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kaz14 's review for:
The Last Garden in England
by Julia Kelly
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!