The Forgotten Garden

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Awesome Read submitted by erksnerks on July 8, 2011, 9:07am This book is grand just grand. In it you will find great characters, old and young, gardens, country cottages, and mystery. Read on.

Engaging Story submitted by chelseej on June 21, 2012, 7:57pm This was a very enjoyable book, and not what I expected. You follow 3-4 generations of women and a journey to discover how they are connected. Interspersed are fairytales written by one of the main characters that add a peek into her feelings in an interesting and original way. A moving story that keeps you reading and is well worth it. A story of mistakes, love and finding your roots.

Loved it submitted by hillash on August 22, 2012, 5:26pm I didn't expect to be so enthralled in this book, but I just couldn't put it down! Some things I noticed: male characters are very sidelined in this novel; the story took a long time to unravel; Kate Morton doesn't indulge herself in long-winded descriptions (this my mother pointed out). Sometimes, especially with a novel this long, I become impatient and start skimming. With this book, I couldn't. Nor did I want to. Be prepared to fall into this book.

excellent book submitted by smgop on July 7, 2015, 8:25pm great read - couldn't put it down!

Lovely story submitted by LVDS on July 26, 2016, 8:33pm I read this on a trip to Australia, since written by one and part of the story is in Brisbane. But that's beside the point. Intriguing characters & wonderfully written, mixed with some fairytales. Definitely recommend!

A gorgeous, compelling novel submitted by jessicampace on July 11, 2017, 1:52pm I loved, loved, loved The Forgotten Garden! I really enjoy books set in Cornwall and Kate Morton truly captures the beauty of the setting and the history of the families who live there. She stirs in plenty of intrigue, vibrant characters, and generational ties. Not only was this one a gem, it inspired me to reread The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett (who makes a cameo in this book), which has been one of the best books I read this year so far. The other Kate Morton I have loved was The Lakehouse, also set in Cornwall and spanning three generations of family.

Delightful and rewarding submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 11, 2017, 8:31pm What I loved about this book: many times during the course of it, some little piece of the mystery was solved, and it only opened more questions to be explored. The storytelling was vivid and imaginative. I could picture the people -- they are absolutely real in my head. I had a hard time putting the book down. I tagged the author's other book as "to read" because I want more of what she has to offer.

The two things I didn't love: first (the little thing), there were two or so scenes that were vaguely supernatural. The kind of thing where someone fell asleep in a particular place and had a dream that appeared to be someone else's memory. For me, it's one thing to say that a place has a sense to it, or that someone innately feels like a place is "home" or whatnot, and another to delve into mystical experiences.

My second challenge with this book was that it tracked, at various times, five different generations, and it did so by changing between timelines (from 1900 to 2005) at new chapters. Most of the story is told about generations two, three and five, where three (Nell) and five (Nell's surviving granddaughter) are trying to solve the mystery of who Nell really is/was and why she was abandoned on a ship from England to Australia. But at the beginning of most chapters I had to work hard to re-establish who we were reading about, which generation they were, and where they fit in the story/mystery. It was just a lot of work.

But the story was so well done that the work was well worth it. I'm not enough of a writer to know if the story could have been told slightly more straightforward, but if you're willing to do a little work to track who is who and where they fit in the timeline, the reward is delightful.