The Forgotten Garden, despite being nearly 700 pages long, is a brilliant, don’t-want-to-put-down kind of book.
The book flicks between 1913, 1975 and 2005, and travels between Austrilia, London and the west country. I don’t usually enjoy books that flick between different eras, and the reason I only gave 4 out of 5, is at times the jumping back and forth does get slightly ropy, however aside from the small flaws it is enjoyable.
The book contains a nice mix of characters, however the main character Cassandra, who to her surprise inherits Cliff Cottage following her grandmother’s death, I couldn’t warm too. For some reason, I found her a slightly unlikeable character.
Cliff Cottage sits within the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, which is notorious with the local villagers for the secrets contained within it’s walls about the doomed Mountrachet family.
The cottage has been abandoned for years, and in the cottage’s forgotten garden, Cassandra unearths the truth about the family, and why her grandmother Nell was found abandoned in Austrilia in 1913, after a gruelling sailing from England. The only thing that Nell remembered from that time was a mystery woman she knew as the Authoress, who had promised to look after her before she vanished without a trace.
In 1975, we read about Nell, then an old woman, travelling back to England and being lead to Cornwall, were she discovers the Blackhurst Manor and estate, owned by the Mountrachet family.
This is the first book by Kate Morton that I have read, and has lead me to discover her first book,The House at Riverton.
I highly recommend The Forgotten Garden, it is a perfect summer read.
