The Last Garden in England
From the author of the international bestsellers The Light Over London and The Whispers of War comes “a compelling read, filled with lovable characters and an alluring twist of fates” (Ellen Keith, author of The Dutch Wife) about five women living across three different times whose lives are all connected by one very special garden.
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.
1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades.
“Gorgeously written and rooted in meticulous period detail, this novel is vibrant as it is stirring. Fans of historical fiction will fall in love with The Last Garden in England” (Roxanne Veletzos, author of The Girl They Left Behind).
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.
1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades.
“Gorgeously written and rooted in meticulous period detail, this novel is vibrant as it is stirring. Fans of historical fiction will fall in love with The Last Garden in England” (Roxanne Veletzos, author of The Girl They Left Behind).
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Community Reviews
This book is a pleasant story. But it's not an exciting story that keeps you looking forward to turning each page!!
It is no easy feat to write a book with two timelines and do it well, let alone three. Kelly did such a wonderful job. I have to admit that I did get a little confused by the different characters, but after taking some time to learn their names, I easily enjoyed the story.
1907, 1944 and 2021. In 1907, we meet Venetia Smith, the designer of the garden that ties all the three timelines together. The people surrounding Highbury House where the garden is located make her job as a female garden designer all the more difficult and challenging. In 1944, in the midst of war, we learn of how Highbury House has been transformed into a convalescent hospital. The mistress of the house, Diana Symonds, finds that her grasp of her home is gradually lost even as she deals with grief. In this timeline, there are two other characters we will read about: Beth, a land girl, and Stella, Highbury's cook. The story of 1944 was the most impactful to me, even if it was the hardest to get into at the beginning from having so many POVs. Last of all, it's 2021, and Emma Lovett has been hired as a garden designer for Highbury House's new generation of owners. As a big fan of Smith's, it's a dream come true for her. Secrets of the past gradually comes to light as she spends more time in the gardens.
I don't know about you, but this has got to be one of the most original stories I've ever read. It is not often I come across books with a concept surrounding plants and a garden. To add on to its uniqueness, there's also the history behind how houses could be requisitioned during wars to set up for training grounds, hospitals and the like. I only first knew of such a notion when I watched Downton Abbey. It made me think of how WWII was like for Singapore, how quickly the country was taken over by the Japanese and there wasn't even a choice to transform homes into hospitals.
I adored every single character. They were realistic, engaging, and likeable. All of them faced the challenges given to them bravely, but not without difficulty. Diana stood out to me the most. The growth she faced was the most significant in my eyes, having to get back the life she once had, learning of the possible abuse she had experienced, and standing up for herself. And oh, the grief... it wrenched at my heart. I was really glad everything turned out well for her at the end.
As a lover of historical fiction, I'd highly recommend this to fellow readers whose interest lies in the genre as well. A huge kudos to the designer of the book cover. It definitely played a huge part in my giving this a second look.
1907, 1944 and 2021. In 1907, we meet Venetia Smith, the designer of the garden that ties all the three timelines together. The people surrounding Highbury House where the garden is located make her job as a female garden designer all the more difficult and challenging. In 1944, in the midst of war, we learn of how Highbury House has been transformed into a convalescent hospital. The mistress of the house, Diana Symonds, finds that her grasp of her home is gradually lost even as she deals with grief. In this timeline, there are two other characters we will read about: Beth, a land girl, and Stella, Highbury's cook. The story of 1944 was the most impactful to me, even if it was the hardest to get into at the beginning from having so many POVs. Last of all, it's 2021, and Emma Lovett has been hired as a garden designer for Highbury House's new generation of owners. As a big fan of Smith's, it's a dream come true for her. Secrets of the past gradually comes to light as she spends more time in the gardens.
I don't know about you, but this has got to be one of the most original stories I've ever read. It is not often I come across books with a concept surrounding plants and a garden. To add on to its uniqueness, there's also the history behind how houses could be requisitioned during wars to set up for training grounds, hospitals and the like. I only first knew of such a notion when I watched Downton Abbey. It made me think of how WWII was like for Singapore, how quickly the country was taken over by the Japanese and there wasn't even a choice to transform homes into hospitals.
I adored every single character. They were realistic, engaging, and likeable. All of them faced the challenges given to them bravely, but not without difficulty. Diana stood out to me the most. The growth she faced was the most significant in my eyes, having to get back the life she once had, learning of the possible abuse she had experienced, and standing up for herself. And oh, the grief... it wrenched at my heart. I was really glad everything turned out well for her at the end.
As a lover of historical fiction, I'd highly recommend this to fellow readers whose interest lies in the genre as well. A huge kudos to the designer of the book cover. It definitely played a huge part in my giving this a second look.
I enjoyed this light-reading novel about three different women from three different generations, all connected in some way with a historically significant set of interconnected gardens on an English estate called Highbury House, a la Downton Abbey. There is an awful lot of discussion about gardening, which is logical, but unless you know your clematis from your cape primrose you may go a little cross-eyed in places, or perhaps begin to feel some dirt sprouting from under your nails.
Two of the main characters, Venetia Smith (circa 1907 sub-plot) and Cynthia Symonds (World War II sub-plot) are based on real historical characters or an amalgamation of them, including two highly celebrated women landscape architects from the 1920's.
I found the World War II sub-plot to be the most satisfying because Highbury House becomes requisitioned as a nursing facility for injured soldiers, and the widow of the home (her husband was killed in the war) becomes a commandant of the hospital. Though seemingly icy, this character, Cynthia, will eventually thaw as she sees opportunities to help others and find a new purpose in life after tragedy strikes her again.
The weakest sub-plot and characters are the modern-day landscape architect, Emma, and her involvement with restoring the Highbury House gardens; but still, it made for pleasant reading.
This is not a book that will really stick with you, but it's pleasant nonetheless, and provides interesting historical background for WWII England.
Two of the main characters, Venetia Smith (circa 1907 sub-plot) and Cynthia Symonds (World War II sub-plot) are based on real historical characters or an amalgamation of them, including two highly celebrated women landscape architects from the 1920's.
I found the World War II sub-plot to be the most satisfying because Highbury House becomes requisitioned as a nursing facility for injured soldiers, and the widow of the home (her husband was killed in the war) becomes a commandant of the hospital. Though seemingly icy, this character, Cynthia, will eventually thaw as she sees opportunities to help others and find a new purpose in life after tragedy strikes her again.
The weakest sub-plot and characters are the modern-day landscape architect, Emma, and her involvement with restoring the Highbury House gardens; but still, it made for pleasant reading.
This is not a book that will really stick with you, but it's pleasant nonetheless, and provides interesting historical background for WWII England.
This book reminded me a bit of Weyward, following multiple women’s stories across generations, but this one follows five women instead of the 3 in Weyward. I was worried I’d have trouble keeping up with 5 main characters and how they intersect, but I was pleased with how easily I kept up. Each story was deeply interesting and each woman was layered and multifaceted and strong. This book was recommended by my local library in connection with Longwood Garden’s #communityread
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