I enjoyed this OK. It's set over two time periods: the 21st century and post-WWI, switching between two families who both live in the same house and take care of the same garden. A garden which holds a secret of forbidden love which our modern day family is trying to discover, while struggling with grief and problems of their own. Our modern day family, two sisters, one losing her biological mother and then her biological father, the other losing her father too and his second wife, her mother. I won't go into too much detail but this causes our older sister to struggle with resentment she's kept locked away since she was sent away to boarding school when she was a girl after her mother died. In our post World War One story, we also see a story of two sisters, Katherine and Eleanor, struggling to also overcome grief of their lost brother and the vastly changed post war world they've suddenly found themselves in. Eleanor is different from her rigid sister Katherine, and wants something more to do than just nurse veterans. She can't seem to find anything of interest out of her cloud of grief, until a gardener named Jack comes to work and she finds solace in his company, able to let her guard down and be herself when she's been always forced to be the strong one for her family. Never comforted or consoled. Jack cares for her, but cannot act on it, as it is improper. Eleanor refuses to let him go, but a lot of things have changed because of the war and things are not always what they seem...
This is a story of love, grief and forgiveness. of making sacrifices and fresh starts. I found myself more attached to the post-WWI story than the other--I felt their characters were built a little more..It was alright. Probably wouldn't read it again-it certainly wasn't bad, but I felt rather disinterested until at the end I was blubbering like a baby. It was a lovely ending to an otherwise sad book. I'm indifferent, other than that. Thanks Netgalley.
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