A book to enjoy over a cup of tea as it is always cold and rainy near the vicarage. A nice sequel to her last book, The Vicar's Wife, and the author continues to bring the past and present together through a common home and garden.

I really enjoyed this book that had both a current and historical storyline. The main character, Marin, was one that I enjoyed learning about, and I felt much sympathy for her teenaged sister, Rebecca, who lost her parents in an accident. Reading about Marin and Rebecca really getting to know one another for the first time was enjoyable, and I liked it when they began trying to puzzle out the historical aspect of the novel.

Great characters, interesting settings, and intriguing storylines made this one a very enjoyable read.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Marin Ellis is in search of a new start after her father and his second wife die in a car accident, and at thirty-seven she is made guardian of her fifteen-year-old half-sister Rebecca. They leave Hampshire for the picturesque village of Goswell on the Cumbrian coast, and settle into Bower House on the edge of the village church property. When a door to a walled garden captures Rebecca’s interest, Marin becomes determined to open it and discover what is hidden beneath the bramble inside. She enlists the help of local gardener Joss Fowler, and together the three of them begin to uncover the garden’s secrets. In 1919, nineteen-year-old Eleanor Sanderson, daughter of Goswell’s vicar, is grieving the loss of her beloved brother Walter, who was killed just days before the Armistice was signed. Eleanor retreats into herself and her father starts to notice how unhappy she is. As spring arrives, he decides to hire someone to make a garden for Eleanor, and draw her out of - or at least distract her from - her grief and sorrow. Jack Taylor is in his early twenties, a Yorkshire man who has been doing odd jobs in the village, and when Eleanor’s father hires him to work on the vicarage gardens, a surprising - and unsuitable - friendship unfolds.

Dual narratives, separated by time, can be quite difficult to get right. Tying the threads together is something that some authors just don't seem to manage perfectly. This is one of those books...

For me, the issues really began at the start - slow to get going, hard to get invested in Marin's story while the flashbacks to Eleanor's story were happening. It took far too much of my time getting used to the style that the author employed for this opening.

Then, once we got the "introductions" of the two timelines out of the way, the story really did start to pick up. I did get wrapped up in the historical aspect of the story - so much so, that I was disappointed a little every time we went back to the present day. There was something quite magical about the way those historical sections were written.

And then it all crashed down into a steaming pile of junk when we got to the end. The need to wrap up the whole 350 pages in a tell-not-show summary at the end was sudden and unexpected - and unappreciated. I had finally decided to like this book, despite the slow start, and then this ending happened. And I was disappointed.

Would I read more of this series? Quite possibly. I think there is a REALLY good book in the future. I hope to read it...


Paul
ARH

The restoration of a walled garden brings two women who have suffered loss. I loved reading about how the garden progresses. A very entertaining read,