REVIEW: THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN BY KATE MORTON

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Paperback: 560 pages

Publisher: Washington Square Press; Reprint edition (Feb 16 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1416550550

First I would like to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Anneliese from Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me a copy of this georgous book!

This was my first Kate Morton novel and I will say that it will not be my last.  This book is a lush telling of a little girl who is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913.  All she has in her possession when she arrives is a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a book - a book of fairytales.  She is found by the kindly dockmaster and his wife and they raise her as their own daughter.  On her 21st birthday Nell is told about how she was found, and with only vague memories of her past she sets off on a quest to find her true identity.  Her journey leads her all the way to the Blackhurst manor in England, the lavish home of the Mountrachet family.  Each corner digs the mystery deeper, and not until her granddaughter takes up the task after Nell's death is the puzzle finally solved. 

This tale is so rich and beautifully woven together, there is no other way to describe it!  I personally happen to love historical fiction, and also stories that interweave the past with the present.  Along with Nell and Cassandra escavating Nell's past, are two other parts of the puzzle.  One is of the woman known as The Authoress, Eliza, when she was a child and how she fits into Nell's life story.  You will find yourself not predicting the outcome, but being gently led along the path to uncover the clues along with the characters.  The setting is fertile and breathtaking what with all of the ocean breezes, misty mornings and the seaside cliff cottage.

This book could easily have gotten waaaay to complicated with all of the jumping around in time and the perspective changing from one person to the next, but it didn't .  I don't know HOW Kate manages to keep it all straight and beautifully unfolding the narrative bit by bit without confusing us, but she DOES.  I was constantly astounded at her skill as a writer.  Every once and a while I would come across a passage and think, "And there it is."  a detail brought up that was important to the overall outcome but was afraid that it would have been forgotten or not brought up again.

BRAVA!  To Miss Morton!  I cannot WAIT to dive into my ARC of The Distant Hours, and will hopefully be doing a giveaway of it at the time of my review.  I believe it is being released on November 9th so watch for it then!

RATING:  5/5

MAILBOX MONDAY - ARC BY KATE MORTON!!! WOOT!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly bookish meme created by Marcia over at The Printed Page, but this month is being hosted by Kathy over at Bermudaonion!

Today I actually DID get a book in the mail!  I am super excited to be given an ARC of Kate Morton's latest book The Distant Hours.  I am currently reading The Forgotten Garden, which I am LOVING, and I can't WAIT to dive into this one!  THANK YOU to Anneliese from Simon and Schuster Canada for sending me this georgous book!

Here is the blurb from Amazon.com:

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WW II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941.



Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.

Isn't the cover GEORGOUS??!!!  Her covers are always beautiful, though.  Just look at The Forgotten Garden.
ANYway, The Distant Hours is available in stores November 9th, and I will have my review up a few days before then! 

What was in YOUR mailbox??

For more Mailbox Monday delights click here.

TEASER TUESDAY - CLOCKWORK ANGEL... again.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading and ANYONE CAN PLAY ALONG!

• grab your current read
• flip to a random page
• select 2 teaser sentences from anywhere on that page
• TRY NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  (Or you will recieve 50 lashes with a wet noodle.. I'm just sayin'.)
• Please do include the name of the book and the author.

My teaser is from The Clockword Angel by Cassandra Clare.  I am ALMOST done this book, and I have to admit I do NOT want it to end!  In fact I was plowing through it and then I purposefully slowed down to savour every word.  I LOVE it.  I can't believe I have to wait AN ENTIRE YEAR for the next one!  Sigh.  At least she doesn't pull a "Gabaldon" and make us wait for 3 or 4 YEARS until the next installment.  The next book on my roster is to finish The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.  I actually was loving it but then somehow life got busy and I put it down a few months ago.  I am getting the ARC for her next one called The Distant Hours, so I thought I should get the first one done and review it like I was supposed to!

ANYway, without further adieu:

"You are not a monster," said Jem.  "Or a coward.  On the contrary, I was quite impressed by the way you shot at de Quincey.  You would almost certainly have killed him if there'd been any more bullets in the gun."





For more teasers click here...