The Last Garden in England

October 15, 2020
A country house in rural Warwickshire is the scene for Kelly's (Whispers of War, 2020) touching, immersive read with definite appeal for aficionados of Downton Abbey and Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows' The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2008). For a century, five distinctive women are connected through a historic Edwardian garden, each struggling in different ways between family and societal expectations and achieving their hearts' desires. In 1907, Venetia Smith arrives to design an elaborate new garden for Highbury House's wealthy residents. Decades later, the British home front comes alive through the tales of Highbury's widowed young owner, her restless cook, and a neighboring land girl as the estate is requisitioned during wartime. Lastly, a contemporary designer uncovers mysteries while aiming to replicate Venetia Smith's original plans. Subplots involving love, loss, and hope for new beginnings gracefully intertwine, and readers will be enraptured by the garden theme, from the labor and artistic expression involved in the women's craftsmanship to the therapeutic power of nature's beauty. Like gardens themselves, these pages invite lingering and thoughtful reflection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2020

When landscaper Emma Lovell takes on the project of restoring the gardens at Highbury House, designed in 1907 by famed garden designer Venetia Smith, she little expects to become embroiled in a mystery spanning several generations. The place exerts a pull on her, as it did on the women who came to the garden before her: ambitious Venetia, who is changed by the gardens and the residents of the Warwickshire town; Diana Symonds, widowed mistress of Highbury during World War II, when her home is requisitioned as a convalescent home for wounded soldiers; Stella Adderton, reluctant cook at Highbury House, who dreams of escape; and land girl and artist Beth Pedley, who joins forces with Stella and Diana when the garden is threatened. Emma discovers multiple stories of love, heartbreak, and ambition, all revolving around the gardens she is restoring as she slowly uncovers the majesty of the gardens and their secrets. VERDICT Kelly's (Whispers of War) decades-spanning story will appeal to gardeners and lovers of Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs, though readers may find that the shortness of the chapters in each character's voice detracts from rather than adds to the narrative tension.--Cynthia Johnson, formerly with Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 14, 2020
Three women across time are connected by a garden in Kelly’s enjoyable and richly detailed latest (after The Whispers of War). In 1907, Venetia Smith is hired to design elaborate gardens for the Highbury House estate in Warwickshire. In 1944, Beth Pedley works there as a land girl. For both women, the gardens become scenes of loss and grief, tragedies that are hidden until landscaper Emma Lovett reconstructs the history of the grounds while restoring them in 2021. Venetia falls in love with a young botanist while renovating the garden, and after she becomes pregnant, the career she had worked for and the life she hoped to build are threatened by his controlling sister. Later, as WWII envelops Britain and Highbury House is turned into a hospital, Beth’s tense relationship with the house mistress, Diana Symonds, becomes a shared dedication to protect the gardens from the ravages of war. While much of the narrative is given over to describing the design and work of gardening, Kelly balances Emma’s detective work reviewing papers and records found in the house with Venetia’s slow-burn tragedy and the twist that defines Beth’s relationship to the gardens. Kelly easily delivers everything her fans will expect.