Ratings44
Average rating3.9
"A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, a mystery. A captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory. Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra's life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family. Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace - the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century - Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself."--Provided by publisher.
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Reviews with the most likes.
This book was recommended to me by my mum who kept going on about how it was the best book she had ever read so I decided I'd give it a go after reading through the first chapter of The House At Riverton in a book shop and deciding I liked the authors style of writing.
I absolutely loved the way that the book interweaved the different characters throughout the novel and didn't find it too difficult to get to grips with different chapters being set in different time frames, if anything I found the variety nice and it kept the book moving along building the story beautifully to it's conclusion.
Throughout this book I kept trying to second guess what the authors intended plot was going to be, she continually surprised me and moved the goalposts and I thoroughly enjoyed the way she weaved all the characters together.
This books keeps you riveted from the first page to the last. It was so hard to put down and walk away!!
Nell has the bottom of her world knocked out when she discovers that her family isn't really hers. She embarks on a lifelong mission of finding out who she is and where she comes from. All she has for clues is a small suitcase and very vague memories of being on a ship, and someone telling her she had to hide and not move. But of course things do not always turn out as we hope, and so the mystery passes to Nell's granddaughter Cassandra. Cassandra at first is leery of the mystery that has been left to her, and yet, intrigued at the same time. She begins to follow the trail that her grandmother had made, and makes some shocking discoveries of her own. Who was the authoress and how does she figure into the story? Where does the English manor come into play, and what tragedies are waiting behind the brambles in the garden to be discovered?
I really enjoyed this book. I grabbed it for our book club read this month, and was not disappointed with the book at all. Kate Morton has weaved a tale that leaves readers begging for more.
Not exactly a retelling of Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden, but a nod to it. A nice, romantic, page turning tale of a foundling's search for the true story of her origins.
The Forgotten Garden was a great book. Surely the longest one I've read in a very long time, but totally worth it. The plot was well and intricately woven; the author's use of multiple story lines running along at the same time actually worked really well. One thing I really enjoyed was how the garden of the book's title was neatly tied to Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden...I mean, she actually became a character in this book, and even though her appearance was brief, it was an interesting idea to include her and make the Forgotten Garden of Blackhurst Estate the inspiration for Burnett's own children's book.