New novel, Flower Gatherers, follows two stories of discovery and loss, across the millennia

A lonely researcher discovers engravings which overturn the understanding of an ancient civilisation. A teenager growing up on a small island makes a decision which will change her life forever.

Flower Gatherers follows two stories of discovery and loss, as the lives of two women separated by millennia become deeply intertwined. Blending history and imagination, the novel explores the repeating patterns of human relationships, the persistent quest for knowledge and the limits of our understanding.

Striking illustrations in each chapter by artist Lydia Hall cast contemporary scenes in Minoan settings.

The book, by Dr Lorna Robinson, is available as a hardback, paperback and ebook.

Dr Lorna Robinson
Lorna studied Classics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University; after a chance encounter with a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel in her finals year, she became curious about the similarities between it and Ovid, and eventually received a doctorate from University College London on ‘Magical Realism in Ovid’s Metamorphoses’ in 2005.

She created The Iris Project and Iris magazine to promote Classics in state schools in 2006, and runs Latin and Greek projects in state schools across the UK. She has also worked with UCL Bloomsbury Theatre and The Scoop on ancient drama projects, and she set up ‘Latin in the Parks’ for adults to have a go at picking up Latin. She created and runs the East Oxford Community Classics Centre, which opened in October 2013, and the Rumble Museum, the first museum in a state school. It was awarded Arts Council Accreditation in March 2020.

She has written a book “Ovid and Gabriel Garcia Marquez”, and has also written the Latin course Telling Tales in Latin and part two, Distant Lands, which introduces Latin through the stories of Ovid. She has also written Telling Tales in Greek, introducing ancient Greek through the stories of Homer. Her latest book, Telling Tales in Nature: Underworld Tales, explores plants and the myths around them through new voices and perspectives.