Author: Kate Morton
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton is an ode to remarkable and skillful story writing, with layers of magic intricately woven between the pages of the book. The plot is centered around the life of a small girl who is found abandoned in a ship heading to Australia, this novel is about “her past, her future and her family”.
A small suitcase and a book of fairy tales are her sole belongings and a freak accident has wiped out her memory. The kind dockmaster and his wife, raise her as their own child, they name her Nell. On her 21st birthday, the dockmaster, with a freak sense of righteousness, reveals the truth to her. Nell finds herself destitute, helpless and pitiful. With a strong determination to find her past, she digs through her past belongings and starts reading the book of dark fairy tales. The book leads her to London and then to BlackHurst Manor , which belongs to an aristocratic family. Death knocks upon her door before she is able to reveal the mystery of her birth. It’s not until her granddaughter Cassandra takes up matters in her hand, is the mystery fully unveiled. Cassandra traces her grand mother’s footsteps and they lead her to a beautiful ,yet forgotten Garden in a mysterious cottage on the grounds of BlackHurst Manor. Can Cassandra tie her grand mother’s past , the book of fairy tales and the Forgotten Garden together and solve the mystery? As Cassandra travels to BlackHurst Manor, she is also plunging into another journey, unawares- a path to her own self discovery, battling her inner demons, overcome her personal loss, and embrace the uncertain future with open arms.
This book is a beautiful piece of literature, such prolific writing is very hard to find nowadays. The narration happens through the perspectives of three different protagonists, three women from three different generations, each on their own personal inner and outer voyage.
The only drawback of this book is it’s length. I could figure out the mystery by the time I was through with 60% of the book, thus making the ending very predictable. If it were shorter, the plot could have been more gripping and tight till the very end.
However, the book seems to have been written keeping a television or a big screen adaptation in mind. Each setting is so artistically described and filled with vivid and sensory details. The Forgotten Garden is as magical as Neverland, and we wish Tinker Bell will sprinkle some fairy dust on us too, to give us a glimpse of this beautiful magical place. I would strongly recommend this book to any avid reader who is willing to appreciate the magical spell of words. Some books simply put are pieces of art, this is one of them.
My Rating : 👍👍👍👍
