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The garden god : a tale of two boys
This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.
103 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
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290 people want to read
About the author
Forrest Reid
59 books15 followersForrest Reid was an Irish novelist, literary critic and translator. He was, along with Hugh Walpole and J.M. Barrie, a leading pre-war British novelist of boyhood. He is still acclaimed as the greatest of Ulster novelists and was recognised with the award of the 1944 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel Young Tom.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 25, 2025
The Garden God would appear to be a novel. In fact it is a novella, maybe not even long enough to qualify as that. The 1905 first edition was a quality affair, published on thick paper and in large print. The 160 pages of the original might (250 words per page) make 50 pages of a modern novel (set in smaller print). In essence, this novella charts the friendship between two boys and a love that bursts out of Plato's Phaedrus:erotic love is a divine madness raging through the imagination. The writing is as florid as Wilde's and the novella's poetical language is reminiscent of the Victorian Uranians and their emphasis on male childhood as innocent and prelapsarian. Ironically, Reid dedicated this Classical fantasy to the closeted Master, Henry James, as a result of which a friendship was ended and James never spoke to Reid again. As Thom Gunn once observed, though a work might be dedicated to someone it does not mean that that person is in that work or represented in anyway. Clearly, James did not share that view and felt that The Garden God was a form of "outing". As a work of literature, this is a curiosity, and it should be recommended to all gardeners of roses and lilies and flowers of decadent chrysanthemums.
September 7, 2025
Actual rating: 2.5
Sometimes when I'm about to start an older book, I worry I'm too dumb to understand it. Fortunately, that's not yet happened... until I read The Garden God. Possibly.
I'm so glad I buddy-read it with Cody though as getting through this one on my own would've been a drag.
The Garden God by Forrest Reid is a short novella written in 1905 of about 60-70 pages. In the newer Valencourt edition I read, there's an intro the same length as the story and 3 short appendixes (1 short story by Reid and two poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.)
There are also 65 (!) footnotes for the novella alone and it almost feels like you need to have been Reid's brain-twin or at the very least a close friend and contemporary to have understood all the hidden meanings and references.
The introduction details Reid's life as both a writer and a pederast (an adult man who likes adolescent boys) though it seems to claim Reid likely never had physical relations with the young boys he formed "special friendships" with.
The Garden God is to be read in this context though I wouldn't have guessed this without the intro telling me hence why I'm maybe too dumb to understand this novella. That said, I don't feel the pederastic elements are very clear but maybe I'm just not reading it right.
The novella's MC is Gabriel, 16, who's starting public school after being home-schooled his whole life. Gabriel has very vivid dreams wherein he always sees a garden with the most beautiful boy in it - a boy Gabriel adores and falls in love with. At school he meets Harold, 15, who Gabriel is convinced is the boy from his dream. A tragic event cuts their close friendship short and changes Gabriel's life forever.
If the book was written today, Gabriel would've been comped to Jughead's "I'm a weirdo" speech and a softer Ronan Lynch from The Raven Cycle. Gabriel's dreams are so vivid he doesn't know which world is real, his dream world or the awake one. Or maybe they're both real.
His opening line upon meeting Harold at school is basically "I saw you in my dreams" and he's not even trying to flirt, he's just a weirdo but in a sweet way. The book's definitely queer though, nearly explicitly so though the romantic friendship between Gabriel and Harold wasn't necessarily viewed as homosexual at the time due to their ages and the lack of physicality in their relationship.
The book is very flowery in its writing, lots of focus on nature, Pan, aesthetics, and beauty. In the tragic incident at the end Maybe the pederastic elements are to be found in the fact of a pederast author writing a book about youthful and innocent boys growing up rather than in the story itself but it's definitely not as clear cut as the intro seems to state.
In short, this novella was a lovely little read but I do sort of wish I hadn't read the (very long and unnecessarily complicated) intro or the 65+ footnotes as it was both hard to get through and made me doubt whether I read the story right.
Sometimes when I'm about to start an older book, I worry I'm too dumb to understand it. Fortunately, that's not yet happened... until I read The Garden God. Possibly.
I'm so glad I buddy-read it with Cody though as getting through this one on my own would've been a drag.
The Garden God by Forrest Reid is a short novella written in 1905 of about 60-70 pages. In the newer Valencourt edition I read, there's an intro the same length as the story and 3 short appendixes (1 short story by Reid and two poems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.)
There are also 65 (!) footnotes for the novella alone and it almost feels like you need to have been Reid's brain-twin or at the very least a close friend and contemporary to have understood all the hidden meanings and references.
The introduction details Reid's life as both a writer and a pederast (an adult man who likes adolescent boys) though it seems to claim Reid likely never had physical relations with the young boys he formed "special friendships" with.
The Garden God is to be read in this context though I wouldn't have guessed this without the intro telling me hence why I'm maybe too dumb to understand this novella. That said, I don't feel the pederastic elements are very clear but maybe I'm just not reading it right.
The novella's MC is Gabriel, 16, who's starting public school after being home-schooled his whole life. Gabriel has very vivid dreams wherein he always sees a garden with the most beautiful boy in it - a boy Gabriel adores and falls in love with. At school he meets Harold, 15, who Gabriel is convinced is the boy from his dream. A tragic event cuts their close friendship short and changes Gabriel's life forever.
If the book was written today, Gabriel would've been comped to Jughead's "I'm a weirdo" speech and a softer Ronan Lynch from The Raven Cycle. Gabriel's dreams are so vivid he doesn't know which world is real, his dream world or the awake one. Or maybe they're both real.
His opening line upon meeting Harold at school is basically "I saw you in my dreams" and he's not even trying to flirt, he's just a weirdo but in a sweet way. The book's definitely queer though, nearly explicitly so though the romantic friendship between Gabriel and Harold wasn't necessarily viewed as homosexual at the time due to their ages and the lack of physicality in their relationship.
The book is very flowery in its writing, lots of focus on nature, Pan, aesthetics, and beauty. In the tragic incident at the end Maybe the pederastic elements are to be found in the fact of a pederast author writing a book about youthful and innocent boys growing up rather than in the story itself but it's definitely not as clear cut as the intro seems to state.
In short, this novella was a lovely little read but I do sort of wish I hadn't read the (very long and unnecessarily complicated) intro or the 65+ footnotes as it was both hard to get through and made me doubt whether I read the story right.
September 7, 2025
Very thankful for the buddy read with Ditte because I'd have probably gone insane reading that introduction on my own. Full RTC, but probably a 2.5 rounded up!
Because the introduction was longer than the actual book: I simultaneously didn't enjoy the intro and insane amount of footnotes and am glad I read them. I think it attempted to prove that Reid was a sexless Uranian, but it more or less just confirmed he was a creep to me. Without that, I'm not sure I'd have picked up on half of the undertones of the text.
The book itself was alright. Not a masterpiece, I'd have probably bullied Graham if I went to school with him. What a little weirdo (derogatory).
Because the introduction was longer than the actual book: I simultaneously didn't enjoy the intro and insane amount of footnotes and am glad I read them. I think it attempted to prove that Reid was a sexless Uranian, but it more or less just confirmed he was a creep to me. Without that, I'm not sure I'd have picked up on half of the undertones of the text.
The book itself was alright. Not a masterpiece, I'd have probably bullied Graham if I went to school with him. What a little weirdo (derogatory).
November 15, 2020
As a child I looked forward to growing up, so this story of two sixteen-year-old boys who meet and fall in love felt like the start of a great journey. In fact, their meeting is the culmination, not the outset, of an almost mythical union. For not every boy wants to, or will, grow up.
The Garden God is a 73-page novella to which the Valancourt edition adds footnotes for the literary allusions and an introduction by Michael Kaylor. A short story by Reid and two poems round this edition out at about 150 pages. Kaylor's discussion of "Uranian" literature gives readers a perspective on both the story and the emergence of a modern same-sex self-awareness.
This modern vista developed parallel with, but more and more opposed to, that of the Uranians, who for their part provide a link connecting gay relationships today with those going back to Greek mythology. Uranian literature constituted a decidedly aristocratic link against the egalitarian democracy of a newly explicit sexuality as well as institutional church morality.
The allure of the Uranian appeal among gay men gave way to the allure of the Catholic Church and the societal repression of the mid-twentieth century. The Brownshirt sucker punch delivered in Brideshead Revisited exemplified the triumph of institutional morals; whatever was left of a Uranian sensibility dissolved into modern gay fiction. It is no more.
But about the story. Graham, one of the boys, grew up as a child with an imaginary friend, a vision from Greek mythology that resembles Harold, the boy he meets as an adolescent. The tale is told in a setting of idyllic perfection, a stage deliberately meant to frame an exalted way of life and love.
As the story progresses it seems ever more possible that Harold and the "garden god" of Graham's youth are one and the same. Readers may wonder, by the end, if Harold really even existed. The story is told with Reid's keen eye for language and description. In its style it reminds me of a similar book, Embers.
Reid's writing is a total repudiation of adult cynicism. It tells us what same-sex love should and might be, not what it is. Its uplifted point of view is vital to modern readers. This is a book I recommend.
The Garden God is a 73-page novella to which the Valancourt edition adds footnotes for the literary allusions and an introduction by Michael Kaylor. A short story by Reid and two poems round this edition out at about 150 pages. Kaylor's discussion of "Uranian" literature gives readers a perspective on both the story and the emergence of a modern same-sex self-awareness.
This modern vista developed parallel with, but more and more opposed to, that of the Uranians, who for their part provide a link connecting gay relationships today with those going back to Greek mythology. Uranian literature constituted a decidedly aristocratic link against the egalitarian democracy of a newly explicit sexuality as well as institutional church morality.
The allure of the Uranian appeal among gay men gave way to the allure of the Catholic Church and the societal repression of the mid-twentieth century. The Brownshirt sucker punch delivered in Brideshead Revisited exemplified the triumph of institutional morals; whatever was left of a Uranian sensibility dissolved into modern gay fiction. It is no more.
But about the story. Graham, one of the boys, grew up as a child with an imaginary friend, a vision from Greek mythology that resembles Harold, the boy he meets as an adolescent. The tale is told in a setting of idyllic perfection, a stage deliberately meant to frame an exalted way of life and love.
As the story progresses it seems ever more possible that Harold and the "garden god" of Graham's youth are one and the same. Readers may wonder, by the end, if Harold really even existed. The story is told with Reid's keen eye for language and description. In its style it reminds me of a similar book, Embers.
Reid's writing is a total repudiation of adult cynicism. It tells us what same-sex love should and might be, not what it is. Its uplifted point of view is vital to modern readers. This is a book I recommend.
June 18, 2024
2.5, rounded up.
This is a curious artifact, and though it's a very nice Valencourt edition, the actual novella is a mere 70 pages - the rest a very pedantic assortment of largely superfluous notes, biography, and other assorted ephemera. I wish I HADN'T spent so much time on the notes and just read the damn thing 'as is', since going back and forth really slowed down my reading and I gained very little from doing so.
Reid is very florid in his prose, and waxes poetic and philosophizes to an inordinate amount also; plus, the story he tells is rather simplistic and not terribly impressive. I mainly read this as an example of a pre-Stonewall gay 'classic' for Pride Month, but there are far more interesting tomes out there that could also fill that void.
This is a curious artifact, and though it's a very nice Valencourt edition, the actual novella is a mere 70 pages - the rest a very pedantic assortment of largely superfluous notes, biography, and other assorted ephemera. I wish I HADN'T spent so much time on the notes and just read the damn thing 'as is', since going back and forth really slowed down my reading and I gained very little from doing so.
Reid is very florid in his prose, and waxes poetic and philosophizes to an inordinate amount also; plus, the story he tells is rather simplistic and not terribly impressive. I mainly read this as an example of a pre-Stonewall gay 'classic' for Pride Month, but there are far more interesting tomes out there that could also fill that void.
August 5, 2015
The Garden God is novella about nature worship and doomed love set in an all-boy's school. Considering it was first published in 1905, Forrest Reid is amazingly frank about its homosexual subject matter. There is no subtext or coding here. As the subtitle suggests, it's a story about two boys who fall in love. The main character at one point laments the lack of any literature in which he feels represented- he reads poetry “altering the gender of the personal pronouns, and thinking of Harold”. One can only assume Reid wrote the book as a deliberate act of protest.
The main character, Graham, has never really had any friends save the imaginary companion whose appearance he has based off a Greek statue. At school he meets Harold, a boy who for reasons never really explained, is the exact double of Graham's imaginary friend. Harold is otherworldly, isolated and lonely, shunned by the other boys for vague reasons. Harold has previously been expelled, and when asked why he claims it was for taking long walks at night, though it is strongly implied this is a lie.
The two form a close romantic friendship, and Harold encourages Graham to embrace Paganism and worship of the natural world. On holiday, the two pray to "beloved Pan" asking that each might be given "the thing which may be best for him". But the Greek pantheon are not known for their mercy, and the boys' prayers are swiftly answered in the cruellest way possible. A tragic ending is perhaps inevitable given the time period, but Reid finishes the book in a mood of gloom and hopelessness too dark to be described as mere tragedy.
A short novel with a very simple plot, The Garden God is written in a style that will probably strike the modern reader as extremely sentimental. But though it isn't a great work of literature, Reid's work is still an important book, for it tells a story the society it was written in tried to bury.
The main character, Graham, has never really had any friends save the imaginary companion whose appearance he has based off a Greek statue. At school he meets Harold, a boy who for reasons never really explained, is the exact double of Graham's imaginary friend. Harold is otherworldly, isolated and lonely, shunned by the other boys for vague reasons. Harold has previously been expelled, and when asked why he claims it was for taking long walks at night, though it is strongly implied this is a lie.
The two form a close romantic friendship, and Harold encourages Graham to embrace Paganism and worship of the natural world. On holiday, the two pray to "beloved Pan" asking that each might be given "the thing which may be best for him". But the Greek pantheon are not known for their mercy, and the boys' prayers are swiftly answered in the cruellest way possible. A tragic ending is perhaps inevitable given the time period, but Reid finishes the book in a mood of gloom and hopelessness too dark to be described as mere tragedy.
A short novel with a very simple plot, The Garden God is written in a style that will probably strike the modern reader as extremely sentimental. But though it isn't a great work of literature, Reid's work is still an important book, for it tells a story the society it was written in tried to bury.
April 9, 2018
Probably quite daring in its day (1905), now it's porn for the prudish. Or maybe Mr. Reid was attempting to portray both forms of "platonic" love -- the idealized and the non-sexualized. Either way, you might want to avoid this book if you have any pollen allergies, 'cause wow, is it florid.
July 5, 2018
This was incredibly dreamlike, nostalgic, happy & passionate. And then incredibly sad. Should be regarded as highly as E.M. Forster’s Maurice or Oscar Wilde. Published in 1905, he was a contemporary of Forster & Henry James. Highly recommended.
September 27, 2023
some boys never grow up. in the idyll land of youth, everything moves slower.
"Thus he had been when he had first met him; thus he was now; thus he would be for ever! For he would never grow old—he would be a boy always. Summer would follow summer and the fields would grow white to harvest, but Time would thread no silver in the dusk of his dark hair, nor dim his smile, nor make unshapely his shapely body."
the most beautiful book I've ever read; its prose overwhelms me with beauty (and floral depictions). dreamlike, nostalgic, and whatnot. lost youth, a faraway, lost summer, a great love lost and distant, a tragic end of childhood and all its wonders. the world seems dull afterwards. pure, innocent, divine love, one that reaches the heavens. a torturous yearning, the cruel fate of something so beautiful, with a, at the very least, faint breath of mythology and paganism. so distant yet so easy to recall—always reaching its arms out to us... always calling...
one might think the poem remembrance by emily bronte fits this—
"And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?"
reminiscent of the stories by Keiko Takemiya, i begin to wonder whether or not she has ever read this, because it reminds me of In the Sunroom or 20 Days and 20 Nights, or even of her magnum opus Kazeki... a lost youth, an unforgettable summer, the purity of love and the charm of beauty, happiness cut tragically short by life's unmerciful hammer...
the themes of the purity of love and the innocence of divine, spiritual affection makes one think of Takemiya's often-compared-to peer, Hagio.
all in all, the most beautiful book ever. made me sob, made me gasp in its beauty, made me long for such love and for such a summer, of that mythological dream. a pure, divine, praiseful ode to youth and all its joys, to love and all its moments.. feel like its made for me, since i love all these tropes
"Thus he had been when he had first met him; thus he was now; thus he would be for ever! For he would never grow old—he would be a boy always. Summer would follow summer and the fields would grow white to harvest, but Time would thread no silver in the dusk of his dark hair, nor dim his smile, nor make unshapely his shapely body."
the most beautiful book I've ever read; its prose overwhelms me with beauty (and floral depictions). dreamlike, nostalgic, and whatnot. lost youth, a faraway, lost summer, a great love lost and distant, a tragic end of childhood and all its wonders. the world seems dull afterwards. pure, innocent, divine love, one that reaches the heavens. a torturous yearning, the cruel fate of something so beautiful, with a, at the very least, faint breath of mythology and paganism. so distant yet so easy to recall—always reaching its arms out to us... always calling...
one might think the poem remembrance by emily bronte fits this—
"And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,
Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?"
reminiscent of the stories by Keiko Takemiya, i begin to wonder whether or not she has ever read this, because it reminds me of In the Sunroom or 20 Days and 20 Nights, or even of her magnum opus Kazeki... a lost youth, an unforgettable summer, the purity of love and the charm of beauty, happiness cut tragically short by life's unmerciful hammer...
the themes of the purity of love and the innocence of divine, spiritual affection makes one think of Takemiya's often-compared-to peer, Hagio.
all in all, the most beautiful book ever. made me sob, made me gasp in its beauty, made me long for such love and for such a summer, of that mythological dream. a pure, divine, praiseful ode to youth and all its joys, to love and all its moments.. feel like its made for me, since i love all these tropes
January 7, 2020
Nice lyrical depiction of a loving relationship between two young teen boys set in rural Northern Ireland and in the imaginative mind of one of those boys strongly influenced by the culture and mythology of ancient Greece. It was written early in Reid's career and I'm glad he learned to tame some of the lyricism by the time he got to the Tom Barber collection while retaining the enthusiasm. An extra star was added for the brilliant contributions of the editor in the form of an introduction, forward, extensive footnotes, and appendixes, that greatly enhanced my understanding and appreciation of this novel, or Forrest Reid, and of the social environment in which it was written.
August 27, 2024
Read 8/27/2024. I genuinely did not know this was an explicitly Uranian novella. But how explicit was it really? Is this not just the most idyllic friendship a person could imagine? I understood this story very well... I understand the dreams... I understand the... Well... Oh, Christ...
Boyhood, boyhood is a very beautiful thing. This is how it appears to me -- childhood, gorgeous, everything about it. I felt this; I smelled what Graham smelled, I saw what he did. My heart beat in pace with his. It's not something groundbreaking for my means, though all art has the ability to be so, and it was good, it was very good...
Hell and Damnation.
“‘Well! has it never seemed to you that there must be another world than this we are living in now?—a world outside this, I mean, but still a real world?’
“‘A dreamland?’
‘Call it what you like. Yes—a dreamland. But while we are there, you know, it is the real world, there is no other.’”
“O wondrous seed of poetry! Happy the child into whose tender soul you have dropped at his birth! May he keep until his death the innocence and the heart of a boy, and may the burden of years and the cares of the world fall lightly upon him!...”
Boyhood, boyhood is a very beautiful thing. This is how it appears to me -- childhood, gorgeous, everything about it. I felt this; I smelled what Graham smelled, I saw what he did. My heart beat in pace with his. It's not something groundbreaking for my means, though all art has the ability to be so, and it was good, it was very good...
Hell and Damnation.
“‘Well! has it never seemed to you that there must be another world than this we are living in now?—a world outside this, I mean, but still a real world?’
“‘A dreamland?’
‘Call it what you like. Yes—a dreamland. But while we are there, you know, it is the real world, there is no other.’”
“O wondrous seed of poetry! Happy the child into whose tender soul you have dropped at his birth! May he keep until his death the innocence and the heart of a boy, and may the burden of years and the cares of the world fall lightly upon him!...”
July 4, 2025
I was immediately turned off to this novel by the extensive, obfuscating and too academic introduction. This novella was a somewhat daring story of idealized teenage love in the Platonic ideal. Having read the biography of the author in the introduction, you can see that he had quite an interest in young men as companions-- it was never proven whether it was innocent or pederastic and the author does explain the difference between Uranian and Pederastic in young men. He considers Forrest Reid as Uranian (innocent of sexual interest). Having learned this, I then read the actual text and disagreed with the author. No more Forrest Reid for me but the wonderful Valancourt press has done a scholarly job with the reissues of his works but this was enough for me.
September 6, 2025
September 2025 (5 stars)
The binding definitely makes a difference. An original 1906 edition, with its thick paper, large print, and broad margins, is such a pleasure to read in contrast to the modern print-on-demand reprints their flimsy white paper and which have actually reduced the size of the text. The story is simple and moving. It's hard to see why Forrest Reid should have become so ashamed of it in later years, unless it was a subconscious reaction to Henry James's painful reception of the book. I think it's a beautiful piece of work.
The binding definitely makes a difference. An original 1906 edition, with its thick paper, large print, and broad margins, is such a pleasure to read in contrast to the modern print-on-demand reprints their flimsy white paper and which have actually reduced the size of the text. The story is simple and moving. It's hard to see why Forrest Reid should have become so ashamed of it in later years, unless it was a subconscious reaction to Henry James's painful reception of the book. I think it's a beautiful piece of work.
November 21, 2019
Very spare story, waxes poetic way too much. Surprisingly evergreen thoughts about changing pronouns in poetry to suit the intended beloved. The scene where the boys pose like statues of mythological figures was good. Melodramatic, tacked-on downer ending.
One of those works that's interesting as a primary historical source but not really great as a story on its own. Piqued my interest in Forrest Reid though! I may try another longer work next.
One of those works that's interesting as a primary historical source but not really great as a story on its own. Piqued my interest in Forrest Reid though! I may try another longer work next.
November 25, 2025
Despite being a short read this book is dreadfully flowery, to the point where it’s over descriptions might absolutely confuse you. There’s also this strange obsession in that of innocence/youth.. Not sure if that’s just me getting the heebie jeebies (seeing that it’s common in 90% of all Victorian era novels).
Decent read, ending is a complete 180 that I don’t mind
Decent read, ending is a complete 180 that I don’t mind
August 3, 2021
Very floral writing and unapologetically gay. A sweet little read.
May 18, 2021
Quick read. Beautiful writing, surprisingly sad and touching.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews