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Flowers on the Grass
After the sudden death of his wife, Daniel abandons home and security, setting off to find the freedom he knew as a boy. This novel follows his wanderings from a seaside boarding house to a hospital bed, introducing the strange characters he meets and recording his even stranger adventures.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1949
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About the author
Monica Dickens
95 books131 followersFrom the publisher: MONICA DICKENS, born in 1915, was brought up in London and was the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Her mother's German origins and her Catholicism gave her the detached eye of an outsider; at St Paul's Girls' School she was under occupied and rebellious. After drama school she was a debutante before working as a cook. One Pair of Hands (1939), her first book, described life in the kitchens of Kensington. It was the first of a group of semi autobiographies of which Mariana (1940), technically a novel, was one. 'My aim is to entertain rather than instruct,' she wrote. 'I want readers to recognise life in my books.' In 1951 Monica Dickens married a US naval officer, Roy Stratton, moved to America and adopted two daughters. An extremely popular writer, she involved herself in, and wrote about, good causes such as the Samaritans. After her husband died she lived in a cottage in rural Berkshire, dying there in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 11, 2018
I knew that Monica Dickens was an interesting author. I knew that she had written a marvellous range of books, works of fiction and non fiction, stories for children and stories for adults; but when I picked up this book – with flowers in the title and on the cover, with my own name as the title of the first chapter – I really didn’t expect such a distinctive novel.
Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view but linked by the presence of the same man.
Daniel was an only child, and when he orphaned at the age of fourteen he became the ward of an elderly relation who wasn’t much interested in him. When he was expelled from Eton, his guardian sent the troubled boy to another distant relative in Italy, hoping that he would have no more responsibility and the scandal would be quickly forgotten. Daniel was happy there. His new guardian gave him a great deal of freedom, and he found that he loved the bohemian lifestyle and that he had a gift for art.
When war broke out he returned to England, he joined the army, and he met a distant cousin named Jane. She knew Daniel’s history, she appreciated what he had been through, and she fell in love with him. It was Jane who supported him when he was shattered by his experiences, and who guided him towards a new life in the English countryside.
Daniel’s stability and domestic happiness was shattered by Jane’s sudden and unexpectedly death.
He abandoned his home and work and sets off, not entirely sure where he would go or what he would do, only certain that he could not stay.
He would drift from place to place and from job to job. He doesn’t fall apart on the surface, but he withdrew and he began to drink heavily.
When he took a room at a small hotel a maid named Doris was concerned for him. She helped him to keep his dog – Jane’s dog – illicitly in his room, she smuggled out his empty wine bottles bottles and she made excuses for him and tried to help him when his behaviour became somewhat erratic. It was inevitable that the hotel owner would find out and that Doris would lose her job; but Daniel had a strong sense of justice, he was worldly wise, and he found a way for her to get her job back.
After that Daniel found a landlady who rented out a room in her house so that she could have a little money in her pocket without having to ask her husband or her sons, and because she liked having company in the house. She thought that her new lodger was charming, but her boys saw that he was idle and when they found that he had a talent for art they found a role for him in their business. He did a good job, but he found out a little more that they wanted him to know. In the end they thought he might get them in to trouble; he didn’t, but they found themselves paying a price as Daniel moved on again.
Some years later, when Daniel is working for an advertising firm, he rents a room from an attractive war widow named Valerie, who makes ends meet by taking in lodgers. They become good friends, she enjoys modelling for his sketches, but he resents her commitment to her role and her friendship with her other, more conventional lodger, Mr. Piggott. They talk of marriage, and it is then that Valerie realises that her feelings for Daniel are not strong enough to stop her thinking of herself as her widow.
There are other stories between these: Daniel has a spell as a tutor to an epileptic young man in Cornwall, who is unsettled by an approach and attitudes quite different to his predecessors; he sees a holiday camp very differently to the young man who looks after him when he comes to make sketches for an advertising campaign, and they make each other question their futures; he takes a position at a modern, experimental school where he might harm or he might help a troubled young woman named Pamela, who was a loner like him …
In the end an accident, a stay in hospital and a chance to help the patient in the next bed brought his story full circle and made me realise just how far Daniel had come.
I loved reading these stories. Each one was different, and distinctive, but they sat quite naturally together.
Some are stronger than others, but they all work.
The characters and settings were so clearly and distinctively drawn in that I found myself drawn in and wanting to know more about them and their situations before Daniel appeared and I found out how they would affect his life and how he would affect theirs.
When I read Daniel’s progress often felt secondary, but now I have put the book down I am thinking of him more and realising how very clever Monica Dickens was, writing this novel about his life as a chain of short stories about other people. She wrote with warms and understanding, and she conveyed the happiness in their lives as well as their sorrows.
The stories that Monica Dickens told in this book, the lives that she portrayed, created panorama of post-war England; its strengths and its weaknesses, the problems that it faced and the potential for the future that it held.
Her voice was strong and true, making this a book for both the heart and the head.
Each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view but linked by the presence of the same man.
Daniel was an only child, and when he orphaned at the age of fourteen he became the ward of an elderly relation who wasn’t much interested in him. When he was expelled from Eton, his guardian sent the troubled boy to another distant relative in Italy, hoping that he would have no more responsibility and the scandal would be quickly forgotten. Daniel was happy there. His new guardian gave him a great deal of freedom, and he found that he loved the bohemian lifestyle and that he had a gift for art.
When war broke out he returned to England, he joined the army, and he met a distant cousin named Jane. She knew Daniel’s history, she appreciated what he had been through, and she fell in love with him. It was Jane who supported him when he was shattered by his experiences, and who guided him towards a new life in the English countryside.
Daniel’s stability and domestic happiness was shattered by Jane’s sudden and unexpectedly death.
He abandoned his home and work and sets off, not entirely sure where he would go or what he would do, only certain that he could not stay.
He would drift from place to place and from job to job. He doesn’t fall apart on the surface, but he withdrew and he began to drink heavily.
When he took a room at a small hotel a maid named Doris was concerned for him. She helped him to keep his dog – Jane’s dog – illicitly in his room, she smuggled out his empty wine bottles bottles and she made excuses for him and tried to help him when his behaviour became somewhat erratic. It was inevitable that the hotel owner would find out and that Doris would lose her job; but Daniel had a strong sense of justice, he was worldly wise, and he found a way for her to get her job back.
After that Daniel found a landlady who rented out a room in her house so that she could have a little money in her pocket without having to ask her husband or her sons, and because she liked having company in the house. She thought that her new lodger was charming, but her boys saw that he was idle and when they found that he had a talent for art they found a role for him in their business. He did a good job, but he found out a little more that they wanted him to know. In the end they thought he might get them in to trouble; he didn’t, but they found themselves paying a price as Daniel moved on again.
Some years later, when Daniel is working for an advertising firm, he rents a room from an attractive war widow named Valerie, who makes ends meet by taking in lodgers. They become good friends, she enjoys modelling for his sketches, but he resents her commitment to her role and her friendship with her other, more conventional lodger, Mr. Piggott. They talk of marriage, and it is then that Valerie realises that her feelings for Daniel are not strong enough to stop her thinking of herself as her widow.
There are other stories between these: Daniel has a spell as a tutor to an epileptic young man in Cornwall, who is unsettled by an approach and attitudes quite different to his predecessors; he sees a holiday camp very differently to the young man who looks after him when he comes to make sketches for an advertising campaign, and they make each other question their futures; he takes a position at a modern, experimental school where he might harm or he might help a troubled young woman named Pamela, who was a loner like him …
In the end an accident, a stay in hospital and a chance to help the patient in the next bed brought his story full circle and made me realise just how far Daniel had come.
I loved reading these stories. Each one was different, and distinctive, but they sat quite naturally together.
Some are stronger than others, but they all work.
The characters and settings were so clearly and distinctively drawn in that I found myself drawn in and wanting to know more about them and their situations before Daniel appeared and I found out how they would affect his life and how he would affect theirs.
When I read Daniel’s progress often felt secondary, but now I have put the book down I am thinking of him more and realising how very clever Monica Dickens was, writing this novel about his life as a chain of short stories about other people. She wrote with warms and understanding, and she conveyed the happiness in their lives as well as their sorrows.
The stories that Monica Dickens told in this book, the lives that she portrayed, created panorama of post-war England; its strengths and its weaknesses, the problems that it faced and the potential for the future that it held.
Her voice was strong and true, making this a book for both the heart and the head.
March 23, 2023
I thought this was well-written, but not really well-constructed or thought through. The conceit of having a new person as the focus/third-person narrator of each chapter, but always encountering the character of Daniel was wearing and annoying. Daniel was a very unsympathetic and unengaging character and since he never allows anyone to really know him, there was nowhere for the novel to go. Ultimately, it was just rather dull.
February 24, 2015
Boring. Not going to finish it.
October 17, 2019
When I started reading this, it took me a chapter or two to realise that it was about the same character (Daniel) as each chapter focuses so much on the different people he meets on his travels as he finds himself unable to really settle after the death of his wife (very well written first chapter that was, had to re-read the last few paragraphs, they were that good). The writing does feel a little old fashioned in places, but this does add to its charm and overall it flows well with plenty of interesting and intriguing characters popping up along the way. It does get quite sad towards the end as Daniel’s sorrow becomes more obvious, but the final chapters are beautiful and add such a depth to the story you can’t help but finish.
March 31, 2026
Daniel Brett I love you, you annoying, complicated, avoidant brat
November 3, 2013
Not quite a 4star perhaps but certainly an interesting read. Ignoring the title which has little bearing on the cobtents, this is essentially a series of short stories revolving around a central character and the people who he interacts with throughout his life. Everything we learn of Daniel is based on the impression he makes on these others, written as it is from each of their viewpoints rather than his.
There are no morals to be relayed, no big life lessons or even a major event to act as a focal point to the book, rather this is a rambling meander through his strange and somewhat erratic existence in 50s England. Still there is a certain appeal to this random journey, Daniel's non-conformist tendencies and innate charm alone are enough to bridge the leap between stories and tie them together.
There are no morals to be relayed, no big life lessons or even a major event to act as a focal point to the book, rather this is a rambling meander through his strange and somewhat erratic existence in 50s England. Still there is a certain appeal to this random journey, Daniel's non-conformist tendencies and innate charm alone are enough to bridge the leap between stories and tie them together.
March 23, 2023
This one that I own, same as the one shown, is such a pretty book, gives me pleasure to look at it. I've read various editions over the years and will read again soon, they are 'keepers' as you can't get them at the library now. Shameful how the old books seem to be disappearing and thank goodness for Amazon and eBay is all I can say!
June 5, 2022
I love Monica Dickens' books but this is not one of my favourites as I found the main character, Daniel, hard to like.
March 31, 2026
🪦💐🎨
She realised that she would miss him. Odd how your life was made up of little bits of other people. You were close for a time, but it was touch and then away, like flies on a ceiling.... She would miss Daniel, but there would be others, and after them others, so many people to whom you mattered, who mattered desperately to you.
I love this little book so much! I found it in highschool at an antique store for three dollars, and it's become a book I revisit periodically throughout the years. Each time, different bits of every character stands out in the vignettes, and this time I have to laugh about how obvious my path to become a therapist feels when I reflect on the parts of the book I enjoy. The snapshots of character's lives, all threaded together by Daniel and his grief, creates a collage of his life from the eyes of the people who assume to know him best. Dickens seems to be saying life is never a full truth, it's an amalgamation of the people we meet and what they think of us (and their lives).
In that way, Flowers on the Grass has always felt like one of the truest depictions of who a person is by telling Daniel's story through so many characters, likeable and unlikeable. It brings the reader into the story so you become positioned like his childhood friend trying to piece together the person you once knew through the secondhand retellings of acquaintences who don't know him as well as you do, and that can make it frustrating and/or immersive. It's one of the few books I've read that's able to pinpoint that feeling of how the black sheep in a family is defined very rarely by their own words or perspective, and for that it will always be one of my favorite books even if I'm doomed to be the only person who ever enjoys/thinks about it.
She realised that she would miss him. Odd how your life was made up of little bits of other people. You were close for a time, but it was touch and then away, like flies on a ceiling.... She would miss Daniel, but there would be others, and after them others, so many people to whom you mattered, who mattered desperately to you.
I love this little book so much! I found it in highschool at an antique store for three dollars, and it's become a book I revisit periodically throughout the years. Each time, different bits of every character stands out in the vignettes, and this time I have to laugh about how obvious my path to become a therapist feels when I reflect on the parts of the book I enjoy. The snapshots of character's lives, all threaded together by Daniel and his grief, creates a collage of his life from the eyes of the people who assume to know him best. Dickens seems to be saying life is never a full truth, it's an amalgamation of the people we meet and what they think of us (and their lives).
In that way, Flowers on the Grass has always felt like one of the truest depictions of who a person is by telling Daniel's story through so many characters, likeable and unlikeable. It brings the reader into the story so you become positioned like his childhood friend trying to piece together the person you once knew through the secondhand retellings of acquaintences who don't know him as well as you do, and that can make it frustrating and/or immersive. It's one of the few books I've read that's able to pinpoint that feeling of how the black sheep in a family is defined very rarely by their own words or perspective, and for that it will always be one of my favorite books even if I'm doomed to be the only person who ever enjoys/thinks about it.
November 29, 2023
An intriguing novel presented as a series of vignettes following a period in the life of main character Daniel Brett. More of a character study that a plot driven narrative, it feels quite experimental in style. It's well written and structured as well as being ambitious. A surprisingly interesting read that incorporates humour, tragedy, pathos, and much more.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews