About this deal
It is for sure one of the best reads I have had recently, furthermore, it marks 2017 as one of the best years to come in my adult reading life! I barely can wait for the next jewel to appear magically in my hands. What is it with all these books with “Girls” in the title? The last book I read was The Girls. Now I have just finished The Girls in the Garden – which I gather was titled The Girls in the UK. And last year I read Those Girls… This novel is set in the mid-1970's at a beach front (not named in the novel). This powerful novel focuses on June, a young girl who is abandoned at a motel on the coast with her infant child, Luke. They are both eventually taken in by the motels owner, Mabel who is trying to move on after the death of her husband. Mabel is ready to close up for the season until June and Luke change her plans. It is a very dim and dull journey for most of the characters but the novel focuses on the spirit of each character. This novel will build a long lasting impact on the reader, as it did for myself.
Lisa Jewell’s characters are so real that I finish every book half-expecting to bump into one of them. Modern, complex, intuitive, she just goes from strength to strength. Jojo MoyesAnd as she'd lived so much of her life in abandonment, she found desertion a normal state of being."
Another winner. Beautiful writing, believable characters, a pacy narrative and dark secrets combine to make this a gripping read. London Daily Mail A major issue in this book is that of growing up. What growth do you see in Pip from the beginning to the end of The Girls in the Garden? Compare and contrast Pip’s development with the ways in which Grace matures. A couple of little tidbits ...( but not saying enough about ANYONE in this novel- just tasters): NO SPOILERS:It was such a profound read... I closed it gently, put it on the ground, and stared at it for a couple of minutes... I am still struggling to find the words to best describe it. Unique is one of them... Poetic - another... Strong is the third that comes to mind, but D**n it I did not expect to be that much influenced by it. The author, Melanie Wallace, used this style in such a way where the changing characters were sometimes surprises. One of those surprises- a character name Sam, who we do not meet until late into the story, brought my first set of sobbing tears! Plus -- the chapters were each long enough to get a deep perspective from the leading narrators, but not at the cost of limiting dialogue and social connection with others. It never felt "hyper-individualist".
I requested this book not just because the cover looked so appealing (although that was a large factor!) but because it sounded like it would be a complete contrast from the other novels with "girl" in the title that are out at the moment. And it is. In the novel The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell, a love triangle, rumors, and bad parenting incite a dangerous jealousy that almost has fatal consequences. The novel takes place in London, England. Clare Wild had believed that by hiding her daughters from her schizophrenic husband she could keep them safe. Meanwhile, Adele Howes thought her life with her homeschooled children and a tightly knit community centered on a communal park offered the best of everything for her children. Neither mother realized that it was the children themselves who were their own worst enemies. Do you think Clare made the right decision in keeping Pip and Grace’s father’s release from the hospital a secret? Why or why not? Jewell offers an intriguing premise and characters but has difficulty maintaining plot momentum and creating depth of character.Faithful to the thriller genre, Jewell makes liberal use of red herrings and plot twists... The answer to the whodunit is a sly—and satisfying—surprise.”— The New York Times The lives of wives, daughters, and mothers are what is dissected here and how do we truly know anyone? The Girls in the Garden focused on two families--one just recently moved in and one who's been there for a long time. Tiny Clare and her daughters, Grace (12) and Pip (11) have just arrived and are reeling from the consequences of their dad's mental illness. I liked it, certainly reading from each characters perspective enriches any story. I just couldn’t feel for Iris, and I wonder what other readers will think of her. Claire may have been brusque but I think life did that to her, she had to have crocodile skin and strength. June may have been the one the reader is supposed to ache and hope for, but Claire captured me. This is quietly sad and lovely both. My favourite character was actually Iris. I thoroughly enjoyed the passages about her and found the ending of the novel very poignant and moving.