BOOK REVIEW: The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans

Nightingale House, 1919. Liddy Horner discovers her husband, the world-famous artist Sir Edward Horner, burning his best-known painting The Garden of Lost and Found days before his sudden death.
Nightingale House was the Horner family's beloved home- a gem of design created to inspire happiness- and it was here Ned painted The Garden of Lost and Found, capturing his children on a perfect day, playing in the rambling Eden he and Liddy made for them.
One magical moment before it all came tumbling down...
When Ned and Liddy's great-granddaughter Juliet is sent the key to Nightingale House, she opens the door onto a forgotten world. The house holds its mysteries close but she is in search of answers. For who would choose to destroy what they love most?
Whether Ned's masterpiece or, in Juliet's case, her own childhood happiness?
Something shattered this corner of paradise.
But what?

Publisher: Headline Review

Pages: 496

The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans is a beautifully written book. I read it on holiday and was so sad to reach the end.
The whole book centres round Nightingale House and the Horner family. In 1919 Liddy finds her husband, the world-famous painter Ned Horner burning his work, including his masterpiece The Garden of Lost and Found which depicted both his wife and their two children Eliza and John. The Horners have endured much success but also great tragedy and the burning of the painting is spoken about all over the world.
Many years later, Ned and Liddy's great-granddaughter, Juliet, comes to live in Nightingale House, the house she vividly remembers from her childhood when visiting her grandmother Stella. Juliet is going through a messy divorce and the house is a new start for her and her three children, Bea, Isla and Sandy. Juliet is a well-known art-historian and she still cannot believe that her great-grandfather would have burnt his painting as she knows what it meant to him. But if he didn't burn it then what became of it?
I could not find fault with this book, the story and characters were wonderful, the setting of Nightingale House was beautifully vivid and I loved all of the rich details that Harriet Evans wove into the story.
The Horner family are fascinating and I loved learning the stories and secrets of all the different members. Evans ties the different strands together so well and I enjoyed all aspects of the story. My favourite part of the book was the actual house. Evans' descriptions are wonderful and it didn't take long for me to be able to clearly picture it in my mind as though I could walk from room to room.
I urge you to read The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans and I cannot wait to read it again in the future.

BOOK REVIEW: The Wildflowers by Harriet Evans

Tiny and Althea Wilde. Glamorous, argumentative... adulterous to the core.
They were my parents, actors known by everyone. They gave our lives love and colour in a house by the sea- the house that sheltered my orphaned father when he was a boy.
But the summer Mads arrived changed everything. She too had been abandoned and my father understood why. We Wildflowers took her in.
My father was my hero, he gave us a golden childhood, but the past was always going to catch up with him... it comes for us all sooner or later.
This is my story. I am Cordelia Wilde. A singer without a voice. A daughter without a father. Let me take you inside.

Publisher: Headline Review

Pages: 512

I am so glad that I took this book on holiday as it is wonderful. At 512 pages, it is a book that you can completely immerse yourself in. The story of the Wildes is compelling, gripping and perfectly executed by Harriet Evans.
The book has a feel of a saga, it covers Tony Wilde's childhood, his children, Cordelia and Ben's childhood and continues right up to the present where Ben's twin daughters are growing up. Tony and Althea Wilde are both beautiful and intriguing characters, imagine the glamour of the older generation of actors (Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier etc). They both have so much to give yet they are both quite selfish as they focus on their careers and the adoration they crave.
Cordelia and Ben in many ways have had an idyllic childhood, they have spent their summers at ;the Bosky', the beachfront home their father inherited from his great aunt, Dinah. Their father's adulterous ways have a devastating effect on both of them, his choices effectively tear the family apart. Cordelia and Ben keep secrets from each other in an effort to protect one another but the consequences for both are awful. Add to this mix, Mads, a young girl who also spends her summers at the Bosky. She is drawn to this enigmatic family, wanting more than anything to be part of it but she has no idea just how complicated and dangerous that will be.
Tony Wilde is an enigma to many, one of the finest actors of his generation, he has everything, the career, the beautiful wife, the doting children- yet he risks it all by sleeping around. Only Althea truly understands him; she knows what he experienced as a child of the war and why he behaves as he does. She just had no idea the effect this would have on her own children and now she only has limited time left to put things right.
I really did love this book, Harriet Evans effortlessly moves from one time period to another. I was so impressed by how she presented the devastating effects of the war.
The Widlflowers is beautifully written, I can highly recommend this and all of Harriet Evans' previous books.

Book Review: I Remember You by Harriet Evans

I am a big fan of Harriet Evans' books so it was no surprise that this one made its way into my shopping basket.
Tess Tennant is leaving London after a failed relationship. She decides to head home to picturesque Langford (I pictured Cranford when reading it), she has a new job teaching Classics at the private college and is looking forward to the familiarity that she left behind. Tess is extremely excited about seeing Adam on her return to Langford, he is her best friend, they grew up together and share many secrets. Langford is not exactly how Tess remembered; the residents are a lot older, the village is in uproar about plans to build on their famed water meadows and Adam, although welcoming, is quite busy with his new girlfriend.
Tess soon becomes stuck in a bit of a rut and is becoming old before her time. She takes her students on a week long trip to Rome which changes everything. She meets an American who literally sweeps her off her feet and they make the most of the romantic, ancient city. However, the holiday comes to a rather shocking end with a discovery that Tess in no way was expecting. Upon her return to Langford, Tess has to decide what she wants and who she really is.
This book was a lovely and very comforting read. Langford proved to be a brilliant setting, whilst it's lovely for Tess to return to her childhood home, it is also very different for her to view it through adult eyes. I enjoyed the relationship between her and Adam; Harriet Evans slowly reveals the events from their past, there's a number of surprises along the way that leave you wanting to know more.
Rome is my favourite city so this was my favourite part of the book. It is described so well, it almost felt as though the reader gets a little holiday during these chapters as we follow Tess on her adventures with her new man.
I Remember You deals with friendship, loss, love, loyalty and many, many secrets. I would highly recommend this book and I can't wait for Harriet Evans' next one.

New to Dot Scribbles Shelves

I am having a really good bout of reading at the moment, enjoying everything! I have bought a couple of books this week:

I Remember You by Harriet Evans (Harper) Heartbroken Tess Tennant is fleeing London for a fresh start. She's dreaming of familiar faces, picture-perfect cottages and Adam, her best friend since childhood. But Langford, a lovely slice of Jane Austen country, is at war over a scheme to build on a local water meadow and Adam is too wrapped up with a new girlfriend to tend to Tess's bruised heart.
A trip to Rome promises a respite and when a mysterious stranger whisks Tess into a dream of Italian moonlight and Prosecco, she's ready to be reckless. But her magical holiday ends with a shocking discovery and Tess finds herself back home- and in a tangled mess of friendships and feelings.
She must decide once and for all where she belongs and with whom...

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada (Penguin) Otto, an ordinary German living in a shabby apartment block, tries to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when he discovers his only son has been killed fighting at the front he's shocked into an extraordinary act of resistance, and starts to drop anonymous postcards attacking Hitler across the city. If caught he will be executed.
Soon this silent campaign  comes to the attention of ambitious Gestapo inspector Escherich, and a murderous game of cat-and-mouse begins. Whoever loses, pays with their life.

I have been sent one book to review this week and it looks brilliant:

Pastworld by Ian Beck (Bloomsbury- July 5th 2010) To Eve, a lifelong resident of PASTWORLD, horse-drawn carriages and gas lamps are modern technology. Eve doesn't even know she's living in a simulation- until she is forced to flee the only home she has ever known, and to confront the truth about her city and herself.
To Caleb, a tourist visiting PASTWORLD. the theme park is the perfect antidote to the stifling conformity and regulation of 2048. Until he finds himself at the scene of a murder, holding the knife, and suddenly becomes a fugitive from an antiquated justice system.
And in the midst of it all, a dark and deadly figure prowls, claiming victim after victim. He's the Fantom, a creature both of the past and of the future, in whose dark purpose Caleb and Eve will find their destinies combined.

Bloomsbury kindly sent me the following link to the  book trailer for PASTWORLD which is very atmospheric, I'm really looking forward to reading this one:

PASTWORLD Book Trailer