The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: Atria; 1ST edition (April 7, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1416550542
From Booklist
In 1913, a little girl arrives in Brisbane, Australia, and is taken in by a dockmaster and his wife. She doesn’t know her name, and the only clue to her identity is a book of fairy tales tucked inside a white suitcase. When the girl, called Nell, grows up, she starts to piece together bits of her story, but just as she’s on the verge of going to England to trace the mystery to its source, her grandaughter, Cassandra, is left in her care. When Nell dies, Cassandra finds herself the owner of a cottage in Cornwall, and makes the journey to England to finally solve the puzzle of Nell’s origins. Shifting back and forth over a span of nearly 100 years, this is a sprawling, old-fashioned novel, as well-cushioned as a Victorian country house, replete with family secrets, stories-within-stories, even a maze and a Dickensian rag-and-bone shop. All the pieces don’t quite mesh, but it’s a satisfying read overall, just the thing for readers who like multigenerational sagas with a touch of mystery.
Yet another chunkster read!
When I found this book at B&N I loved the cover and when I read the inside flap I thought this sounded pretty good, and so I bought it. As it sat in my tbr pile I came for find that the author had also written another book that I had read “The House at Riverton”. Now, I have to say, that I remember I wasn’t thrilled with that book. I also remember thinking it would be a book like The 13th Tale, which I loved, and I am guessing I expected it to live up to The 13th Tale which it didn’t. My expectations for this book dropped.
Needless to say I became concerned that I would not like this book either, so I entered it with trepidation. I think I expected to wade thru the book doing a lot of skimming ….. More or less, I didn’t expect much.
I was wrong.
I was wrong wrong wrong!
I liked this book very much!
It was a mystery spanning a few life times, and so the chapters were set up to jump from the granddaughter to the grandmother, to the great grandmother back and forth and it took some getting used to before I knew who was who (CRS..it’s old age what can I say)
It certainly wasn’t a cliff hanger type of book but it kept me very involved to the point that I was picking up the book a few times a day to read a chapter or two… or more.
I might describe the book as: The Secret Garden and The Thirteenth Tale rolled into one.. but it’s family secrets weren’t as dark as the 13th tale and the garden itself was more than just a secret.
The books main protagonist was Cassandra (the granddaughter) and the entire book wrapped around finding out who Nell (her grandmother) really was.
Which meant she would begin by going to England to see why Nell had bought a cottage there and told no one she had ever gone to England. Why had her grandmother never told anyone?? Why would she buy a cottage and never return to England?
Who was the Authoress? And what did the child’s book of fairy tales have to do with Nell?
This book is very well written.
And a very enjoyable read.
It sure made me keep reading.. and, as happens when reading a book that has captured you, it was not easy to read the last page knowing the book was over.
This one.. is a keeper…. and it is book number 10 for the RIP IV Challenge.
