quite prolific, so I am not sure how this book rates among them. I would read more of her works in the future, though, should I have the opportunity.
Lily Gabriel was a likable character, Antony Sylvester was a bit boring though. His family was kind of interesting, but didn't seem to factor into the story much. It also started a bit slowly, but was quite entertaining once the story started to flow. Overall, I'd rate it about a 4.1 - 4.3.
Lily Gabriel was a likable character, Antony Sylvester was a bit boring though. His family was kind of interesting, but didn't seem to factor into the story much. It also started a bit slowly, but was quite entertaining once the story started to flow. Overall, I'd rate it about a 4.1 - 4.3.
August 11, 2017
Pretty interesting book. I really liked how this book took place in the 1900s. It made the book more interesting. I liked that olden feel to the book, because the 1900s always seemed like such a dreamy times. The guys were all gentlemen, and everything was more simple. The love was more pure and everything was more classic. I liked how this love story took place in that time period and I liked how cute it was. I liked how Andrew was a player and how it made the relationship more complicated and how she liked him despite the fact that he was a player. I really liked how everything played out. My only issue was I found that some parts were a little boring and I couldn't focus throughout the book because it got a little dry at parts. It didn't capture my attention as much as I would have liked. I wish there was more drama or problems that thickened the plot a little more.
March 21, 2016
It's hard, sometimes, to write about KM Peyton without descending into 'ISIMPLYJUSTLOVEHERANDYOUSIMPLYJUSTSHOULDTOO' and so, I've taken my time over this review of her latest: Wild Lily, a novel of the 1920s and beyond, and of airplanes, and of foolishness/bravery/lovelovelove. One of the most foremost reasons for taking my time, was an attempt to gain some sort of critical distance upon it. Sometimes writing about the beloved authors is difficult because it simply turns into something incoherent. Passionate, yes, but incoherently so. Passion is glorious, thrilling, but when you're on the outside of it? A spectacle, nothing more.
And I don't want that for KM Peyton. I wouldn't want that for any of the authors that I write about because I write about their books to share them. One of the greatest things I believe about children's and young adult literature is that it is for the reader, and everything I do - but everything - is to facilitate that moment of book finding reader and being read. Without the reader, we'd be nothing, and so I give myself distance because I want you to be part of this transaction. You, you, you, you're vital. You're powerful.
KM Peyton gets that, I suspect, and she writes outwardly; great swathes of beautiful, eloquent passages dominate this book with their almost physical urge to be read, to swell and grow out of the page and to live. This is a book about life and love, as so much of KM Peyton's work is, and we follow the titular Lily from her youth through to old age; a life knotted together with people and animals and regret and love and wild, wild exuberance.
I found the blurb of the novel a little opaque and the opening was, I admit, slow. But I suspect a novel of this nature was always going to be slow and subtle to start, and when the narrative properly started to kick into action, I was rapt. I always am with KM Peyton because every now and then she will give me something perfect, something so perfect that I will stop and write it down or simply stare at it and will the day I get to write things like that. She captures love, I think, just love, and the great drunken infuriating joy of it, so well. Perfectly, really.
And this is such a good book, exultant in places, glorious in others, that I can forgive Peyton that slow start and the odd moment of being too deft with her narrative. I can forgive her those moments where she ties things up a little too neatly because in another breath she'll give me the ragged edge; an unfinished moment where the story is something quite wild and quite beautiful and I feel it, I physically feel it, inside of me, always. A book of light and shade; of dazzling, dazzling light, and it is good really, it is beyond good at points, and I love her, I love her, I love her.
And I don't want that for KM Peyton. I wouldn't want that for any of the authors that I write about because I write about their books to share them. One of the greatest things I believe about children's and young adult literature is that it is for the reader, and everything I do - but everything - is to facilitate that moment of book finding reader and being read. Without the reader, we'd be nothing, and so I give myself distance because I want you to be part of this transaction. You, you, you, you're vital. You're powerful.
KM Peyton gets that, I suspect, and she writes outwardly; great swathes of beautiful, eloquent passages dominate this book with their almost physical urge to be read, to swell and grow out of the page and to live. This is a book about life and love, as so much of KM Peyton's work is, and we follow the titular Lily from her youth through to old age; a life knotted together with people and animals and regret and love and wild, wild exuberance.
I found the blurb of the novel a little opaque and the opening was, I admit, slow. But I suspect a novel of this nature was always going to be slow and subtle to start, and when the narrative properly started to kick into action, I was rapt. I always am with KM Peyton because every now and then she will give me something perfect, something so perfect that I will stop and write it down or simply stare at it and will the day I get to write things like that. She captures love, I think, just love, and the great drunken infuriating joy of it, so well. Perfectly, really.
And this is such a good book, exultant in places, glorious in others, that I can forgive Peyton that slow start and the odd moment of being too deft with her narrative. I can forgive her those moments where she ties things up a little too neatly because in another breath she'll give me the ragged edge; an unfinished moment where the story is something quite wild and quite beautiful and I feel it, I physically feel it, inside of me, always. A book of light and shade; of dazzling, dazzling light, and it is good really, it is beyond good at points, and I love her, I love her, I love her.
September 4, 2017
When I read the little blurb on this book's cover, I was expecting a science fiction type book where the character falls through time. But as I got into the book, that didn't seem to be happening. So then I thought that since it said how she jumped out of a plane and fell into her future that maybe Lily would get a job jumping out of airplanes, but that also wasn't true. Instead, quite honestly, not much happened. Lily spent the entire book pining after a boy, Antony, who may have had more money than her, but was beneath her in every other way. Despite the books being over 300 pages, I didn't feel like I got to know any of the characters that well. Even Lily's motivations weren't that clear. It is partly my own fault of not understanding what the cover's summary was saying, but this book was kind of boring. I can't really see it appealing to too many YA readers.
September 18, 2017
Another winner from K. M. Peyton.
May 26, 2018
a bit disappointing--Lily's passion for Antony sucked up to much of her character, which was the point, but still.
December 23, 2020
This book took me 3 years to finish
August 9, 2017
Set mainly in the 1920s, this is the story of Lily Gabriel, a beautiful spirited gardener's daughter, who loves Antony Sylvester, the son of her father's employer. Antony is rich and handsome and charming and feckless, and he allows the adoring Lily to tag along with him and his friends. Lily knows her passionate love is not reciprocated, but she doesn't care. Antony is given a plane for his seventeenth birthday by his father, and he takes Lily flying with him, and she gets to experience the joy of a parchute jump. Antony leads a strange life with his wealthy, withdrawn father, and his beautiful blind and deaf sister Helena. Both Helena and her father could be interesting characters, but unfortunately neither is allowed to appear much. Although this is an enjoyable story, the characters are not as interesting or well developed as in some of K.M. Peyton's other books. Also they tend to use rather a lot of anachronistic expressions in their conversation, they don't really sound like 1920s people at all. And the last few chapters of the book rush us through a long period of time, something I am never very keen on. Although entertaining, this is not one of her best books.
January 18, 2020
Such an odd book. Lily is a poor tomboy, hopelessly enamored of her unworthy, wealthy neighbor Antony. Throughout their lives, Antony uses Lily’s affection to entice her into various schemes for his own amusement. Although he never shows any true compassion or love for her Lily remains loyal, and her love steadfast.
This book was very repetitive and was strung out unnecessarily...the 300 pages could have been cut to 100 without losing a single event from the narrative. Also, there are very strange ideas presented about death... suicide is glorified, and people react in completely strange ways when someone dies.
The actions of the characters in certain situations are so far from things people would actually do, it seems like the author had to be an emotional moron.
I gave it one star because I loved Squashy, Barky, and Cedric, and one star because the labor scene with Cedric was absolutely hilarious. Otherwise, this was pretty bad.
This book was very repetitive and was strung out unnecessarily...the 300 pages could have been cut to 100 without losing a single event from the narrative. Also, there are very strange ideas presented about death... suicide is glorified, and people react in completely strange ways when someone dies.
The actions of the characters in certain situations are so far from things people would actually do, it seems like the author had to be an emotional moron.
I gave it one star because I loved Squashy, Barky, and Cedric, and one star because the labor scene with Cedric was absolutely hilarious. Otherwise, this was pretty bad.
May 9, 2017
I remember K.M.Peyton's books from my childhood and early teens and was so pleased to see that she is still writing.
I loved the era and setting of 'Wild Lily' - I am a big fan of Brooklands - and the evocation of a carefree summer in the 1920s, although an air of melancholy hangs over the whole book.
The beautiful dreamlike descriptions of the party in the grotto and the parachute jump put me in mind of Le Grand Meaulnes, capturing moments of pure young love that can never be experienced again.
However, there were some parts of the story that I found improbable and it did become rather repetitive in places (Lily forever flinging herself at Antony!)
Overall, though, this is a great saga-like story for young teens with a gloriously nostalgic feel.
I loved the era and setting of 'Wild Lily' - I am a big fan of Brooklands - and the evocation of a carefree summer in the 1920s, although an air of melancholy hangs over the whole book.
The beautiful dreamlike descriptions of the party in the grotto and the parachute jump put me in mind of Le Grand Meaulnes, capturing moments of pure young love that can never be experienced again.
However, there were some parts of the story that I found improbable and it did become rather repetitive in places (Lily forever flinging herself at Antony!)
Overall, though, this is a great saga-like story for young teens with a gloriously nostalgic feel.
September 5, 2021
I didn't really know what to think at the beginning but once Lily was in the aeroplane my view change and this wasn't just a romantic story is was also bew experience and in a way classed as adventure
I like how much detail is give to the description of characters and settings.
I lie how you can see a back story for Anthony and why he is annoyed about the nurses abd his mother.
I lie how the interest of the aeroplane is bringing the relationship of Lily and Anthony closer and also building character and development to their personality.
I lie how you see the characters personal view of the other characters, like Cedric view of Anthony thought his conversation with Lily.
I like Lily's compassion for Helena and Squashy,which shown with her description of Helena in chapter 12 and how she looks after Squashy in the same chapter.
However the part of the chapter I liked the most was when Helena started singing which silenced everything like time had frozen but it shocked me when she suddenly fell in to the lake.
The opening of chapter 13 shocked me and the find out that Squashy didn't understand was heartbreaking.
I like the cliffhanger at the end of chapter 14 as it built suspense suddenly.
I like that you get to find out about Anthony's father and that he doesn't really look after Anthony and only realised on him like at the end of chapter 15, the relationship between Anthony and his father isn't a normal father and son bond it is more like a friend who see each other rarely but can benefit the other when needed.
I enjoyed chapter 16 as it felt like you were Lily and actually in a police investigation but knowing something that no one else knows and I like how it also focus on all the characters lives like Anthony, Sylvester, Simon and Cedric and with out Sylvester paying everyone else they are all poor and money less.
I like the end of chapter 18 where Lily had a dream and the cliffhanger ending of was it real or not but I liked how descriptive it was and gave a clear image for the reader.
The first page of chapter 19 shows that Lily knows she has feelings for Anthony and he does for her but there different feeling and Lily is more intense and shows with the dream that she really wants a baby with him and this shows how intensely she loves him but she knows that is all in her head abd can't change his feelings for her and she says she feels wrong about think about having a baby with him as she is only 15 and feels that she shouldn't spoil her real life by thinking like that.
The opening of chapter 20 I enjoyed as it talks about Anthony and his father and how he enjoyed the short moments he had with him when he was escaping but I liked chapter 20 as it was from Anthony's point of view and focused on his life.
I like how the end of chapter 21 shows Lily moving of from Anthony and focusing on life.
I like how you can see Anthony becoming more responsible as he trys to get his dream job but as the reader thought Anthony and Lily were trying to forget each other but the time apart and then suddenly remeeting brought all the feeling come back for Lily.
I like chapter 24 as you can feel suspense and the end of the chapter is gripping and has a good cliffhanger which makes the reader want to carry on.
I like the pace of chapter 25 as you didn't know if Anthony was going to make it and how much it had affected Lily and how she still put him first even when she was hurt that shows how much she loves him.
I like how chapter 27 shows the characters growing up and going there own ways and talks about all of them and how Lily still loves Anthony and always will but Cedric wants to be with lily which is a shock.
I enjoyed the opening of chapter 28 as it shows Lily,Simon and Anthony life and how they have developed and that they are all married and that Lily will always love Anthony even when married to Cedric. Also I like the ending of the chapter where it starts to mention the war and that Simon has volunteer to go.
I enjoyed the last two chapter as it jumps though time and i liked how you still focused on every character and their life. But for me the best moment out of the whole book was when Anthony gave Lily his baby girl for her as he knew that she always had wanted a girl and that he knew he couldn't care for her so by giving the baby to Lily it shows that he loved her but could never admit to it.
The last chapter I liked as it shows Lily in her seventies who had watched her children grow and now her grandchildren. But my favourite moment out of the last chapter was when Lily did the charity parachute jump which brought back her memories of Anthony and her childhood, I also like how the mention Clarence.
I like the last line were she says 'never forget' shows that she doesn't want to forget her life and experiences.
I like how much detail is give to the description of characters and settings.
I lie how you can see a back story for Anthony and why he is annoyed about the nurses abd his mother.
I lie how the interest of the aeroplane is bringing the relationship of Lily and Anthony closer and also building character and development to their personality.
I lie how you see the characters personal view of the other characters, like Cedric view of Anthony thought his conversation with Lily.
I like Lily's compassion for Helena and Squashy,which shown with her description of Helena in chapter 12 and how she looks after Squashy in the same chapter.
However the part of the chapter I liked the most was when Helena started singing which silenced everything like time had frozen but it shocked me when she suddenly fell in to the lake.
The opening of chapter 13 shocked me and the find out that Squashy didn't understand was heartbreaking.
I like the cliffhanger at the end of chapter 14 as it built suspense suddenly.
I like that you get to find out about Anthony's father and that he doesn't really look after Anthony and only realised on him like at the end of chapter 15, the relationship between Anthony and his father isn't a normal father and son bond it is more like a friend who see each other rarely but can benefit the other when needed.
I enjoyed chapter 16 as it felt like you were Lily and actually in a police investigation but knowing something that no one else knows and I like how it also focus on all the characters lives like Anthony, Sylvester, Simon and Cedric and with out Sylvester paying everyone else they are all poor and money less.
I like the end of chapter 18 where Lily had a dream and the cliffhanger ending of was it real or not but I liked how descriptive it was and gave a clear image for the reader.
The first page of chapter 19 shows that Lily knows she has feelings for Anthony and he does for her but there different feeling and Lily is more intense and shows with the dream that she really wants a baby with him and this shows how intensely she loves him but she knows that is all in her head abd can't change his feelings for her and she says she feels wrong about think about having a baby with him as she is only 15 and feels that she shouldn't spoil her real life by thinking like that.
The opening of chapter 20 I enjoyed as it talks about Anthony and his father and how he enjoyed the short moments he had with him when he was escaping but I liked chapter 20 as it was from Anthony's point of view and focused on his life.
I like how the end of chapter 21 shows Lily moving of from Anthony and focusing on life.
I like how you can see Anthony becoming more responsible as he trys to get his dream job but as the reader thought Anthony and Lily were trying to forget each other but the time apart and then suddenly remeeting brought all the feeling come back for Lily.
I like chapter 24 as you can feel suspense and the end of the chapter is gripping and has a good cliffhanger which makes the reader want to carry on.
I like the pace of chapter 25 as you didn't know if Anthony was going to make it and how much it had affected Lily and how she still put him first even when she was hurt that shows how much she loves him.
I like how chapter 27 shows the characters growing up and going there own ways and talks about all of them and how Lily still loves Anthony and always will but Cedric wants to be with lily which is a shock.
I enjoyed the opening of chapter 28 as it shows Lily,Simon and Anthony life and how they have developed and that they are all married and that Lily will always love Anthony even when married to Cedric. Also I like the ending of the chapter where it starts to mention the war and that Simon has volunteer to go.
I enjoyed the last two chapter as it jumps though time and i liked how you still focused on every character and their life. But for me the best moment out of the whole book was when Anthony gave Lily his baby girl for her as he knew that she always had wanted a girl and that he knew he couldn't care for her so by giving the baby to Lily it shows that he loved her but could never admit to it.
The last chapter I liked as it shows Lily in her seventies who had watched her children grow and now her grandchildren. But my favourite moment out of the last chapter was when Lily did the charity parachute jump which brought back her memories of Anthony and her childhood, I also like how the mention Clarence.
I like the last line were she says 'never forget' shows that she doesn't want to forget her life and experiences.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2022
Found this book to be such a disappointment. Meandering story (no plot, just the passage of time) with really emotionally immature characters.
With no plot and unlikable characters, I found this to be a hella boring read, but through sheer force of will, I stuck with it, wanting to see what happens at the end with Antony & Lily...and boy, I really shouldn't have.
SPOILERS BELOW.
.
.
Time passes and Lily and Antony are both grown-ass adults with the stunted emotional maturities of their younger selves! Why?! What is this book? What is this story? I literally don't understand who this was written for. It's not Middle Grade, as the characters age from teens to octogenarians. It's not for Young Adults, because it's written with such a young voice... What is this book??
Anyway, somewhere in the last few chapters of the book Lily is 40 years old, married, and has three sons. Yet she still is in love with Anthony(!?!) and cries when she finds out from Simon that he's had a daughter with his nurse/caretaker (whom he doesn't love btw).
I understand young love that hangs on with no logic or reason for years, but she's now FORTY YEARS OLD! Antony never thought of her, treated her well, or expressed any real affection for her outside of being a "brick" and good sport to get into shenanigans with. Get. Over. It. Lily.
Lily's emotional range is still the same stunned little girl that loved him unrequitedly and I just don't understand this adult woman at all. And honestly, Lily's character "development" made me hate this book and its ending.
And, and! Anthony is no better, btw! He's 44 years old, wheelchair-bound, and ill. He's dying when he decides to have a child with his wife/nurse/caretaker to leave something behind in this world. But then admits to Lily and Simon that he hadn't thought past having the baby and had made no plans for her future without him/her growing up with his dreadful Aunt. His wife/nurse/caretaker didn't want a child to begin with(!!!), and so they ask Lily to adopt their little girl as her own. Since she's still in love with Antony, of course, she says yes. Oh, and this was after Antony surprise names the baby "Lily Antonia" at the Christening. Seemingly just a mindf*ck for Lily... WTF is this book?!
Antony never thought ahead as a child, and still didn't as a dying adult.
Lily was devoted to Antony as a child, and still was as an adult.
By the end, I hated them both.
The book ends with Lily in her 80s, doing a secret parachute jump from an airplane.
Wish I had saved my time and ditched this in the beginning. 1/1.5 stars.
P.s. Also, his sister's death was totally Antony's fault. He was selfish and stupid and put her life in danger.
With no plot and unlikable characters, I found this to be a hella boring read, but through sheer force of will, I stuck with it, wanting to see what happens at the end with Antony & Lily...and boy, I really shouldn't have.
SPOILERS BELOW.
.
.
Time passes and Lily and Antony are both grown-ass adults with the stunted emotional maturities of their younger selves! Why?! What is this book? What is this story? I literally don't understand who this was written for. It's not Middle Grade, as the characters age from teens to octogenarians. It's not for Young Adults, because it's written with such a young voice... What is this book??
Anyway, somewhere in the last few chapters of the book Lily is 40 years old, married, and has three sons. Yet she still is in love with Anthony(!?!) and cries when she finds out from Simon that he's had a daughter with his nurse/caretaker (whom he doesn't love btw).
I understand young love that hangs on with no logic or reason for years, but she's now FORTY YEARS OLD! Antony never thought of her, treated her well, or expressed any real affection for her outside of being a "brick" and good sport to get into shenanigans with. Get. Over. It. Lily.
Lily's emotional range is still the same stunned little girl that loved him unrequitedly and I just don't understand this adult woman at all. And honestly, Lily's character "development" made me hate this book and its ending.
And, and! Anthony is no better, btw! He's 44 years old, wheelchair-bound, and ill. He's dying when he decides to have a child with his wife/nurse/caretaker to leave something behind in this world. But then admits to Lily and Simon that he hadn't thought past having the baby and had made no plans for her future without him/her growing up with his dreadful Aunt. His wife/nurse/caretaker didn't want a child to begin with(!!!), and so they ask Lily to adopt their little girl as her own. Since she's still in love with Antony, of course, she says yes. Oh, and this was after Antony surprise names the baby "Lily Antonia" at the Christening. Seemingly just a mindf*ck for Lily... WTF is this book?!
Antony never thought ahead as a child, and still didn't as a dying adult.
Lily was devoted to Antony as a child, and still was as an adult.
By the end, I hated them both.
The book ends with Lily in her 80s, doing a secret parachute jump from an airplane.
Wish I had saved my time and ditched this in the beginning. 1/1.5 stars.
P.s. Also, his sister's death was totally Antony's fault. He was selfish and stupid and put her life in danger.
May 17, 2022
Reading “Wild Lily” had made me think about my childhood, and the friends that I used to hang-out with. It was so emotionally written that it had stirred so many emotions inside of me, and I was not even ready to feel it. It is how someone's childhood is expiring and that adulthood is fast approaching, and it does not matter if you are ready or not. Because there are some people who had to grow up at such a youthful age, like Lily Gabriel. Her upbring was bad, and she had no other choice, but she faced these problems and struggles with her unfazed spirit.
Book rate: 4🌟/5
This book is one of the historical romances that really made me fall in love in the 90s, it is about Lily Gabriel, and she is a daughter of a gardener who worked for a very wealthy yet dishonest man who has a son named Anthony and a daughter who was blind and deaf named Helena. It is a bit dark for a historical romance, but lily was madly in love with Anthony until the very end and because after the death of her sister Anthony's life turned upside down and that had affected him. I love how these characters are overly complex and how the growth of each has really become a big part of the story, plus you cannot help but to be in love with the characters that grow and die between your very eyes by reading that is. It was a delightful book, and I will be re-reading it at a different phase of my life. Because I wanted to see how I see the story in different perspectives.
Book rate: 4🌟/5
This book is one of the historical romances that really made me fall in love in the 90s, it is about Lily Gabriel, and she is a daughter of a gardener who worked for a very wealthy yet dishonest man who has a son named Anthony and a daughter who was blind and deaf named Helena. It is a bit dark for a historical romance, but lily was madly in love with Anthony until the very end and because after the death of her sister Anthony's life turned upside down and that had affected him. I love how these characters are overly complex and how the growth of each has really become a big part of the story, plus you cannot help but to be in love with the characters that grow and die between your very eyes by reading that is. It was a delightful book, and I will be re-reading it at a different phase of my life. Because I wanted to see how I see the story in different perspectives.
August 22, 2021
I have loved some of KM Peyton’s books, although it has been many, many, years since I read one. And if Wild Lily had been the first I ever read it might well have been the last. Kudos to Ms. Peyton to still be writing well into her eighties, but a more improbably series of events and clichéd characters it would be hard to find than those in this book.
• The serving girl falls in love with son of the manor
• The son of the manor who has everything money can buy but not much else
• The blind and deaf sister shut away in her private apartments guarded by two harridans
• The dead mother
• The father who is not what he seems
• The strict maiden aunt who comes to the ‘rescue’
And so, on and so on. The story woven around these characters is as improbable as the characters themselves
• The serving girl falls in love with son of the manor
• The son of the manor who has everything money can buy but not much else
• The blind and deaf sister shut away in her private apartments guarded by two harridans
• The dead mother
• The father who is not what he seems
• The strict maiden aunt who comes to the ‘rescue’
And so, on and so on. The story woven around these characters is as improbable as the characters themselves
April 7, 2020
This book is set mostly in the 1920s and is all about a teenage girl called Lily. She is the head gardener's daughter and often hangs out with Anthony, her father's employer's son. She joins in many adventures with him, from riding in a plane to jumping out of one. However when Anthony's father suddenly is a criminal her life turns upside down. Anthony has no ambition and when he suffers a fatal accident Lily is suddenly bored and unadventurous.
I think that this is a tremendous book, lots of adventure and vivid description. I do think that there is a lot of commas missing which sometimes makes it a little confusing.
I think that this is a tremendous book, lots of adventure and vivid description. I do think that there is a lot of commas missing which sometimes makes it a little confusing.
May 28, 2017
I found it a bit slow to start with but then as the story progresses I felt more connection to and interest in the characters. I liked how the book was written in the parts- the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s etc. But I think more should have been written about the 1940s and during the war as that era was quite brief yet in real life was a very important, vital and scary time because of the war. Overall, a lovely book.
Want to read
May 18, 2021Planes are a big part of todays world and I think it's important to learn more about them. This book not only told about history but a love story as well. This book was made in a first person perspective witch made it easier to grasp what was happening in the book. Lily, Antony, and his friends go on adventures and fly on the plane that Antony got for his birthday. Lily is very outgoing and appreciates everything she gets and Antony gets everything he wants and takes it for granted.
November 30, 2020
Kind of a meandering book. I didn't dislike it. I listened to it. My kids heard bits and pieces (my daughter Lily was more interested) They didn't hear the whole book but they asked me questions about what they had missed and they were a little upset when it was over. It was just a long account of Lily's life. There were a few excitements here and there.
July 22, 2021
A combination of good memories and wishful thinking had me, optimistic and deliberately blinkered, believing this was an adult book. It isn't. But, as ever, Peyton's writing kept me reading, suspending my knowledge that negotiating one's way through the the world is not that simple. Which only marginally detracted. Another to be passed to the grandchildren.
May 10, 2024
This one is a tear jerker taking you through Lily’s entire life. It starts out telling the story from the perspectives of Lily and Antony but that is abandoned about halfway through. It’s almost like the author set the story aside and then upon resumption, forgot to tell Antony’s side. Still I enjoyed it.
September 20, 2018
The ending really disappointed me. I would liked if Lily had been with Anthony. Nevertheless, it is good book! It's filled to the brim with emotion and I am glad that Lily got to be happy, even though she didn't get what she wanted.
August 6, 2018
Lovely relaxing read... well written but I would have loved to see the character of Lily to have more depth.
January 7, 2021
I tried to give it a chance but it just wasn't for me :( I'm sure its a good historcal fiction book but thats not my genre.
March 6, 2024
Good fun, definitely reminded me of the Flambards series but nonetheless still enjoyable.
March 13, 2017
Cross-posted from Nightjar's Jar of Books.
In April of 1921, Antony Sylvester celebrates his seventeenth birthday with a brand new aeroplane; a present from his wealthy, but distant father. Lily Gabriel is four years younger than Antony, head-over-heels in love with him, and the only person in his circle of friends who’s brave enough to do the parachute jump Antony so desperately wants to try. But is it truly courage, or is Lily just only driven by her desire to impress a boy so self-absorbed that he can’t see that the best thing that could ever happen to him may be about to pass him by.
This book felt incredibly nostalgic to me! It’s not connected to the Flambards series (the only other books of Peyton’s that I’ve read), but the setting and the subject matter were both incredibly reminiscent of The Edge of the Cloud (the second Flambards book) – and particularly the parts of the book that took place at Brooklands Airfield, a place that feels like an old friend to me, even though I’ve never been there. Aeroplanes aren’t something that I’ve thought about in quite some time, but Peyton was the author who first made me love love them, and Wild Lily really re-invigourated that love.
But despite being pre-disposed to like this book, it took me a while to really get into it; for the first third of the book I was worried that I wasn’t going to like it at all (which would have been a huge tragedy). It’s written in a very matter-of-fact style that it took me some time to get used to. Additionally, I initially really disliked Antony, who is spoiled and selfish, and although Lily was a wonderful character from the very start, the beginning of the book is largely dominated by Antony and his ego.
… So, he’s kind of a prat, but he did grow on me, and by the end of the book he came across as a more loveable one than he did at the beginning. As I got to know him better, his faults became less annoying and more tragic. And Lily, as I mentioned before, was a joy to read about; bold and adventurous, and unashamedly devoted to Antony without blinding herself to his flaws. I also really loved how fiercely protective she was of her little brother, who is frequently bullied because he was born with some kind of brain damage (possibly?).
Wild Lily didn’t go in the direction that I was expecting – or hoping for – it to, but it did so in a way that felt very true-to-life, and I found myself very satisfied with the way it ended. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable book, with a slightly sad, but also touching storyline, and some really wonderful characters. I expect that this book will stay with me for a long time to come.
November 27, 2016
With all the dark romance of McEwen's Atonement, the young doom of Barnes's Sense of an Ending, the stately drama of Jane Eyre, the quiet mystery of books like the Secret Garden, and the childish romps of everything from the Famous Five to Swallows and Amazons, Wily Lily is a gripping, emotional novel about obsession young love and the search for something special in life. Peyton captures something in her two tragic central characters, garderner's daughter Lily and rich boy Antony, that echoes through time in the best of English romantic literature, and leaves you feeling elated and truly sad at the same time.
The plot is simply enough for younger readers, but the pace is slow and the language is complex. It's the kind of book young readers should be reading - it could be that the current trend for lightning speed plots and easily pinned down characters might make Wild Lily an unease and difficult read. The main part of the book revolves around Antony's acquisition of an aeroplane and his organising of a grand party in the grotto on the island in the middle of the lake. The party is planned in the absence of his father for his poor sister, a girl born blind and deaf and placed in the care of two possessive nurses who keep her under a very protective lock and key. Lily, many social rungs down from the object of her affections, the foppish, thoughtless, irresponsible and lazy Antony, gladly joins in the preparations for the party.
In the build up the novel serves up its most heart-stopping romantic treat - Lily's first parachute jump from Antony's plane. The descriptions of the scene isn't overdone or overlong but focusses on key emotions and sensations to turn the scene into one of throbbing, breathless importance. Peyton creates in Lily a very special character, one living in boredom, whose life is simply toil and mundane things, who is denied education and access to society's opportunities, yet one whose life is punctuated by moments of pure, aerial adrenaline. Antony embodied that escape. In his useless, egotistical existence, he symbolises for Lily everything she doesn't have and she loves him for it. The relationship is painfully believable; she remaining steadfast, without resentment, to her love and obedience, he using her as a pet and slave of his emotional whims, too lacking in empathy to ever really see what she should mean to him.
The party climaxes in various life changing events, both tragic and dramatic. Helena, the girl living in silence and darkness who sings like a siren, is perhaps the human side of Antony. His father is his distance, his inability to access his emotions and understand them. His father symbolises his escape from the world, his shirking of responsibility to the extent that he avoids and shuns his own happiness. When both Helena and his father exit his life in different ways, the rootless Antony begins his slow, painful tumble in disillusionment and lost identity. In a wonderfully mirrored plot structure, the tumble reaches its second climax years later, the second parachute jump, every bit as magical and heartstopping as the first. When Antony and Lily jump together you are longing for a different outcome to the one which you know Peyton has been building up to.
The ending tales off a little, but it is necessary to complete Lily and Antony's characters and to allow them some way of consumating and recreating the romance that was never allowed to come into being. In some ways Antony is asexual as well as lacking in human emotions. Taking both characters as they are makes the middle scene, the only unclear event of the book, all the more sad and mysterious. There is an element of dreams and longing behind the crystal clear descriptions and open hearted confessions. In a simple tale, Peyton works in sufficient symbolism and ambiguity to satisfy readers young and old. Capturing a lost and confused time and place, two contrasting, magnetic characters and all so neatly constructed and lovingly told, Peyton creates a beautiful English romance about impossible love and the moments that make life worth living. 8
The plot is simply enough for younger readers, but the pace is slow and the language is complex. It's the kind of book young readers should be reading - it could be that the current trend for lightning speed plots and easily pinned down characters might make Wild Lily an unease and difficult read. The main part of the book revolves around Antony's acquisition of an aeroplane and his organising of a grand party in the grotto on the island in the middle of the lake. The party is planned in the absence of his father for his poor sister, a girl born blind and deaf and placed in the care of two possessive nurses who keep her under a very protective lock and key. Lily, many social rungs down from the object of her affections, the foppish, thoughtless, irresponsible and lazy Antony, gladly joins in the preparations for the party.
In the build up the novel serves up its most heart-stopping romantic treat - Lily's first parachute jump from Antony's plane. The descriptions of the scene isn't overdone or overlong but focusses on key emotions and sensations to turn the scene into one of throbbing, breathless importance. Peyton creates in Lily a very special character, one living in boredom, whose life is simply toil and mundane things, who is denied education and access to society's opportunities, yet one whose life is punctuated by moments of pure, aerial adrenaline. Antony embodied that escape. In his useless, egotistical existence, he symbolises for Lily everything she doesn't have and she loves him for it. The relationship is painfully believable; she remaining steadfast, without resentment, to her love and obedience, he using her as a pet and slave of his emotional whims, too lacking in empathy to ever really see what she should mean to him.
The party climaxes in various life changing events, both tragic and dramatic. Helena, the girl living in silence and darkness who sings like a siren, is perhaps the human side of Antony. His father is his distance, his inability to access his emotions and understand them. His father symbolises his escape from the world, his shirking of responsibility to the extent that he avoids and shuns his own happiness. When both Helena and his father exit his life in different ways, the rootless Antony begins his slow, painful tumble in disillusionment and lost identity. In a wonderfully mirrored plot structure, the tumble reaches its second climax years later, the second parachute jump, every bit as magical and heartstopping as the first. When Antony and Lily jump together you are longing for a different outcome to the one which you know Peyton has been building up to.
The ending tales off a little, but it is necessary to complete Lily and Antony's characters and to allow them some way of consumating and recreating the romance that was never allowed to come into being. In some ways Antony is asexual as well as lacking in human emotions. Taking both characters as they are makes the middle scene, the only unclear event of the book, all the more sad and mysterious. There is an element of dreams and longing behind the crystal clear descriptions and open hearted confessions. In a simple tale, Peyton works in sufficient symbolism and ambiguity to satisfy readers young and old. Capturing a lost and confused time and place, two contrasting, magnetic characters and all so neatly constructed and lovingly told, Peyton creates a beautiful English romance about impossible love and the moments that make life worth living. 8
August 2, 2018
Wow.
That was my first thought when I finished this book.
Wow.
I was in tears.
But wow, that ending was disappointing, and so, so sad.
Lily is a wild child, always ready to do something dangerous and always eager to help Anthony, her long-time crush. This book follows the life of a young, daring girl and she grows up in a world where automobiles and planes are just coming to light. This is an amazing, sad, bittersweet story about life, family, and first love.
Anthony, at his best, is practically insane, which drives most people crazy. He is also charming, handsome, and a coward. But Lily loves him anyway, even when he is at his worst. She stands by his side through everything he does and tries to make his life easier any way she can. Anthony, on the other hand, knows that Lily has a crush on him and humors her a little, but takes her for granted. She lets him, because she loves him so much. I have to admit, that annoyed me a little, and was the main reason I docked off a star (other than the ending). She shouldn’t have let Anthony use her like he did.
Most times, I didn’t understand why Lily liked him so much. He was spoiled, selfish, rude, and acted like she was nothing to him, which I guess she really wasn’t. But as they grow older, into teenagers and into adults, they both come to realize many things about life and about each other that they had not known before (well mostly Anthony realizes these things because Lily already knew them).
The ending of this killed me. It was one of the saddest endings I’d ever read. I cry reading a lot of books, but this was horrible for me.
Wild Lily is a book that will make you laugh, cry, smile, and love. I completely recommend it for anyone who loves history and romantic (but sad) stories.
That was my first thought when I finished this book.
Wow.
I was in tears.
But wow, that ending was disappointing, and so, so sad.
Lily is a wild child, always ready to do something dangerous and always eager to help Anthony, her long-time crush. This book follows the life of a young, daring girl and she grows up in a world where automobiles and planes are just coming to light. This is an amazing, sad, bittersweet story about life, family, and first love.
Anthony, at his best, is practically insane, which drives most people crazy. He is also charming, handsome, and a coward. But Lily loves him anyway, even when he is at his worst. She stands by his side through everything he does and tries to make his life easier any way she can. Anthony, on the other hand, knows that Lily has a crush on him and humors her a little, but takes her for granted. She lets him, because she loves him so much. I have to admit, that annoyed me a little, and was the main reason I docked off a star (other than the ending). She shouldn’t have let Anthony use her like he did.
Most times, I didn’t understand why Lily liked him so much. He was spoiled, selfish, rude, and acted like she was nothing to him, which I guess she really wasn’t. But as they grow older, into teenagers and into adults, they both come to realize many things about life and about each other that they had not known before (well mostly Anthony realizes these things because Lily already knew them).
The ending of this killed me. It was one of the saddest endings I’d ever read. I cry reading a lot of books, but this was horrible for me.
Wild Lily is a book that will make you laugh, cry, smile, and love. I completely recommend it for anyone who loves history and romantic (but sad) stories.
June 26, 2022
Boring.
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