A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. 

The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton.

Cassandra is lost, alone and grieving. Her much loved grandmother, Nell, has just died and Cassandra, her life already shaken by a tragic accident ten years ago, feels like she has lost everything dear to her. But an unexpected and mysterious bequest from Nell turns Cassandra’s life upside down and ends up challenging everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

Inheriting a book of dark and intriguing fairytales written by Eliza Makepeace—the Victorian authoress who disappeared mysteriously in the early twentieth century—Cassandra takes her courage in both hands to follow in the footsteps of Nell on a quest to find out the truth about their history, their family and their past; little knowing that in the process, she will also discover a new life for herself.

My Review

I signed up for this as an audio book on Borrowbox. It’s 20 hours long – which is huge – I can see it’s six hours and 48 mins as a physical book. I had to renew it after 15 days, but then when I tried to renew it a second time, I saw I couldn’t and only had three days to go before it expired and five hours left to read.

I’m a fast reader so it was a bit frustrating. It’s a wonderful book though and is really three separate stories which come together throughout the book.

Nell is the little girl left on a ship to Australia. She is told to wait for the ‘authoress’ who never comes back. It’s not until she is 21 that she discovers she was ‘adopted’.

Eliza Makepeace is the ‘authoress’. She’s probably my favourite character. She writes dark fairy tales which are published in a book with illustrations. A couple of the chapters are the actual tales from the book. My most hated character is Rose’s mother Adeline. She’s horrendous, especially her treatment of Eliza. She’s a social climber and a snob of the worst kind, and married to creepy Linus who appears to have been in love with his own sister.

Cassandra is Nell’s granddaughter. Abandoned by her mother when she’s very young, Nell brings her up and they adore each other. Her adult life is filled with tragedy, but when she inherits a cottage in Cornwall after Nell dies, her life changes forever.

There’s not much point in me retelling the story as it’s been done over and over, so suffice to say that I adored the book, but probably wish I had read it rather than listened. Only because of the length – the narration was good.

I do have one criticism of the narration though. The Cornish accent is very strange – almost more like Irish – I live in Gloucestershire and the accent moves and changes as you go South, but it’s still similar. It was a bit grating sometimes.

About the Author

KATE MORTON is an award-winning, New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author. Her novels – The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours, The Secret Keeper, The Lake House, The Clockmaker’s Daughter, and Homecoming – are published in over 45 countries, in 38 languages, and have all been number one bestsellers around the world.

Kate Morton was born in South Australia, grew up in the mountains of south-east Queensland, and now lives with her family in London and Australia. She has degrees in dramatic art and English literature, and harboured dreams of joining the Royal Shakespeare Company until she realised that it was words she loved more than performing. Kate still feels a pang of longing each time she goes to the theatre and the house lights dim.

“I fell deeply in love with books as a child and believe that reading is freedom; that to read is to live a thousand lives in one; that fiction is a magical conversation between two people – you and me – in which our minds meet across time and space. I love books that conjure a world around me, bringing their characters and settings to life, so that the real world disappears and all that matters, from beginning to end, is turning one more page.”

You can find more information about Kate Morton and her books at https://www.katemorton.com or connect on http://www.facebook.com/KateMortonAuthor or instagram.com/katemortonauthor/

To stay up-to-date on Kate’s books and events, join her mailing list here: https://www.katemorton.com/mailing-list/