The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
This book was different from some I usually read, but it was a mystery and that is all I need to entertain me!
Synopsis:
A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, "Nell" sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery, The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.
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I liked this book for several reasons, but I also did not like it for many more reasons. Yet, I would recommend it if you like a good mystery.
This book had me going until the very end, it had a lot of twists and turns along the way. I have a habit of knowing where a book or movie is going right from the get-go and that usually turns me off, but this one was intriguing that way because when I thought I had the answer, I was a bit wrong. This book goes back to Victorian England which is something I love, a time I love anyway, and again it was a mystery.
What I didn't like is Kate's way of writing, full of fluffy and sometimes complicated words/sentences, but that can be ignored. What bothered me was the back and forth between 4 different times in these people's lives, and writing in the third person for all of them. (but then my mom loved this back and forth, so maybe it was just me?) Made it hard to grasp it all at first, and then it made it hard to love the characters. But, what bugged me the most was the characters who are all suppose to be strong women in their time, ended up being very weak minded women to me.
That and family secrets! Ugh! Can I just say I do not understand this aspect? I come from a family who wants to keep them, and I have fought it my whole life! I think not talking to each other, and keeping secrets only hurts a family in the end, so this story line really irked me. Furthermore, it bothered me that a 21 year old woman could be told she was adopted- would ruin every bit of who she was/is up to that point? So much so- she would ruin her relationships with all her family she grew up with, and ruin her life as a whole in the end. Again, this lack of communication just killed me! Not to mention my boys are adopted and we talk about it all the time, it is a part of their life, but it does not define them as a whole.
I guess I'm about living my life without regrets, without saying the dreaded words "What if?". Why live life like that? Yes, sometimes life gives us a bunch of manure, but man-take it and make fertilizer out of it, and grow something beautiful! I continue to try, so can anyone else. My life is not perfect by any means, but it is what you make it into be.
Ok, so yeah I was a little miffed by some of this story, but do not let that stop you from reading it. Overall it was a good book to get into, and really it might help you into seeing what mistakes not to make in this life? ;P Kidding.....sorta.....
3 stars
Adult, maybe YA 17+
Adult themes, some sexual content but not detailed like a romance novel, but still enough to give a 17+ rating for me.
~V
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