A review by saamunds
The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly

3.0

This was an easy historical fiction/romance told in three different years (1907, 1944 & 2021). Centering on a grand country house (Highbury) in England and the expansive garden at the home. The 1907 year is for Venezia, who has been hired to create the gardens at Highbury. 1944 focuses on three women, Diane (Highbury's owner), Stella (HIghbury's cook) & Beth (a local land girl) during the war where the house has been turned into a convalescent home, most of the lawn has been taken for crops and the gardens are slowly decaying. 2021 finds Emma being hired by the current owners of the home (Diane's great-granddaugher?) to return the gardens to Venezia's original vision, which is difficult due to the age and lack of documents.

Thankfully, the three different time periods were defined well enough that I had no issues discerning which era I was in, even when there were multiple storylines (1944) twisting together. The lives of these women are wholly separate but tied together by the gardens of the house and you see how being at Highbury has affected their lives, for good (mostly) and bad, however every character has a happy ending even if there was tragedy along the way. I definitely recommend this book if you like gardens, the English countryside & historical romance.

I received a free ebook from NetGalley & Gallery Books.