Was intrigued by the title , and the book delivered very well Janet was rather intriguing in an odd situation if way a very good read.

I loved this book! I wasn't at all sure if I would in the beginning, Janet was such an oddball, and the way she got everything wrong was quite strange. But once I got into the story, and especially when Bev came along, the warmest, most huggable character ever, I loved it. Read through to the end in one sitting. Very recommended.

From the title of this book, I was ready to delve into a story of women of a certain age all struggling to be seen and heard in a society that favours the younger, slimmer, less hormonal generation. And for me it didn’t deliver on that aspect. What it did deliver in abundance was camaraderie and friendship and solidarity. A heart warming tale reminiscent of David and Goliath.

There was a heavy focus on a not particularly likeable or relatable main character Janet and not being a keen gardener or allotment holder, I felt that this book was pitched for quite a niche market.

Having said that, I enjoyed the character of ‘side kick’ Bev and what she bought to the story - pragmatism, positivity, support and kindness and wish I had a neighbour like her.

The storyline was easy to follow and the ending was so very sweet.

This would have been better titled The not so Invisible Allotment club. But then, to be honest, I wouldn’t have read it.

An absolute joy of a book which I just thoroughly enjoyed. Quirky, but utterly believable characters who develop and grow throughout the book, especially the main character Janet, who is prickly and dislikeable in the extreme at the beginning. There is more than a touch of humour running though with some delightful passage to have a chuckle at. However, bubbling underneath are more serious sub-plots mainly loneliness for all sorts of reasons against needing space with females of a 'certain age' plus a fair sprinkling of bureaucracy and chauvinism. A light, fairly short read which just flows along. An absolute delight.

Janet is 72. She keeps other people at arms' length and is a bit of a prickly pear. Her true love is plants but even at the allotment she can't make friends. Her neighbour Bea invites her to local amdram productions but she ignores them Then her beloved allotment comes under threat from the council and Janet is galvanised into action.

I thought this was rather a lovely book. There are not enough novels with older people at the heart of them and this is a welcome addition to the few that there are. Plants play a central part in the narrative and we learn lots about the healing properties thereof. it's also good to see people standing up to the corruption which sadly is more and more common in society. A lovely book and one which I recommend as a pick you up in a dreary mid-winter. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was well written and the title doesn’t do the book justice. Janet was a beautiful character and loved what she does to save her allotment.

This is definitely the kind of book we need more of. There is finally an older female character as the protagonist. This is done far too rarely. Janet Pimm, our leading lady, is not particularly likeable at first but as her story reveals itself, you understand her a lot better. She reluctantly make a friend in her neighbour Bev and together they fight the injustice of their local allotment being closed. It sounds dull but actually it feels a bit like reading your neighbour's diary. Janet is more interesting than her opening scenes imply and the allotment galvanises her and gives her an adventure she wasn't expecting.

This is not edge of your seat stuff, but a pleasant and satisfying read. Bear with it.

Janet is invisible. She goes to her allotment everyday and her best friends are her plants. However when the council want to close them down and build on them she and her other invisible women friends decide to come out from the shadows of menopause and old age to fight and be seen. Wonderful and heartening story, well told.

Well, this author either knows her plants extremely well or else a lot of research has been done. What starts out as I thought of a gardening book for a lonely lady, turns into something rather different and magical. A book written for many different reasons, and resonates with me personally on so many fronts. Everyone is visible, especially in today's age of technology some may be left behind. But they are the ones to keep a lookout for. The hidden story behind so many people who stay out of the limelight but have a life worth listening too.

Not what I was expecting, but a good read all the same. It covers some interesting topics and is quite insightful. The main character is hard to like at first, which is to be expected under the circumstances, but we gradually get to know and understand her through a wonderfully evolving story.
A bit slow at times, but worth persevering with.

On the whole I found this novel enjoyable and undemanding, and I loved the theme of saving the allotments. All along it was clear that a lot was to be revealed about Janet's past, Janet could be cantankerous. She always kept people at arm's length and rubbed them up the wrong way, but I couldn't help liking her.

As a lover of plants, I enjoyed learning about the medicinal properties on the species that Janet grew, but there were a few too many plant-related similes.

There were parts of the novel that I found implausible. As an experienced hiker, Janet would never have allowed Bev to persuade her to go on walking in the mountains as bad weather closed in. The break-in I thought was far-fetched. The ending was unexpected as I hadn't detected any indications that the final relationship might develop.

It wasn't quite what I had expected. I generally like reading about elderly characters and I always enjoy watching the inner journey of a curmudgeonly person as they slowly come out of their shell and find friends. I admittedly got this in this book, too, I still have mixed feelings about it.
The novel has a good plot and interesting,likeable characters. But, and it is a big but, (although it might be only me and it might be a cultural thing), I found the horticultural content and the manifesto of the menopausal women a bit too lengthy and too much. I felt it tipped the balance of the book. and unnecessarily stopped the flow of events.
Still, the story is good, and the characters are likeable, so I can recommend it to anyone who is at least a bit interested in the secret life and healing powers of plants.

This novel gets off to a slow start, but as I read I got drawn into the story of an elderly lady living in East Sussex. Janet has a remarkable knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs, spending many hours daily tending her allotment. She lives in isolation, making few friends until the local council condemns the site with the discovery of knotweed. Janet is convinced that this plant was not native to the allotments, but planted by the council in their attempt to take back the land. The story unfolds with Janet forming alliances with her fellow allotmenteers and specifically with Bev, a local lady, as they take on the council to discover the corrupt official behind this offensive, with protests akin to the suffragettes and Greenham Common follow. With the power of social media, news coverage widens. Janet had recruited the assistance of a former work colleague from her time at GCHQ who produces documented evidence of money laundering on a larger scale. This novel isn’t just about saving allotments from the hands of property developers, it’s about friendship, personal growth and protecting, strengthening and repairing the heart. An easy read, written with feeling and understanding of human relationships.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Random House, for this advance copy.

Oh this book. This absolute gem of a book. Is written so amazingly well. It really makes you think and absolutely everyone needs to read it. It's simply devine.

I urge all women and men too to read this thought provoking book .I found it simply divine .It follows janet who lives alone with only her allotment for company .I dont want to give any more away now but its one of my best loved reads this year so far .

I wasn’t sure about this at first as the main character, Janet, is one who has to grow on you but once you get inside her you realise she’s not the rude and awkward woman she comes across as. When her beloved allotments are threatened by closure she digs deep into her past self linking up with a character from her past to find out more about the councillor who has instigated this. Alongside her neighbour Bev, who up until now has exasperated her with her attempts at befriending her, they embark upon an unlikely trip to find the evidence they need to stop the allotment closure. Janet has an incredible amount of plant knowledge which could have proved boring yet was oddly fascinating and Bev does a fantastic job of highlighting the issues of menopausal women. This is one of those unlikely books that you really take to heart with the fantastic main characters and camaraderie amongst the allotment holders and is a lovely uplifting read. 9/10

This is hard to review but I loved it. A story of saving some allotments.. Janet was clever and had a hard life. Her knowledge of plants was amazing and hearing some of her remedies for the menopause was great. You learnt things. Also the part on the 3 peaks was brilliant. It covers sad subjects, I won’t spoil it by saying what. A great ending not quite what I expected but fab. Read it