The Garden House: A Novel

by Marcia Willett

Overview

Marcia Willett's The Garden House is a charming and heartwarming novel about family, yearning, and long-buried secrets …

Fresh out of university and right on the precipice of adulthood, El is trying her best to figure out what it is she really wants from life. This is complicated by the fact that she is also dealing with the loss of her father, Martin. After his sudden death, El inherits and moves into his home just outside Tavistock, in the Devon countryside. Her stepbrother and sort-of friend, Will, comes to help her through her grief and to go through her father’s belongings. As El spends time in her father’s home, she uncovers more about his life, and the secrets he had been keeping from her and her family. This includes mysterious messages on his phone from someone El suspects may have been more than just a friendly acquaintance.

Julia is also mourning Martin, but for many reasons, they thought best to keep their relationship a secret. So she must now grieve entirely on her own. All she has to remember of her love are the text messages they sent to each other in their secret code, and the memories of their time spent at The Garden House: a beautiful community garden and teashop nearby. It is where they met, fell in love, and where their secret affair will inevitably be uncovered one day.

As El and Will begin to decipher the messages on Martin’s phone, and piece together her father’s long-buried secrets, they are brought closer and closer to each other, to Julia, and to a truth that is difficult for all to face.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250760265
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/17/2021
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	629,973
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Marcia Willett is the youngest of five girls. Her family was unconventional and musical, but Marcia chose to train as a ballet dancer. Unfortunately her body did not develop with the classical proportions demanded by the Royal Ballet, so she studied to be a ballet teacher. Her first husband was a naval officer in the submarine service, with whom she had a son, Charles, now married and training to be a clergyman. Her second husband, Rodney, himself a writer and broadcaster, encouraged Marcia to write novels. She has published several novels in England; A Week in Winter was the first to be published in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

06/07/2021

Willett (Starry, Starry Night) highlights how a new relationship can provide solace through grief in this enjoyable contemporary. When El’s father, Martin, dies, El inherits the Pig Pen, his country home near Tavistock, England. Though El’s mother, who divorced Martin five years ago, discourages El from moving, El, a recent university graduate, seizes the opportunity. She relocates to Tavistock, gets a job at a local bookstore, and contemplates writing a novel. When El finds her father’s phone and discovers texts still coming in from an apparent love interest she knew nothing about, she and her stepbrother and semi-friend, Will, team up to locate the mystery woman. Though El’s hurt that her father didn’t confide in her, she’s comforted by the friendships she finds with her father’s community in Tavistock—and by her growing closeness with Will. Willett’s atmospheric writing successfully conjures the idyllic English countryside while delivering multifaceted relationship dynamics and well-shaded characters. Readers will want to devour this fast-paced outing in one sitting. (Aug)

Publishers Weekly

"Readers will want to devour this fast-paced outing in one sitting." — Publishers Weekly

"True to form for Willett, this is a gentle read that cushions an unexpected intensity as it explores the depths of mourning, the limits of friendships, the mysteries of romance, and the complexities of family." — Booklist

From the Publisher

07/23/2021

This new novel from prolific British author Willett (Starry, Starry Night) is a thought-provoking story about families, generations, secrets, and love. El is 22 when her beloved father dies and she inherits his Dartmoor cottage. She's just finished university and decides to live in the isolated cottage, going against the wishes of her overbearing mother. The book introduces several perspectives across generations, including El's peacemaker brother, her father's old navy and lawyer friends, and Will, the son of her mother's new husband. Will is kind at El's father's funeral and volunteers to help with the emotionally draining task of clearing out her father's clothes. El can't seem to think of him as a stepbrother, as they never lived together, and she comes to rely on him when she discovers mysterious coded texts on her father's phone. El and Will work to find the identity of the mystery texter, which stirs up secrets and undercurrents, as well as their growing romance. VERDICT For readers who will enjoy an emotionally complex story that asks the question: Who across the generations has the right to find love and be happy?—Jan Marry, Heritage P.L., New Kent & Charles City, VA

Library Journal