BOOK REVIEW: The Rose Garden by Marita Conlon-McKenna

Molly's perfect life comes crashing down following the unexpected death of her husband David. With her hopes for happiness in a heap and an old Irish country house to maintain, Molly has no idea how she will survive. As a search for a buyer begins Molly becomes drawn to the restoration of the long neglected and overgrown walled rose garden...
Working in Cassidy's Cafe, Gina dreams of having a place of her own. When Norah Cassidy gets ill she is soon full of plans to take over Kilfinn's much loved village cafe, but Norah's family have other ideas.
When Kim suddenly finds herself heartbroken and homeless, her Aunt Molly's invitation to come and stay with her seems to good to refuse. Maybe a move to the country is exactly what she needs.
Molly, Kim and Gina each look for a new beginning and just as the first rosebuds begin to appear in her garden, Molly begins to accept the green shoots of a new life...

Publisher: Transworld

Pages: 464

Marita Conlon McKenna is a new author to me but I very much enjoyed her latest book The Rose Garden. This author has written nine other books which is very exciting as it means I have lots to add to my TBR pile. When you google this author, names such as Maeve Bincy and Cathy Kelly pop up but I felt that Marita was not as twee, her book had a more modern feel to it.
The Rose Garden is about new beginnings and a big old house, two of my favourite things in a book. Molly bought Mossbawn with her husband David; the big Georgian house was intended to be a beautiful family home for them to raise their two daughters in and then potter about in their retirement. But now Molly is facing an unexpected future without David, how is she going to keep hold of the house and should she really stay now she is on her own?
Kim is Molly's niece and they have always had a strong bond, When Molly invites her to stay, she jumps at the chance. Having recently lost
her home, her job and her boyfriend, Kim is in desperate need of a fresh start. Once settled in, Kim can clearly see that Molly is in trouble; she doesn't want her aunt to lose her beautiful home and sets about doing all she can to help.
Gina lives in the same small-knit community as Molly. She has worked at Cassidy's Cafe for years but when her boss is taken ill, her future and job are in jeapordy.
All three women have encountered huge changes in their circumstances and are brought together for different reasons but hopefully for all of them, they can start planning a brighter future.
The characters in this book were just lovely, the author linked the three women but I felt as though they each had their own strong, independent storyline which kept you interested throughout.
The Rose Garden was a very gentle ad lovely read, I fell in love with Mossbawn and could clearly picture the house in all its charm. It's so lovely to have found yet another author to enjoy, I highly recommend The Rose Garden, Marita Conlan-McKenna is a real talent.

Many thanks to Transworld for sending me a copy of this book to review, The Rose Garden is out now.