De marmeren tuin

by Deirdre Purcell

Twee Ierse hartsvriendinnen: Sophie en Riba. Ze kennen elkaar al hun hele leven, maar lijken absoluut niet op elkaar: Sophie is elegant en verlegen, terwijl Riba opzichtig en extrovert is. Hun vriendschap komt onder druk te staan als Riba’s tienerdochter Zelda ernstig ziek wordt. Sophie ziet niets in de alternatieve genezer naar wie Riba gaat; ze vindt dat het meisje niet de juiste medische hulp krijgt. Ondertussen voelen Riba’s man en Sophie zich steeds sterker tot elkaar aangetrokken. Is er nog tijd om Zelda te redden? En hun huwelijken, hun vriendschap?

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Deirdre Purcell (1945–2023) was an Irish author, actress, and journalist.

Reviews

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deirdre Purcell has a good story going in Marble Gardens. Sophie and Riba, friends from schooldays, are married to Michael and Brian respectively. Quiet, elegant Sophie is childless while bohemian, extrovert Riba has turned to alternative medicine in desperation to help her gravely ill daughter.
Well written as always and while to is easy to appreciate the difficulties they find themselves in, it is difficult to like any of these characters, especially the men.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially I didn’t think that I was going to enjoy this book, as something happens early on that was pretty far fetched. However as the story progressed I warmed to the characters, and liked the story, which would make a great ‘Hallmark’ film. The ending leaves to our imagination what eventually happened.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this book and the characters somewhat engaging. However the story lulls a lot in places and you find yourself speed reading pages and actually you’ve not missed anything.
The ending is poor I feel and you don’t really know what will happen .

[Nicola Pithouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story but left with far too many loose ends!!!

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda re-readiing. Not as good as I thought.

[Leen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het is een pocketroman, een vlot leesbare hapklare brok lectuur, maar niet al te clichématig geschreven. Je krijgt de standpunten van alle hoofdpersonages, zodat je weet wat er in ieders hoofd omgaat. Het verhaal ontrolt zich systematisch zonder al te veel schokkende wendingen – behalve dan de plotse vliegtuigcrash die zéér onrealistisch overkwam – maar het einde stak een beetje tegen: ze reageerden zo volwassen, zo overdreven netjes en beleefd, ik zou het héél anders gedaan hebben als ik verliefd was hoor!

[Tiina · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a rather weird book. I couldn't really understand the behavior of the main character. This was one of those pastel colored stories with a weird twist. Not my kind of story.

[CLM · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a nice beach read that took little effort to read, looking back though there wasn't really much happened in it.

[Catherine Dunne · Rating 3 out of 5]

that the baby girl of the family has cancer,parent are not to bothered of what he gets up to ... ,