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A review by lauriel13
The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly
4.0
I saw this book was the Community Read at the Philadelphia Free Library in conjunction with Longwood Gardens and that there will be an author event for it so I decided to give it a read. I’m glad I did. I’m excited for the author event which will be at the end of March.
The setting is Highbury House in England, set over three time periods, 1907, 1940s during WWII, and current time. All three stories are based around women and their roles the gardens at Highbury House as well as their roles in other aspects of life.
In 1907, Venetia Smith designs gardens for high society. She is currently working for the Melcourts designing a series of garden rooms. In the 1940s, Diana Symonds owns Highbury House, her husband has died in the war, she has a young son. Highbury House has been taken over as a military hospital and Diana’s sister-in-law, Cynthia, is the commandant. At a nearby farm, Beth Pedley, is a land girl who brings produce to Highbury House, becomes friends with Stella, the cook, and ends up in a romantic relationship with one of the soldiers at the hospital. Overall this time period was my favorite to read. In current time, Emma has been asked by Sydney and Andrew, the current owners of Highbury House, to restore the neglected gardens to what they once were. Emma is a fan of Venetia Smith’s work and dives into the history of the gardens and finds some secrets hidden about the family and Venetia while doing the restoration.
The book weaves back and forth between time periods and between the many different women’s points of view. It was interesting to compare and contrast how things have changed in some instances but in other ways stayed the same over the past 100 years when it’s comes to the expectations and experiences of women.
The only thing I initially didn’t like but by the end saw how it did go along with the overall themes of the book, was that one main character woman from each time period, Venetia, Beth, and Emma, started out as strong single women but ended up in romantic relationships by the end.
The setting is Highbury House in England, set over three time periods, 1907, 1940s during WWII, and current time. All three stories are based around women and their roles the gardens at Highbury House as well as their roles in other aspects of life.
In 1907, Venetia Smith designs gardens for high society. She is currently working for the Melcourts designing a series of garden rooms. In the 1940s, Diana Symonds owns Highbury House, her husband has died in the war, she has a young son. Highbury House has been taken over as a military hospital and Diana’s sister-in-law, Cynthia, is the commandant. At a nearby farm, Beth Pedley, is a land girl who brings produce to Highbury House, becomes friends with Stella, the cook, and ends up in a romantic relationship with one of the soldiers at the hospital. Overall this time period was my favorite to read. In current time, Emma has been asked by Sydney and Andrew, the current owners of Highbury House, to restore the neglected gardens to what they once were. Emma is a fan of Venetia Smith’s work and dives into the history of the gardens and finds some secrets hidden about the family and Venetia while doing the restoration.
The book weaves back and forth between time periods and between the many different women’s points of view. It was interesting to compare and contrast how things have changed in some instances but in other ways stayed the same over the past 100 years when it’s comes to the expectations and experiences of women.
The only thing I initially didn’t like but by the end saw how it did go along with the overall themes of the book, was that one main character woman from each time period, Venetia, Beth, and Emma, started out as strong single women but ended up in romantic relationships by the end.