Perhaps this step is as simple as any other, if you just close your eyes. And so she closes her eyes, and lets the rain beat over her, and everything in her demands she take that small, final step into forever.

There is something about an abandoned, so-called 'lost,' garden that will always fascinate me. Over the years I would occasionally get the urge to start my own garden but once I realize how much work it would be I just give up. I knew that I wanted to read this because of the garden and how it would tie into the story and connect the two mason characters' (Eleanor and Marin) lives.

 

While both Eleanor and Marin are experiencing different situations they are both connected in the grief that they are experiencing. I liked Marin throughout the book but that wasn't always the case with Eleanor. Eleanor could be a bit selfish at times, thinking as though she was the only one hurting. She wasn't the only character that could get on my nerves add I rarely liked Katharine (until she showed her vulnerability) and Rebecca could be a bit annoying and selfish herself.

 

I really loved the relationship between Eleanor and Jack, or at least more than I liked what was going on between Marin and Joss. There were times when I wasn't sure as to why Jack was fighting the relationship so much (even though I knew it would be forbidden) but I understood why towards the end. I was not as happy with some of the events towards the end as I was with the rest of the book. Maybe that is because I felt so connected to Eleanor and Jack that I never wanted to see them go through what they went through.

 

Overall I really did enjoy this book and found myself sucked into the plot more than once. I would definitely consider reading more from this author. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

An ARC of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review Thank you, thank you so much!

The Lost Garden is a decent book, Tomb gives it a good story line and an interesting hook but I felt the author overall could have built more character development and expanded on the plot. I didn't feel any real emotional connection with the characters as if something were missing that the story needed to bring its characters to life. However wasn't horrible just needed a little something more.

The Lost Garden by Laurence Yep

The only reason I'm not giving this a full five stars is because I thought the underlying metaphor was a little strained and heavy-handed at times; just a few times. But the language - oh, the language. Humphreys is a poet and it shows. And the longing, and the love, and the grief.

Originally, Humphreys wanted the novel to be a tribute to reading, not gardening - and it manages to be both. Set in rural England in 1941, The Lost Garden revolves around a 30-something lonely heart who loves, in no particular order: Virginia Woolf's [b:To The Lighthouse|59716|To the Lighthouse|Virginia Woolf|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1346239665s/59716.jpg|1323448]; her mother, who does not love her back; a Canadian soldier stationed in a transition house up the road, who cannot love her back; a younger, very sad woman named Jane who has been assigned to work with her in the "Woman's Land Army" and who shows her what love looks like; and the definitive guide to roses, a massive tome called The Genus Rosa, which she uses as a sexual surrogate (it does not love her back).

She relates better to parsnips than people, but ultimately, she learns how to love and it - as much as the gardens into which she pours all her own nurturing, regenerative love - saves her from the death that surrounds her.

This book is steeped in death. The amount of death and decay is positively astonishing. And that means it's sad - yes. But also, it's not sad at all. It is full of hope and growth (personal and floral). We are left with this sort of triumphant and whole sense of love and life, which will bloom again amidst death. It's a little miracle, this book, like the flowers and gardens and books and characters within it.

PS - the official description of this book does it a great injustice. I don't know that this mini-review rectifies it at all, but don't let either from discouraging you from reading this little gem.