Really interesting wartime fiction, exploring relationships, love and resilience.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

The Walled Garden
~Sarah Hardy

“The story for our generation is how we move on and for some of us […] peace is going to be as hard as war itself.”

1946, Suffolk, Sir Stephen has returned home from war in France to his young wife Alice. A damaged man. Elsewhere in the village men are returning home distressed, missing limbs or in some cases not returning at all. This is a broken Britain. The glow of VE Day has faded.

Alice is trying to find the husband she married instead of this man that has returned a ghost of who he was. Also dealing with his own war guilt is Revered Ivens. A man who could not enlist he carries guilt & his own secrets but is also a comforting ear for a lost Alice.

The novel looks at that returning generation, those demobbed men and the people they left behind have to try to rebuild a country that is still on war rations. I have read many books on the 1920s lost generation so it was interesting to look at society post WW2.

Did I always warm to these main characters, no. They are at times arrogant with so much privilege while others have lost everything. Reverend Ivans was the star for me. Well written, this is a person I would have enjoyed learning more about. The ending was a little too neatly wrapped up. But as always historical fiction will only inspire me to read more around a certain era.
This book left me looking for a bit more meat on the post war bones.
A meek 3/5 ⭐️

Many thanks to the author, publisher @bonnierbooksuk Manilla Press & @netgalley for the ARC
The Walled Garden has Pub date of : 16th March 2023

I so wanted to love this, that cover alone is simply so beautiful. However, I felt a disconnect with this read. Didn't make me want to keep reading, and at times felt laboured. Sure i'll be the odd one out here, but just not for me.

This was such a good read and I just couldn't put it down. Well written with a captivating and sometimes heart - wrenching storyline and well developed characters some of which I loved. The story kept me gripped all the way through and left me feeling breathless at times. The gothic atmosphere woven through the text works really well too. I loved it and I love the front cover