The Heirloom Garden: A Novel

by Viola Shipman

Overview

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Summer Cottage

In her inimitable style, Viola Shipman explores the unlikely relationship between two very different women brought together by the pain of war, but bonded by hope, purpose…and flowers.

Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to illness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.

When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.

With delightful illustrations and fascinating detail, Viola Shipman’s heartwarming story will charm readers while resonating with issues that are so relevant today

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781525804618
Publisher:	Graydon House Books
Publication date:	04/28/2020
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	34,962
Product dimensions:	5.33(w) x 7.97(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

Wade Rouse is a popular award-winning memoirist and internationally bestselling author of twelve books, which have been translated into twenty languages and selected as Today show Must-Reads, Indie Next Picks and Michigan Notable Books. Rouse writes fiction under his grandma’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms inspire his writing. He lives in Michigan and California, and hosts Wine & Words with Wade, A Literary Happy Hour, every Thursday.

Editorial Reviews

02/17/2020

The emotional scars left by war unite two women, generations apart, in Shipman’s sentimental family saga (after The Summer Cottage). The novel opens in 1944 with Iris Maynard working in a community garden in Grand Haven, Mich., where she receives news that her husband has been killed in WWII. Iris, a botanist, becomes a recluse and hides behind a high fence for six decades as she cultivates a garden with seeds and cuttings from her grandmother’s and mother’s gardens. Iris’s story alternates with one set in 2003, when 30-something Abby Peterson and her family—her young daughter, Lily, and husband, Cory, who endures PTSD from combat duty in Iraq—move next door to Iris. After Iris accepts help from Abby, and Cory helps Iris with her gardening, their friendship eases Iris’s loneliness and the tension in the couple’s marriage. When the fence dividing the neighbors’ property comes down in a storm, it is a pivotal turning point in all of their lives. An abundance of floral prose (“The daisies remind you to be happy... And the roses... oh, the roses!—they prove that beauty is always present even amongst the thorns”) is offset by poignant descriptions of the characters’ inner struggles. Shipman’s tale successfully captures these women’s resilience and their hopeful desire for new beginnings. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"The emotional scars left by war unite two women, generations apart, in Shipman’s sentimental family saga…Shipman’s tale successfully captures these women’s resilience and their hopeful desire for new beginnings.”—Publishers Weekly

“The likable women and the engaging information on flowers will appeal to readers of Rhys Bowen's The Victory Garden (2019) and fans of Mary Alice Monroe and Lorna Landvik.” —Booklist

“Shipman patiently and gently unearths the deeply flawed characters’ sorrows and reveals the delicate buds of happiness that eventually blossom.” —BookPage

From the Publisher