The Forgotten Garden
The Forgotten Garden has a fairly complicated plot, one of the reasons why it’s so long I suppose. I have decided to forgo a traditional summary and outline each main character’s story instead. The years in parentheses are the general dates in which the characters’ stories take place.
Eliza (Early 1900’s): Her story takes her from her childhood in London, living in hiding with her mother, Georgiana, a former aristocrat who ran away from home, to a young woman living in Cornwall as the ward of her aunt and uncle, part of the family from which her mother fled.
Nell (1913-2005): Told in fragmented time, Nell’s story jumps backward and forward in time. She was abandoned as a very young child and found on a ship traveling from England to Australia. She learns her history at the age of twenty one when her adopted father decides to reveal the truth. She spends several years trying to discover who she really is, and she is just on the verge of solving the mystery when her granddaughter, Cassandra, comes to live with her, keeping Nell from returning to England to find out the truth.
Cassandra (1976-2005): Cassandra’s story begins when she is dropped off to live with her grandmother in Tregenna, Australia at the age of eleven. Cassandra has lost many things in her life, and her grandmother, Nell, was the one who was always there to help her pull herself together. After Nell’s death, Cassandra learns that Nell bought an old cottage in England in 1976, the same year Cassandra came to live with Nell. Nell asks Cassandra, posthumously, to go to the cottage and discover once and for all the truth about Nell’s identity. Through her search for the truth, Cassandra finds out how much she has in common with both Nell and Eliza, and through their stories Cassandra finds a way to heal herself.
I thought this book started very, very slowly. Even after 100 pages or so, I wondered if I was going to abandon it. The summary really intrigued me, and I was disappointed by how long it took to really get to the meat of the story. I really love stories that switch from the perspective of one character to another, but this story went one further than that. It also switched from one generation to another. In fact, The Forgotten Garden covers the stories of four generations of women. Because of the similarities in location and situations, I sometimes forgot who I was reading about and what time period the characters were in. I think if the story had been trimmed down just a bit, there might not have been time to get lost. There was a whole book’s worth of information for each of the main characters, so that really added to the story’s length. I don’t mind a long story, but it needs to have a quick pace to hold my attention for a longer period of time.
I love stories that have just a hint of magic to them. I adored the Harry Potter books, and I am in awe of J.K. Rowling’s ability to create an entire magical world that is so original and complex, but the subtly magical stories require a special gift, too. As a reader I like to be made to wonder “what if”. What if there really is magic in the world? What if there’s no such thing as a coincidence? What if we can really communicate with those who have gone on before us? The subtle magical elements in The Forgotten Garden feel as if they are things that could really happen. The events could be explained away as coincidences by a skeptic, but the romantics, like me, have just enough enchantment to give them a little thrill. Thinking back after the story I realized there were several clues and questions for the reader to look back and appreciate after completing the book. For example, I remembered Cassandra hearing a key rattle in her door one night while she was staying at Blackhurst Manor. She is later informed that the hotel doesn’t use metal keys anymore because the locks are electronic. That occurrence was never explained. One character had a theory, but when I finished the book, I thought about it and decided that I had actually developed my own theory. I love a story that has moments to ponder long after you’ve read the last page.
I read a lot. I’ve gotten pretty good at picking up on any subtle clues the author lays out, and I hate reading a book knowing how it’s going to end. So I can really appreciate the fact that Kate Morton laid out many clues, and I was still left guessing about parts of the story until the very end. I actually did figure out the story’s main mystery early on, but Morton cleverly led me off track. That definitely impressed me.
I find flat villains are very boring. I like knowing what makes a character tick, even if it’s the villain. I really liked the way that the character Adeline was written. Yes, she is a horrible, stick in the mud, who is incredibly mean, spiteful and cold at times, but Morton gives her such great motivation for being the way she is. I relished the way most of the characters despised Adeline and how she had created this personal hell for herself, all because she was worried about what others thought of her. The irony! She wanted everyone to respect her and she ended up being respected, but feared and hated as well.
If you decide to read The Forgotten Garden, know this. It will probably take you a long time to read it. There may be times when you are tired of the story. You have to read the whole thing to really appreciate it. But if you don’t think you can hang in there for the long haul, don’t feel bad about skipping this one. Overall, there was more to like than dislike in this novel. My biggest complaints are about the pacing and the confusion of so many different complicated stories. The think I liked most about the story was the very idea of it: a mystery that takes three generations to be solved. And somehow the women from different generation break through the bonds of time and help each other discover what it is they need most. It’s a beautiful thought, and it’s a beautiful story. But boy it was a lot of work to read!
