Small Eden

by Jane Davis, Emma Spurgin-Hussey (Narrator)

Sharing secrets makes two people closer, but hiding them, that's a whole other story. It's 1884. Robert Cooke and his pregnant wife Freya tragically lose their two sons to scarlet fever. Freya immediately isolates herself for the safety of their unborn child. Cut off from each other, there is no opportunity for husband and wife to share the burden of their loss. By the time they meet again, the subject is taboo and their unspoken grief becomes a dangerous enemy. A decade later and now a successful businessman, Robert decides to create a pleasure garden in memory of his sons. But instead of sharing his vision with his wife, he widens the gulf between them by keeping her in the dark. It is another woman who understands his heart: The eccentric and exceedingly talented artist Florence Hoddy, who lives alone with her unmarried brother.

Listening length: 10 hours, 55 minutes

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical

11 pages, Audiobook

Published January 1, 2023

About the author

Hailed by The Bookseller as 'One to Watch', Jane Davis writes thought-provoking page-turners, exploring a diverse range of subjects, from pioneering female photographers to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster. Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they're in highly volatile situations and then, in her words, throws them to the lions. Expect complex relationships, meaty moral dilemmas and a scattering of dark family secrets!

Her first novel, 'Half-Truths and White Lies', won a national award established by Transworld with the aim of finding the next Joanne Harris. Further recognition followed in 2016 with 'An Unknown Woman' being named Writing Magazine's Self-Published Book of the Year as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards. In 2019 'Smash all the Windows', won the inaugural Selfies Book Award. Her novel, 'At the Stroke of Nine O'Clock' was featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s and was a Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice.

Jane lives in Surrey, in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure garden, known locally as 'the gingerbread house'. Her house frequently crops up in her fiction. In fact, she burnt it to the ground in the opening chapter of 'An Unknown Woman'. Her latest release, 'Small Eden', is a fictionalized account of why one man chose to open a small-scale pleasure garden at a time when London's great pleasure gardens were facing bankruptcy.

When she isn't writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand.

Find out more about Jane at:
Website:jane-davis.co.uk
Get a FREEcopy of her time-slip, photography-themed eBook, I Stopped Time, when you signup to her mailing list at jane-davis.co.uk/newsletter

Reviews

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sometimes writing means bearing witness to a rapidly receding way of life. Sometimes it means resurrecting a piece of the past..."
-Jane Davis

Victorian England was "on the cusp of change...". The invention of the steam engine swiftly modified the rural, agricultural life style. London's industrialization expanded outward to Carshalton where Robert Cooke was raised. He recounted days spent at the old chalk pit. The chalk pit and the railway, now side by side. Robert sought sanctuary beneath the alder and ash trees, the trees that would become his "shadow sons" at the "Pleasure Garden" to be erected in memory of his two infant sons. He dreamt of them playing in a garden built upon his purchased chalk pit. His vision was not shared with his wife, Freya, nor with his mother, Hettie. Hettie was ever fearful of Robert's "itch" for adventure.

Robert Cooke was a successful businessman specializing in medicinal plants, most particularly white opium poppies. Agricultural workers from Carshalton, and its environs, harvested his poppies, lavender and watercress. There was no shortage of working poor laborers at his poppy fields in nearby Mitcham, three miles from Carshalton. Often leaving his overseer in charge, Robert immersed himself in the creation of the pleasure gardens, "a Small Eden...not a place from which people are cast out, but where they are welcomed."

Robert and Freya thought it taboo to even mention their sons' names. To Robert, daughters Estelle and Ida, were furthest from his mind. "They are destined to become "The Angel in the Home...we, the future wives and mothers of England...".

Generations of the Reynolds family had owned the land that included the chalk pit. Frank Reynolds and his two sons, skilled in working with chalk, were hired to prepare the land that Robert purchased. Onward to a competition to design the buildings and nature trails, the aviary, the ticket cottage. The winning blueprints were rendered by a young woman, Florence Hoddy. Florence's drawings encapsulated Robert's vision to perfection. She became the rock upon which her "extended, albeit make-shift family" would come to depend on.

Change occurs in cycles. Businesses ebb and flow. Loss and grief, redemption and hope are the fabric of life. Take Hettie's journey to Scotland to reclaim "a sense of her father's faint imprint. The trace he left by walking himself into the landscape". "Small Eden" by Jane Davis is a beautifully penned literary novel inspired by her house in Carshalton, Surrey, "in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure gardens...a Mr. E. Cooke...opened at the turn of the century." The powerful ending just blew this reader away! Highly recommended.

Thank you Jane Davis for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Rosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever had the experience when you tell a friend that you loved a book, your friend wants to know what it’s about, and you just go, “Well… uhmmm.. Errr….”? That’s going to be me in this review. I am going to try my best to describe the book but I have no idea where to begin!

Now that you are forewarned, let me attempt a synopsis.

Story:

A small prologue set in 1884 gives us the background of Robert who mistakes the symptoms of scarlet fever in his two toddler sons as signs of teething. When the illness is discovered, his pregnant wife Freya is forced to go into isolation with their four year old girl. But it is too late.
Moving back to 1870. Eight year old Robert is filled with the “itch” of adventure, much to the dismay of his mother Hettie. She does her best to get him to toe the line as she has seen how a family can be destroyed because of adventurous pursuits.
Both these past events set the tone for the main story, which will now proceed in linear order from 1890. A decade after the death of his sons, Robert is a successful businessman in the field of opium production. He decides to construct a ‘pleasure garden’ in their honour, but he never reveals this reason to his wife Freya, who is trying her best to make sure her daughters get the best future through successful marriages.
How this pleasure garden comes into being, functions and affects the lives of all people involved with it forms the rest of the novel.

A literary fiction’s greatest strengths are its writing and its characters. Both are exceptional in this book. Jane’s writing prowess had already made me a fan when I had read ‘A Funeral for an Owl’. This book depicts the same firm control over her pen – excellent descriptions, thought-provoking lines, well-developed characters, superior plot control. Take this line for example: “You don't simply grieve for the person who's gone, but for things that might have been.” Straightforward, yet so true.

If you love character-oriented books, you will certainly enjoy the range of characters in this one. Robert, a man with a head full of dreams that he doesn’t want to share with his wife. Freya, who refuses to even take the names of her dead sons and has bound away her grief. Robert’s mother Hettie, who seems to have lost her marbles in her old age by going off on a trek to Scotland. The Reynolds family (Frank and his wife, and their two sons John and Gerrard), who work at the pleasure gardens but each has their own secret agenda. The Hoddy siblings (Oswald and Florence) whose commitment to each other allows them to overcome various problems but not all. Each of these characters gets a strong page space and despite the number of characters, there’s no confusion about who is who. Their distinct personality shines through! Most of the characters can’t be slotted into clear ‘good’ or ‘bad’ categories – this layered character development always works better in such fiction.

I had no idea what pleasure gardens were, so to get a glimpse into them was an enlightening exercise. The author captures well Robert’s single-minded focus on his garden, sometimes at the cost of the other people and commitments in his life. The attention to historical detail also comes out in every chapter. Right from people’s clothing to habits, to life in the 1800s, to the rise and fall of pleasure gardens, to the political and religious upheavals because of opium production, it does not feel like you are reading a historical story but living it.

It goes without saying that with so many characters and an overarching plot, this isn’t an easy read. It is slow, there is no effortless plot progress, there’s no central event around which the story is built. At various points in the book, I felt like asking the author, “Where are you going with this?” But trust me, it all comes together beautifully.

I would definitely recommend this book to those who love literary fiction with well-developed but complicated characters and a great slice of history. Not recommended to those who like quick reads (at almost 400 pages, this book requires a lot of patience) or plot-oriented rather than character-oriented fiction.

I kept swinging between 3.75 stars (when the writing seemed to get too slow or when I was lost about where things were going) to 4.5 (when the emotions and the characters blended into one heck of a touching reading experience.) So I will just go with the average of the two ratings, though the well-tied ending tempts me to go higher.

4.1 stars.

My thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, Rossdale Print Productions, and NetGalley for the DRC of “Small Eden”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.


PS: If you are fond of reading back stories about novels, the author has an interesting blog article on how she “discovered” the people on the cover. (Yup, they are photos of actual people from the 1800s!!!) This is another sign of her eye for authentic detail. You can read the article here: https://jane-davis.co.uk/2022/03/24/s...

There are a couple more blog posts on her site about various elements of this book, such as her decision to make Robert an opium gardener, the concept of pleasure gardens, and the history behind parakeets (whom Robert “imports” for his garden. I enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes of a book.





***********************
Join me on the Facebook group, Readers Forever! , for more reviews, book-related discussions and fun.

[Christine Cazeneuve · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very different story regarding the Pleasure Gardens that were popular in London primarily during the 17th and 18th centuries. This story revolves around a man who creates a garden in honor of his two sons who died young. The story takes you through the family's life and spares no sympathies. In addition to their family, you will come to know the "gardens" family and how they all intersect. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Trevor Stubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 'Small Eden', we have a work of art carefully crafted with grand vistas and intricate brushstrokes. Jane Davis takes us on a fascinating tour of the late Victorian era as London expands, turning villages and fields into suburbs with all its implications for people and nature.
A visionary entrepreneur engages a family with skill and energy and an artist with imagination to create a pleasure garden on the site of a disused chalk pit. Davis captures the cultural atmosphere of the period and we are treated to a collection of real characters who develop true to the life of the times – none of them a perfect hero or heroine. What differentiates them is their ability to perceive the spirit that underlays nature and relationships; over a period of twenty-five years some understand and grow while others languish in their artificial worlds where money and status rule the day. Here we have business, industrial ‘progress’ and social ambition set alongside the artistry and romance of the nineteenth century fin de siècle. We witness the struggle between the straight-laced and the liberated. The emerging female liberation, the impact of empire and a plethora of other issues from this celebrated period of British history are beautifully portrayed.
Small Eden is a work to get immersed in – one to revisit and savour. I have read this as an e-book but will definitely get a paper copy for my next reading.

[Polly Krize · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Creating a pleasure garden in memorial to his sons' passing from scarlet fever, a man finds himself unable to communicate with his wife over this horrible loss. Late 1800s London is beautifully described in this well written novel.

[Denny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane Davis has a remarkable skill with words. Just as a great artist can create a masterpiece with a few strokes of the brush, Miss Davis’ characters seem to grow and take form effortlessly.

Her dedication to understanding the historical settings of her novels, the evolution of her characters and the way she shares her curiosity with the reader is pure joy. This is no rambling story, it is a carefully crafted tapestry of the times and how it felt to live then. Britain has been built on and sustained by the unwavering values of the middle class who have been constrained by the lexpectations and the opinions of those presumed to matter, by way of wealth or ancestry. Never mind the eccentric or perverted behaviour of the upper classes or the cruelty of the poverty of the lower classes. It was accepted that the working man drank himself senseless at the expense of his wife and children who were lucky if they were not beaten as well as starved.

Was Robert a good man? He invested heavily in opium knowing that it was used to keep quiet and asleep the children of the women he employed, ruthlessly traded by the British government in a China that did not want it, and exploited by pharmacists and dealers in misery. He refused to acknowledge the growing moral outrage of ordinary Brits against the trade. Yet he could not bring himself to lay off staff or reduce wages as the opium trade declined, instead selling off his Small Eden, a memorial to his dead sons. He wanted desperately, at almost any cost to his pocket or his self esteem, to climb the social ladder with his wife. He did not involve himself in their daughters’ lives yet, when it mattered, he sacrificed social standing by supporting his daughters to the detriment of himself and his wife. Was he right to do so?

This book can be read on many levels. Its easy to read. It’s a good story on its own merits and can be read and enjoyed as a simple story of one man’s dreams and of the lives of those around him. Or it can be read as a literary novel, set in an interesting time of history when fortunes had been made on the back of industry and mechanisation at the expense of unskilled labourers, women were threatening the power balances of society, social mores were beginning to be questioned, women were playing sport and Britain’s might was waning. Perhaps the parakeets were a symbol of the freedom that was sought by some and feared by others.

This is certainly not a period drama. The power of this novel comes from the characters. Florence is my favourite. She is strong and determined, she lives her life on her own terms and cares not a bit for the snobbery of the time. Ida is another strong and complex character. She is Robert’s youngest daughter, falls under the influence of Florence, and grows into a wonderful young woman. Gerard, the youngest Simon of the caretaker has a sense of justice and an unwavering sense of right and wrong that belongs to youth. Hettie is perhaps the greatest, the most pleasant surprise, showing that it is never too late, the circumstances never too confining to become your own self, even in the constraints of the Victorian era.

But it is Robert who touches everyone’s lives. He gives himself little or no credit for the good he has done, those he has moved and encouraged to become better people.

Robert reflects that “It was an act of foolishness, of youthful optimism, and for one brief, shining moment, … it was magnificent.”
He sees his dreams and all that he thought could have been. He has regrets. Yet he is so much more than his dreams.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys excellent writing and the pleasure of seeing life through the eyes of great characters.

[Davida Chazan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I swear, Davis just seems to get better and better. I hope you'll see why I loved this book from my #bookreview on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2022/04/2...

[Pattip · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I thought I would not enjoy the book, I struggled a little with the very early chapters where the antecedents of the main characters were portrayed.... and then... without realising when or how, I suddenly realised that I had been drawn in and couldn't put the book down. Robert and Freya lose their two boys when Robert wrongly assumes that scarlet fever is just a teething rash. Freya, heavily pregnant with a second girl is sent away to protect the baby in her womb. Thus they are unable to share their grief. It seems from then on that the boys live solely in Robert's imagination whilst the girls belong to Freya. He has the idea of creating a garden in their memory, a place where he can "see" them playing - a small eden. An artist "sees" Robert's dream and they become close, though nothing improper takes place it pushes Freya further away. A beautiful book, I was so sad when I finished it. Jane Davis has an extraordinary talent for painting a picture with words, so that you are drawn into the exotic wonder of the garden. In short, I loved it!

[Dawn Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fabulously absorbing and convincing novel from Jane Davis.
A wonderful sense of place and time, with fully rounded characters, I'm taking it on holiday with me for a second reading.

[Peter Snell · Rating 5 out of 5]

5.0 out of 5 stars The author's best book to date

Fascinating social history of pleasure gardens, the opium trade in Surrey and so much more.

The characters are well defined and developed and are utterly believable. Follow the all consuming passions to remember loved ones and enjoy a totally gripping and enjoyable story. Trust me, I was a bookseller.

[Margarita Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully evocative novel about grief, loss and the redemptive power of creation - both the art of creating and the natural world. It deftly intertwines the present and past lives of its characters, showing how the inability to communicate effectively in words leads to gulfs opening up between those who should be closest to each other. Conversely, close and fruitful relationships are found in unexpected places. The descriptions of the natural world are vivid, and the characters are drawn with a deep understanding of human nature. A book to savour.

[Jean Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars and three hankies
The opening hits hard, as Robert loses his two young sons to illness and suppresses his grief and guilt under a veneer appropriate to the stiff-upper-lip setting of Victorian England. ‘What we don’t talk about’ defines his marriage and dictates his relationship with his two daughters – at the start of the novel. The different timelines quickly come together to show numerous inter-connected people who care about each other but are at odds, and we understand why.

As well as capturing the social history of the period, Jane Davis gives a fascinating insight into the Pleasure Gardens and opium growing of Carshalton, when it was a rural village rather than an expensive London suburb. Who’d have thought! And yet, so it was.
Although Robert’s loss is at the heart of the novel, and the reader lives his feelings, my favourite character was Hettie, his mother. Named after the mountain where her mother met her father, and which killed him two years later, she dreads risks. When she heads for Scotland to face the mountain, I was rooting for her all the way, and when she comes back, changed, she is an embarrassment in ways that show up the superficial values of the kind of Christians who guard their high-ranking pew, jealously. Wonderful Hettie!
I had to know what happened and yet dreaded finding out as, like Thomas Hardy, Jane Davis shows the fatal consequences of chance and choices for her characters, people I cared deeply about. But ‘fatal’ does not always mean tragic. Fate also brings people together in love and healing, and the author never lets us guess beforehand when we will cry and when we will celebrate. I did both. The highs and lows of this novel wrung me out as much as those three hankies.
Jane Davis writes life as it is, in all its terrible beauty, not as we want it to be. Her superb story-telling reminded me that those who feel ‘the itch’, whether to climb mountains or grow prize roses or start their lives over, draw strength from those with the courage to just be there, supporting their adventurers, whatever the outcome.

[Julia Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author is able to describe scenes so that you feel you are actually there. This was a view of he struggles and difficulties of life. Enjoyed reading it, even though there were some dark times described.

[Lorraine Devon Wilke · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an ardent fan of Jane Davis’s work, I relished having another of her books to read. SMALL EDEN takes us, once again, into the realm of historical fiction, and I found the particular spark point of this story, as detailed in the author’s notes, to be utterly fascinating.

Ms. Davis explains how she and her partner came upon the vintage Rossdale cottage, fell in love with it, and, despite various impracticalities, moved in. When curiosities arose about its provenance and some of its inherent quirks, research led her to discover their cottage was part of a pleasure garden built in an old chalk pit in the, likely, early 20th century by a Mr. E. Cooke. From there, a story evolved, with Ms. Davis’s imagination bringing an entire world and cast of characters to life masterfully.

SMALL EDEN is rich in detail—fashion and decor, vernacular of the era; class disparities, familial and cultural proprieties (and improprieties!). Each character, setting, and scene is easy to picture in our mind’s eye because Davis has so skillfully painted the pictures. The heartaches and successes of the family at the center, Freya and Robert Cooke, are brought to life with emotion and heart; we FEEL the pain, fears, triumphs and tragedies, with poignant depth. We follow Robert’s beloved (if distant) mother, Hettie, to the rugged terrain of Scotland to trace the steps of her intrepid father, who disappeared there on a mountain trek when she was a girl. We meet characters like the disabled and brilliant painter, Florence Hoddy, whose impact on both the evolution of the pleasure garden and the hearts and souls of its caretakers is profound. And the imaginings of the pleasure garden itself, with its award-winning flowers, clattering parrots, amazing fountains, sporting courts, and luxurious trees, draw us in with a desire to not only see the place, but walk or sit it in for a while to simply immerse ourselves.

The story is of a family tearing apart, pulling together, finding joy, yet stumbling in the imperfections of each participant and the inevitable vagaries of the era, the fickleness of business and prosperity, and the impact of fate and destiny. It’s beautiful, touching; heart-wrenching, at times, and ultimately a rich, unvarnished depiction of a time and place and the very human people who existed there.

A very recommended read.

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The powerful start of the story resonated as I too had a dangerous dose of scarlet fever as a tiny baby but thanks to modern medicine I lived to tell the tale, unlike the situation in which Robert Cooke and his pregnant wife Freya find themselves in at the start of this fascinating story.

Shielding their grief from one another Robert and Freya move through the years of their lives like automatons, communicating on a level which isn't really communication at all but is merely going through the motions of living their lives bereft with sorrow. Years later, and now a successful businessman, Robert, still with his head full of dreams, takes an interest in purchasing a parcel of land on which to build a pleasure garden and in doing so works through his feelings of loss for those who he has loved and lost.

Small Eden looks at the challenges of grief in a time when people seemed to wallow in despair but as we discover by channeling his energy Robert Cooke allows his grief to have a focus and with the help of those who work on the garden with him a story of resilience and fortitude starts to shine through. Everything in the story comes together so beautifully, with an immediate sense of atmosphere, and a true sense of historical accuracy, which the author develops with such skill and fine attention to detail.

Based on the author's research into her family home, Small Eden is not a story to rush as there is much to think about but it is rather one to take at a more leisurely pace in order travel back through time to the intricacies of the late Victorian era.

[Helen Hollick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewer's Choice
This is a powerful story of Victorian England, a melange of repressed feelings, hidden secrets and understated emotions, and a portrait of a family slowly dissolving in grief.

Inspired by the unbearable loss of his two boys, Robert Cooke builds the pleasure garden of his dreams – his Small Eden. The enterprise is supported by the Reynolds family: Frank, his wife, and their two boys, John and Gerrard.

Robert comes across as a solid, almost saintly figure; Freya, his wife, a shadowy individual driven by societal norms and conventions, harbours a deep resentment toward her husband whom she blames for the deaths of their two sons. Their daughters, Estelle and Ida, are like chalk and cheese. Estelle is implacably cold towards her father, mirroring her mother’s feelings, while Ida delights in his company and everything he does.

When Miss Hoddy, a disabled artist with uncanny social skills, enters their lives, she lights up everyone’s life, but plants the seed of an unjustified jealousy in Freya’s heart. What is remarkable about the Cooke family is that they can function at all. And they do – until the money runs out.

Ms Davis has a remarkable talent that reminds me of Alice Munro. The way she burrows into the minds of her characters and exposes their moods by picking out their smallest observations is effortless and masterful. I can’t wait to read some more by this wonderful writer.

Originally Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds

[cailleach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an unusual tale, set in the 1890's about grief and loss, love and living a full life. Poppy and Physic garden grower Robert Cooke and his wife Freya have two baby boys, an older girl and a baby on the way. One night one of the boys develops a rash, Freya wants to call out the doctor but Robert thinks Freya is over reacting and that the baby is just teething. By morning the boys are dead. Robert struggles to deal with the consequence of his "mistake" and often imagines how the boys would look and play as they grow. He notices that a chalk pit where he found solace helping out as a twelve year old boy when his own father died is up for sale and he rashly buys it with a plan to redevelop it as a Pleasure Garden, a "small eden" where the boys in his imagination would love to explore and play. Whilst planning the gardens he enlists the help of a wheelchair bound artist and her architect brother who become almost a second family to his youngest daughter. His older daughter is drawn to the son of the family who caretake and tend the pleasure gardens. Robert's mother is also on a quest, after spending most of her life indoors, sedentary and lonely she heads to Scotland to discover where her own father died on a climb and returns a changed woman. The book follows the families through the course of a decade or so and it was really interesting to see how their lives progressed and the toll Robert's obsession with the Gardens had on his life and those around him.

[Paul Marriner · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some great reviews below that touch on the plot, so I thought I'd focus on why it was such a good read. Here are my thoughts:

Jane Davis has written a beautiful, sensitive story that explores Victorian mores, human behaviours, successes, failings and desires, and the pain of carrying tragedy whilst trying to build a future.

Whilst Robert is central to the story, there is an extensive ensemble cast – all of whom have their own desires, ambitions and troubles; each of them searching for some form of rescue but also recognising they need each other.

Jane’s writing is precise without being clinical, and polished without being contrived. She gives us emotion with economy of words and deeds, but still with depth of feeling and understanding. The novel is beautifully paced and structured and the strands come together naturally and, perhaps, inevitably. Jane can also deliver an atmosphere with a few well-chosen phrases and it’s an easy novel in which to immerse yourself. To craft an ensemble piece around Robert’s central ‘theme’ requires great writing craft – Jane has it.

Yep – I loved it.

[Liza Perrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved all of Jane Davis’s beautifully-written novels and this 19th-century story of love, loss and the healing power of creation was no different. I enjoy historical fiction that integrates real events and I learn something new whilst being so caught up in the story that I don’t notice. This was the case with Small Eden, as the story took me into the world of the opium trade and pleasure gardens.
As in all of her novels, the author draws highly believable and very human characters, portraying here how Robert and Freya’s inability to communicate with each other widens both their relationship and the gulf of their grief, which might have been better shared.
Like a high-quality cup of the finest tea, this heartbreaking but hopeful story should be read slowly, the wonderful descriptions of the natural world and the characters (in both their past and present lives), to be savoured and appreciated.
I would highly recommend Small Eden for lovers of historical literary fiction.

[Hannah Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had me at the words 'pleasure garden'! Jane has clearly done a lot of research and I loved the way the characters and their lives were set against the backdrop of the opium trade and an ever-expanding London. It reminded me of The Woodcock by Richard Smyth, another novel which portrayed class, love and loss in the early 1900s.

I enjoyed the portrayal of the garden and would have loved to hear more about the plants of that era. The Neptune fountain and the parakeets were so vividly portrayed and it was clever to make them representative of the wider narrative. The way the characters evolved - some blossoming, whilst others faded - really drew me in and each night I read later than I wanted to, just to see what would happen.

If you like UK based historical fiction, this is definitely a novel to add to your wish list.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again Jane Davis has come up with an original and engaging premise for her latest book.

Small Eden refers to the gardens bought to life by Robert Cooke at the end of the nineteenth century. They were a tribute to the lost. He enlists the help of an artist Florence and her architect brother Oswald who become an extended part of Robert's family. Florence provides art lessons to his daughter Ida. Likewise the family who are employed, originally to do the back-breaking work and then to maintain the pleasure gardens are integral to the storyline.

There are big subjects covered in this historical novel, the biggest being about not letting fear curtail your life but also the nature of grief, failure and obsession.

A must-read for those who are looking for something original.

[Kendra]

This was one of my favourite novels from last year. I always enjoy Jane Davis's writing, but I think I liked this novel the best out of all the books I've read of hers so far. I especially loved how she captured the parallels between Robert's time (the Victorian era) and the present, both being eras of fast-paced and tumultuous change. Since reading it, I've often thought back to the characters, story, setting and the themes Davis explores. I've also purchased additional copies as gifts for friends and family members who I think would also enjoy it.

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars simply for the quality of the writing, rather than the writing itself. A lovely cover, a gentle story of…sadly forgettable characters. The different character arcs never quite became engaging enough and the story overall just never coalesced into anything interesting enough to eagerly pursue. The writing quality was fine, but I’m afraid this story was rather boring.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story of a man who creates a garden to honour his two sons who died very young. The words created by the author, help you understand the story. Don’t miss out.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another enchanting book from Jane Davis depicting one man's dream of his very own pleasure park.

[KC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant book from Jane Davis. This author is going from strength to strength and her books never disappoint. Such a great read.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it hard to get into this one, still beautiful writing.

[Miss · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read

I'm not sure how to describe this novel. It mainly follows Robert and his dream of opening a pleasure garden in memory of his sons. I didn't really connect emotionally with any of the characters, they all felt a little distant.
I love how descriptive the writing is. The book has smaller stories/histories for each character.
I wasn't sure whether to feel sorry for Freya or be annoyed with her. Miss Hoddy I found annoying despite mostly being well liked by other characters. Roberts mother had the biggest character development and was my favourite part of the book.
I felt an impending sense of calamity through the book even when things were seemingly going well.