The Night Garden by Lisa Van Allen

My desire to devour a large quantity of books this summer hasn't worked out.  Life got in the way, which is hard for me to fathom.  Not much gets in the way of my reading.  And now I'm back to school; life is so full I don't think I'll get a break until after Christmas.  Those bits of time during the day when I can sit and read keep me sane and help me feel that I can keep managing my hectic schedule.  

In between getting ready for school, planning and executing a surprise birthday party for my boyfriend, and trying to keep my yard and house clean (not winning that battle), I've managed to start quite a few books, but only finished this one.  It was the perfect book to end my summer and begin a new season.  

The Night Garden by Lisa Van Allen is sure to appeal to anyone who loves Sarah Addison Allen, Alice Hoffman, and anyone who loves a bit of magical realism tossed into a story.  I'm a firm believer in magic and the wonderful, quirky way things can manifest in our lives.  Sometimes there is no explanation, it just is. 

 Olivia Pennywort lives in New York state, in the wonderful Green Valley.  Her farm is known around those parts as a place where a person can go, wander the maze, and find the answer to life's most important question:  what do I do with my life?  Sometimes it can take time to receive the answer; for that reason Olivia provides a barn where women can stay, work the gardens, and await their answer.  They come and go every year and always leave at peace.  Olivia's magic touch with plants of any kind is legendary; she grows flowers and vegetables  when the whole valley is undergoing a horrible drought and heat wave.  

But Olivia has a secret:  she is poisonous to the touch.  Anyone who touches her (or whom she touches) breaks out into a horrible poison ivy rash.  She's kept to herself on Pennywort Farm, working every day on her gardens.  No one knows her secret, except for her father, Arthur.  He lives in a ravine on the farm, in a little shack.  He refuses to move back into the farmhouse, and Olivia visits him every day with food and conversation.  Both are not happy with life, but aware that what they have is all they can ever hope for and expect out of life.

Sam Van Winkle comes back to town, and stirs Olivia out of her prison.  Years before, Sam and Olivia were childhood friends who fell in love as teens.  Sam left town when Olivia broke off their relationship with no explanation.  He tried to find life away from Green Valley, but realized it called to him and was where he needed to be.  Now a police officer, he has to live up to the Van Winkle reputation of being a "hero".  He doesn't feel very hero-like.

Sam, Olivia, and Arthur are all damaged by the past.  Are they courageous enough to take the steps to be happy?  Can Sam and Olivia have a normal life together when physical touch is impossible?  And what of the secret garden locked up in the middle of the maze?  

Love is a powerful emotion, and can make anything possible.  Forgiveness, passion, loving someone wholeheartedly and without reservation; those are all themes in this novel.  Living in the midst of beauty while feeling empty and alone and unable to move forward into the richness of life.  It's all here, in The Night Garden.  

Rating:  7/10 for lush descriptions of gardens, flowers, and nature.  An unusual love story, and a main character who fights for love.  

Available in October in paperback and e-book.

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The Night Garden by Lisa Van Allen

Winter Bloom--A Garden in Dublin

I received an ARC of this novel and was eager to read it.  Winter Bloom by Tara Heavey is a novel about a walled garden in Dublin that brings five people together, each of whom has a troubled past.  There's Eva, who has lost her husband and daughter to a car accident, leaving her to raise her small son Liam on her own; Mrs. Prendergast, the owner of the garden, who's cool demeanor covers a soul that's been bruised and battered; Emily, a young woman who has had to make a heart wrenching decision, and Seth and Uri, a son and his father who are finding their way through a rocky patch.

The garden brings them all together, as they set about turning a badly beraggled garden back into the beauty it once was, years ago.  Through the year, the reader learns each character's back story, and how they are moving forward in their lives.  The end is delightful, and just what you would hope for as a reader.

If you're a fan of Emily Giffin, Donna Ball, Kristin Hannah, or Karen White, pick this one up.  The garden lore and facts are always interesting, even if you don't have a gardening background.  This book may very well push you towards planning a garden for next spring.

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Winter Bloom--A Garden in Dublin

The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman

Sometimes I just can't believe my luck.  I was reading a book, and at the end there was an interview with the author.  She mentioned Carol Goodman as someone she likes to read.  Since the book I read was a ghosty story, I quickly got on the computer at work,  looked up Carol Goodman and bought a few of her titles. How could I have missed her all these years?!


Happy day for me!  The Ghost Orchid is fantastic and has made me a Carol Goodman fan.  It takes place at Bosco, an estate that has been turned into an artist's retreat in upstate New York.  Ellis is the main character.  She's come to finish a novel about Corinth Blackwell, a medium who visited Bosco in 1893 and disappeared, along with the only surviving child of the owners, Milo and Aurora Latham.  


This story moves between Ellis' experiences at Bosco in contemporary times, and Corinth arriving at Bosco, where she has been hired by Milo Latham to conduct a seance for his wife, hoping to contact their three children, who died from diptheria the year before.  Corinth's secret is that she really does have a gift, but it so frightened her as a child, she uses tricks to make believers  out of her customers without actually contacting spirits.


The other main character in this story is the garden.  It's no ordinary garden. Aurora has decided to recreate the gardens of Italy at her estate, and has hired Italian gardeners to put in fountains, paths, and statues everywhere.  It's an enormous garden--one that has hidden paths, a secret grotto, and a statue of an indian maiden tied to a local legend.


This book was awesome!   An intelligent ghost story.  Ellis sees and hears all sorts of mysterious things, and begins to unwind the story of Corinth and Bosco.  Something there needs to tell it's story, and Ellis, who also has the gift of sight,  becomes the unwilling storyteller.  


So many secrets, so many relationships twisting around this story!  The atmosphere is wonderful, the writing fantastic, and the suspense keeps you glued to the pages.  What happens to Corinth?  Who is haunting the gardens, and why?  What does the local legend of Ne'Moss-i-Ne  have to do with Corinth and Ellis?  


Hurry to your local library or bookstore and pick this one up.  I have made a permanent spot on my bookshelves for Carol Goodman's novels.  I can't wait to dive into the rest of her novels.

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The Ghost Orchid by Carol Goodman