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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a nice celebration of white women... an easy read and perfect to go back to novels, but that said I felt like the drama felt disconnected to the character arcs for a greater part of the novel. They were there because... reasons?
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As a gardener ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for descriptions of gardens. I'm always intrigued by Winter Gardens. There not often mentioned in Fiction or Garden Books.
Storywise whenever you have multiple storylines there is always on you like least. For me it was WW2. In that time frame I was mostly interested in how the garden and house was used as Convalescent Home. I found characters hard to like.
Modern day Restoration and Venetia stories were the mostly interesting.
All in all a very enjoyable read especially if you're a gardener.👩🏻🌾
Storywise whenever you have multiple storylines there is always on you like least. For me it was WW2. In that time frame I was mostly interested in how the garden and house was used as Convalescent Home. I found characters hard to like.
Modern day Restoration and Venetia stories were the mostly interesting.
All in all a very enjoyable read especially if you're a gardener.👩🏻🌾
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is right along the lines of Last Letters from Juliet and The Forgotten Garden with how it weaves together the stories of different women from different points in time as they experience life in this garden.
Julia Kelly has a way with words. The Last Garden in England was so captivating and fresh. This is historical fiction with not two eras, but three! I love the travel through the ages and learning about each stage and life of the gardens.
It was like three stories for the price of one. Even though there are numerous characters, Julia has them so well developed that the story just flows. This is one novel that I didn’t want to end. Thank you NetGalley and Julia Kelly!
It was like three stories for the price of one. Even though there are numerous characters, Julia has them so well developed that the story just flows. This is one novel that I didn’t want to end. Thank you NetGalley and Julia Kelly!
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at 49%. Just wasn't interested in it. Loved her other books but this one wasn't doing it for me.
These women, and the gardens that connect them, are memorable. A delight for historical fiction and gardeners alike.
This was an ARC.
This was an ARC.
This is a novel dominated by female characters. Their stories are told in alternating narratives across three time periods, 1907, 1944 and the present day. They are linked by the large garden that surrounds the stately home Highbury House - its construction by a female garden designer, partially inspired, as the author acknowledges, by Gertrude Jekyll; the destructive years of WWII with the necessity of food production and lack of labour; and the reconstruction in the modern era.
There was a lot to like about this novel. The characters are well drawn and grow within the confines of their time periods. The research was sound. The secrets the garden holds about the past are nicely reveled. This is historical fiction and of course there is romance in all three time periods - not my favourite aspect of this genre - but there were other themes around the place of women at home/in the workforce/during war, the importance of friendship, social class and divide etc. and these kept me interested and motivated to read on. I enjoyed this book for its light entertainment value and for the general high standard of the writing. And the cover is beautiful!
There was a lot to like about this novel. The characters are well drawn and grow within the confines of their time periods. The research was sound. The secrets the garden holds about the past are nicely reveled. This is historical fiction and of course there is romance in all three time periods - not my favourite aspect of this genre - but there were other themes around the place of women at home/in the workforce/during war, the importance of friendship, social class and divide etc. and these kept me interested and motivated to read on. I enjoyed this book for its light entertainment value and for the general high standard of the writing. And the cover is beautiful!