Overview

From the author of the international bestseller The Light Over London and The Whispers of War comes a poignant and unforgettable tale of 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 ambitious 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. In this sweeping novel reminiscent of Kate Morton's The Lake House and Kristin Harmel's The Room on Rue Amélie, Julia Kelly explores the unexpected connections that cross time and the special places that bring people together forever.

Full Product Details

9781797117560

Table of Contents

Reviews

""Everything I love in historical fiction: a dramatic setting depicted so vividly I could've sworn I was strolling through the gardens of Highbury House as I turned the pages."" -- ""Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author"" ""Subplots involving love, loss, and hope for new beginnings gracefully intertwine, and readers will be enraptured by the garden theme."" -- ""Booklist"" ""The inviting performances of Marisa Calin, Shiromi Arserio, Katherine Littrell, Danielle Cohen, and Siobhan Waring add to the immersive pleasure of this engaging historical novel...making this a listening experience to savor. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile"" ""Kelly's decades-spanning story will appeal to gardeners and lovers of Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. -- ""Library Journal"" ""Women's friendship overcomes the villainy of war in this engaging historical fiction."" -- ""Kirkus Reviews""

Kelly's novel encompasses everything I love in historical fiction: a dramatic setting depicted so vividly I could've sworn I was strolling through the gardens of Highbury House as I turned the pages, and a series of stories that intertwine each other effortlessly, echoing the theme of love lost and found. A delight. -- Fiona Davis, author of The Dollhouse

Kelly's decades-spanning story will appeal to gardeners and lovers of Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs. -- Library Journal Women's friendship overcomes the villainy of war in this engaging historical fiction. -- Kirkus Reviews Kelly's novel encompasses everything I love in historical fiction: a dramatic setting depicted so vividly I could've sworn I was strolling through the gardens of Highbury House as I turned the pages, and a series of stories that intertwine each other effortlessly, echoing the theme of love lost and found. A delight. -- Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author [A] touching, immersive read...Subplots involving love, loss, and hope for new beginnings gracefully intertwine, and readers will be enraptured by the garden theme...Like gardens themselves, these pages invite lingering and thoughtful reflection. -- Booklist

Author Information

Julia Kelly is the award-winning author of books about ordinary women and their extraordinary stories. In addition to writing, she has been a journalist, a marketing professional, an Emmy-nominated producer, and for one summer a tea waitress. She called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London. Shiromi Arserio is a stage actor, voice talent, and audiobook narrator from London. She holds a BA in theater from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. In addition to narrating dozens of audiobooks, her voice can be heard in documentaries, e-learning projects, and video games. Marisa Calin is an actress, novelist, and five-time Earphones Award-winning narrator born in England and educated in New York at the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts. An artist with a flair for everything literary, she has written a young adult novel, You & Me, which received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Danielle Cohen grew up in Manchester, England, reading anything and everything aloud, and at the age of eight dreamed of being a news reader, or later, a stand-up comedian! Neither of those careers ever came to fruition, but she did pursue an acting career for many years, performing in many venues around London, at the Edinburgh Festival, and worked with several children's theater companies. Danielle has also voiced a number television documentaries. Danielle now lives in Vermont. She is an actress and a successful audiobook narrator. She has always loved telling a good story and being an audiobook narrator has been a natural progression. When she's not narrating audiobooks, she can be found walking or running with friends, playing board games with her husband and teenage daughters, or baking and eating cake. Katherine Littrell is a Sydney-based audiobook narrator who studied English literature at Bryn Mawr College. She has lived in the United States and the UK, but is glad to be back home in Australia, where she enjoys knitting, making furniture, and talking out loud to herself in small spaces.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available