Synopsis
A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book -- a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, "Nell" sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to fi nd her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. At Cliff Cottage, on the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, Cassandra discovers the forgotten garden of the book's title and is able to unlock the secrets of the beautiful book of fairy tales.
This is a novel of outer and inner journeys and an homage to the power of storytelling. The Forgotten Garden is filled with unforgettable characters who weave their way through its spellbinding plot to astounding effect.
Morton's novels are #1 bestsellers in England and Australia and are published in more than twenty languages. Her fi rst novel, The House at Riverton, was a New York Times bestseller.
About Kate Morton
See more books from this AuthorIntricate, intersecting narratives, heavy-handed fairy-tale symbolism and a giant red herring suggesting possible incest create a thicket of clues as impenetrable and treacherous as Eliza’s overgrown garden and the twisty maze on the Mountrachet estate. Murky, but the puzzle is pleasing and the long-delayed “reveal” is a genuine surprise.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel | See more reviews from KirkusThis is exciting and fast paced. I think girls and boys will love it from the ages 13-99. Everyone will love this book and will not be able to put it down.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel | See more reviews from GuardianIt's not the ending I wanted but I kept reading in the desperate hope that it might not be so.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel | See more reviews from Blog CriticsIf you like historical fiction or if you have a curiosity for genealogical research, or if you simply can't resist a good mystery, pick up your copy of The Forgotten Garden...
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...it’s suspenseful enough to keep you coming back for just one more chapter...before you turn out the light.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelIf you like well-crafted and deeply moody sagas, The Forgotten Garden will probably be just your cup of tea.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel | See more reviews from All About Romance...good for a beach read, but it is rather too predictable for more serious reading.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...an old-fashioned Gothic tale which will delight historical fiction fans with its depth and romance.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...there are some unecessary repetitive descriptions especially, that could have benefitted with a good editing.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelIt’s a beautifully written story with fascinating characters and an engaging mystery that pulls you through the story from beginning to end.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelIt has the amazing capability to transfer between present day and Victorian England with such ease and simplicity that this does not divert the reader from the story.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelIt certainly surpassed my expectations, combining the intertwining aspects of family life through the ages with well drawn characters and an old fashioned mystery. Superb.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelThe reader will just love this book with multi-faceted layers of information that is so well-written.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelHer imagination captures ours as we move through the pages with emotions that include fear, confusion and hope.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelThe Forgotten Garden is a rare treat of a book and a masterful example of multiple storylines and timelines perfectly told, a powerful and beautiful tale.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelAt first glance an epic tale of love and family secrets, Morton’s sweeping novel crosses continents from Australia to England, in the process giving us a symbolic rendering of the lives of three different women separated by time but not necessarily by place.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelThe Forgotten Garden came highly recommended to me by others, and I found that those recommendations have definitive merit. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed a novel solely for its story without attempting to glean a lesson from its pages...
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelAs this review makes clear, I absolutely loved The Forgotten Garden. It’s been awhile since I’ve gotten so thoroughly lost in a novel. I can’t wait until her next one...
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...watching characters take forever to figure out what the reader knows all along is just annoying. Having said that, I did read all 659 pages of it, and it didn’t even take me long. Considering how much I disliked the writing, that’s saying a lot.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelOften when time travel takes place in a story I get lost. I did not have a problem with the varying dates of history...The Forgotten Garden is a well-written and memorable story.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...The Forgotten Garden is, at its heart, a mystery. The crafting of this story and its central question of the validity of maternal love is what drew me in and held me transfixed.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...if you are looking for a great story that you can just sit down somewhere with a coffee and really enjoy this is the one for you.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelAll in all, I found this book to be a really fun summer read. I cared about each one of these main female characters quite deeply and, as I mentioned, found it difficult to live normal life during the reading of this book! All the same, I don't know that I would necessary seek out another Morton title.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A Novel...The Forgotten Garden had me thinking and plotting more than any book I've read recently. This book could have been spectacular, but at the close, it was a lackluster ending that brought dissatisfaction.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelI was really interested in the family history and the processes Nell and Cassandra took to find out about their family. I must admit, though, that I was more interested in reading the first hand stories of Eliza and Rose than in Nell or Cassandra.
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelThe solution to the mystery was made very obvious to the reader from early on in the book, so when it was finally revealed it came as an anti-climax...Other than those few points, I loved this book...
Read Full Review of The Forgotten Garden: A NovelAn aggregated and normalized score based on 2850 user ratings from iDreamBooks & iTunes