GARDENING IN FICTION
Maybe we enjoy the sight of Spring flowers and new leaves unfurling in the sunshine. As a change from practical gardening books, try some fiction with gardening themes. Crime writers have also made use of gardening in several series of mysteries.
A Secret Garden. Katie Fforde
Lorna and Philly work in the grounds of a manor in the Cotswolds. They enjoy their jobs, are surrounded by friends and family, and romance eventually blossoms for each of them. However, the path of true love never runs smoothly, and complications arise when they discover an old and secret garden.
Gardener to the King. Richaud Frederic
As gardener to King Louis X1V of France, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, is master of his domain: the royal fruit and vegetable garden. Over the years, he involves himself in the lives of the impoverished workmen and peasants who live around Versailles, teaching them the rudiments of gardening. A small insight into life in 17th century France.
Peculiar Ground. Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Landscape designer John Norris is charged with building a great wall around the vast property of Wychwood in 17th Century Oxfordshire, where everyone has something to hide after three decades of civil war. 300 years later another wall goes up in faraway Berlin. The novel explores the way in which those who strive to wall others out risk finding themselves walled in. A debut novel.
Crystal Gardens. Amanda Quick
The first book in the series "Ladies of Lantern Street". Moving to a country cottage where she seeks refuge in a paranormally charged garden, Evangeline Ames is rescued from a would-be assassin by the garden's owner, Lucas Sebastian, who taps Evangeline's detective skills to solve a buried-treasure mystery and stop a common enemy.
The Garden of Evening Mists. Twan Eng Tan
In 1951, Yun Lin Teoh, the lone survivor of a Japanese wartime camp, discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya. The garden’s creator Aritomo, is the exiled former gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Despite her misgivings about the Japanese, Yun Lin finds herself drawn to Aritomo and becomes his apprentice. We learn that both carry secrets about how they survived the war.
A Thousand Paper Birds. Tor Udall
This debut novel set in London’s Kew Gardens tells the story of five people whose lives are linked via the sudden death of Jonah’s wife Audrey. Jonah seeks solace and some answers in Kew gardens as this is where he met Audrey. Kew Gardens looms large and beautifully, and is itself a character in the book. A story of loss and redemption.