The Garden (by Nick Newman)
A few months ago, while shopping at a Barnes and Noble, I noticed the gorgeous book cover of The Garden by Nick Newman. The book description resonated with me, as my husband and I were embarking on our first season of planting vegetable and flower gardens and had recently purchased a greenhouse. The premise of a story about two elderly sisters living within a walled garden, oblivious to the outside world, piqued my interest.
Sisters Evelyn and Lily live contentedly within the walled garden surrounding their childhood home. Their days are filled with tending to the bees, cultivating a vegetable garden, and nurturing flowers. The sisters are guided by the almanac left to them by their mother. Their tranquility is disturbed when they discover a boy hiding within their boarded-up home. His unexpected presence threatens to disrupt their solitude and safety from the outside world.
The book cover matches my love for this story, but it doesn’t quite reflect the dark realities that unfold within its pages. I adored Evelyn and Lily. Their ages are intentionally left unspecified, and at times, their behaviors and dialogue gave the impression that they were quite young, even childlike. However, at other moments, they appeared more mature. I thoroughly enjoyed their sibling banter and the dynamics of their relationship. I also appreciated the ambiguity of certain details, as it suggested that these details were insignificant compared to the profound depth of the story that gradually revealed itself. As each sister reminisces about their past, fragments of their childhood are unveiled, along with the circumstances that led them to live alone within the confines of the walled garden. Throughout the journey of this book, I became attached to Evelyn and Lily and invested in their lives. Their past was intriguing and kept me engaged. I was increasingly curious about what lay beyond the walled garden. Several unexpected surprises awaited me. The ending left me with a bittersweet feeling, a mix of sadness and hope.
Unless I win the lottery, it’s not wise for me to buy every book that catches my attention. I opted to borrow the audiobook of The Garden from my local library using Libby. Nicolette McKenzie’s narration was simply fantastic.
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