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I loved travelling around the world in the past with Elfrida (and Bess) as she designs the gardens – the glitz and the glamour and the olde world feel. At home, during the war and afterwards, life is harsh but their indomitable spirits get them through. There is a beautiful friendship between two ladies that has lasted almost a lifetime. Over the years they have shared each other’s confidences and kept each others secrets. Running to Larkspur House, where Bess works, and a place filled with happy memories for Libby, she tries to make life easier for the two older women who mean so much to her but unearths truths and secrets she had no idea about. But for lifelong friends Bess and Elfrida, Libby’s arrival has stirred up the ghosts of the past. And before they can help her rebuild her shattered future, they must confront their own unspoken secrets, lost loves, and tragedies…
A Secret Garden Affair: From the Sunday Times bestselling A Secret Garden Affair: From the Sunday Times bestselling
It was very timely with the coronation taking place earlier in May and I loved hearing about all the gardens in areas of England where beauty abounds. Seeing these women grow together and Libby’s healing was quite therapeutic to read. Coupled with this, the writer’s descriptions of the gardens sounded amazing and I actually found myself having green-fingered envy! Yet, whilst the grounds that Elfrida has designed seem perfect, life has become the juxtaposition to this. A sumptuous tale set over 2 timelines in history and centring around female characters and I became totally swept up in their lives and struggles and adored it!! A Secret Garden Affair" is another great family drama from Erica James. It is full of family secrets, lifelong friendships, romance and family rifts. The majority of the key characters are female and, as the action covers about 60 years up to 1981, we see the prejudices and constraints they had to deal with in the earlier parts of the last century. This is a thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read. In the present, Libby is learning to rebuild her life and to trust her heart to someone else. More than that, though, she is discovering the family she thought she knew isn’t what is seems.
A Secret Garden Affair by Erica James tells the story of Liby shortly before her wedding in 1981 she finds her fiance in bed with her best friend. However instead of going to her mum's house she escapes to her great-aunt Bess. As you can imagine, the secrets all have emotional punches so be prepared to feel a host of emotions! With an insatiable appetite for other people's business, Erica James will readily strike up conversation with strangers in the hope of unearthing a useful gem for her writing. She finds it the best way to write authentic characters for her novels, although her two grown-up sons claim they will never recover from a childhood spent in a perpetual state of embarrassment at their mother's compulsion.
A Secret Garden Affair - Erica James: author
A keen gardener, Erica lives in Suffolk and has a growing obsession for doll’s houses. She is also a keen follower of F1 motor racing and, when possible, loves travelling to Japan and the US to see her sons. But for lifelong friends Bess and Elfrida, Libby’s arrival has stirred up the ghosts of the past. And before they can help her rebuild her shattered future, they must confront their own secrets, lost loves, and tragedies… Larkspur House felt like a character to me. It wrapped its magic around me (much like it did to Libby and Daniel) and I felt sad when I had to say goodbye.I have read a few of Erica James' books in the past, and the evocative stories have always enthralled me. James floods this story with regret and aching loss, exploring how grief and misplaced guilt can divide families, and you feel every heart-wrenching moment with real force - especially the impact of these emotions on mental health. There is a lot of pain being carried around by these characters, and my heartstrings were well and truly tugged, but there is also romance, glamour, friendship and warmth - and over the course of the story the threads come together in forgiveness and hope. Libby has discovered her soon to be husband has been sleeping with her best friend and flees to Larkspur House to stay with her great aunt Bess and her aunt’s friend Elfrida. Libby has gone to decide what to do with her life, but ends up finding out more than she expected. The protagonist of this novel is Libby who seeks refuge, after learning that her fiancé has cheated on her, with her elderly relative Bess and Bess’ lifelong friend Elfrida, whence we encounter secrets, deception, heartbreak, loyalty and love. A brilliant storyline by one of my favourite authors.
A Secret Garden Affair :HarperCollins Australia A Secret Garden Affair :HarperCollins Australia
Although I enjoyed the characters and their stories, it did take me awhile to get into the plot and found it to be a little meandering - in the first third of the book I wasn't quite sure what the main story line was supposed to be about. From the Sunday Times bestselling author Erica James comes a captivating story that sweeps through sixty years of history, love, and family drama. Readers love A Secret Garden Affair: The story is set in 1981, as Libby flees London to spend time with her great aunt Bess and friend Elfrida, in Suffolk. Whilst Libby stays with them, they remember their pasts full of family secrets and romances spanning 60 years.A story of friendship, classism, forbidden love, disappointments and celebrations, losing and finding precious memories and forgiveness. While all this jumping around in timeline and point of view could make, A Secret Garden Affair, more complicated to follow which could have made the layout better for the story arch, at the expense of the reader. July 1981. As the country prepares to celebrate Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana, Libby wants to be as far away from royal wedding fever as possible.
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