Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden

by Alexandra Risen

When Alexandra Risen bought the dilapidated property overlooking a central Toronto ravine, the sloping, one-acre backyard was overgrown and barely navigable. She had no idea that the process of restoring and replanting the huge garden would help her overcome painful childhood memories and discover her parents’ legacy.

What began as an enthusiastic, if daunting, garden restoration became a deeper enterprise involving emotional upheaval and an affirmation of the healing power of nature. Risen's war-traumatized father only spoke about 25 words to her during his lifetime. Her mother spoke for him; he even used buzzers to summon the family to the garage when he needed help with his repair projects.
     Risen's Ukrainian parents were uprooted to work as labourers in Nazi Germany during WWII. After marrying in a Displaced Persons camp after the war, they emigrated first to England and then to Edmonton. They never spoke of their difficult past. Risen’s 's father found work at CN Railway as an engine repair man; her mother found work at a textile factory and took refuge in her garden, growing flowers, fruits, and vegetables.The family's self-sufficient lifestyle—gardening, canning, and even butchery in the garage—were a source of embarrassment to a young girl trying to fit into suburban Edmonton.
    After her parents' deaths, Risen discovers documents that allow her to piece together some of their story. She finds memories and connections with her parents in the old garden she unearths and the new green life she plants. Organized around various flowers, trees and shrubs that evoke particular memories, Unearthed is an affecting account of tangled family relationships, reconciliation and the healing power of nature.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Gardening, Biography Memoir, Book Club, Nature, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2016

About the author

Alexandra is a writer fascinated by the role of the natural world in our lives. UNEARTHED is her first book.

2018 Shortlist: The Kobzar Literary Award
2018 Shortlist: The Frank Hegyi Award for Emerging Authors

"As she restores the property and heals her long-troubled soul, Risen paints a vivid and exquisite portrait of nature and its profound significance." -Publishers Weekly

"A generous, poignant memoir." -Kirkus Reviews

"A remarkable book." -Booklist (starred) Review

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 A house bought, a huge overgrown garden that had once been part of a huge estate. As the treasures in the garden are uncovered so too does Alexandra try to uncover the lives of her Ukrainian immigrant parents, two people who argued extensively but never talked about their past lives. Part memoir, part family story, part gardening and the discovery of unique specimens in her new garden. Lovely book, much humor, some back story of two daughters who grew up with a father who never directly talked to them, only once meeting her eyes and this was just before she left for college. Includes crafts, and unique recipes such as primrose meringue and periwinkle skin cream. Each new chapter starts with a new garden discovery, discusses the plants or trees and ends with the recipe. Quite delightful, a good, entertaining and quick read.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems we are on a parallel path, my mother and I, of reliving the past – her in her memory and me in my research. Sadly, we each walk alone.

As Unearthed opens, Alexandra Risen is saying goodbye to her father as he lays comatose in his hospital bed; noting the fact that in the twenty years she lived at home, the brooding, reclusive man may have said one word to her per year. Now that her father was almost gone, Risen knew that those twenty or so words would be all she ever got. At about the same time, Risen and her husband decided to buy a rundown home in downtown Toronto; enchanted by its one acre of overgrown heritage garden property. With her mother suffering a series of strokes back in Edmonton, and feeling guilty and helpless and ever more despairing that she would never be able to mend her relationship with her one remaining parent, Risen throws herself into restoring her new gardens; reconnecting to the happiest times in her childhood – when her parents' fighting sent the young girl off to explore the wild ravines behind her house – and attempting to forge a new bond with the mother who spent most of her nonworking hours in her own gardens. Restoring a garden is a perfect metaphor for both mending a relationship and digging into the past, but it's almost too perfect: Each chapter followed the same pattern – Risen unearths another plant that reminds her of her personal history, flashback scene, back to the present and dealing with contractors and landscape architects, dealing with her growing son in Toronto and her deteriorating mother on the other side of the country, concluding with a recipe or craft for utilising the inspiration plant – and it began to feel formulaic; copy-paste after-the-fact; if this didn't all actually happen to Risen, and if it wasn't actually all pretty interesting, it may have felt forced or corny.

I lived in Edmonton for several years, and one time when we went to the comedy club Yuk Yuk's, the host opened with, “It's great to be here at Uke Uke's”, and the audience went wild with laughter. I didn't get it and had to ask someone at the table why that was funny and he explained that it's because there are so many Ukrainians in Edmonton, and “Uke” is a racial slur for them. That's funny? I guess you actually have to be from Edmonton to get why there would even be a racial slur for Ukrainians. From Edmonton like Alexandra Risen: as the much younger second daughter of Ukrainian immigrants (the accidental child who disappointed by not being born a boy), Risen was mortified when her mother would get huge loads of fresh sheep manure delivered for her gardens; when her parents would make homemade sausage and the neighbourhood would reek of garlic. Risen knew that her parents were from somewhere in the Ukraine, vaguely knew that her mother had worked in Germany during WWII and that her parents met in a DP camp there after the war, but as for her parents' history or families or self-reflections, nothing was said and questions were discouraged. When their mother eventually needed to be moved into a nursing home and Risen and her sister cleared out the apartment she had been living in, they found an envelope of official documents; the first clues to the family history they had ever stumbled upon, and Risen took them home to begin a tentative investigation.

Meanwhile, the garden in Risen's back yard was both more overgrown and more magical than she could have imagined. Weeks of hacking away at giant Knotweed and bamboo revealed three ponds (complete with long-forgotten ornamental koi), a mossy bog, redwood and apple trees, centuries-old oaks, and a towering, crumbling pagoda. There was evidence of deer, foxes, raccoons, and ducks, secret paths and flowering specimens. Through restoring every part of the garden, Risen was conscious of trying to prove something to her mother, and while she had always planned to fly her mother out when the project was complete, it took ten years, and in the end, her mother became too frail to fly. Throughout the process, Risen was also very conscious of involving her son in the work – in giving her tech-loving boy the nature-based family time she had craved as a child herself – and she's self-aware of the irony of attempting to be a better mother than her own was by making her child cry as she locks up his computer games or throws his iPod out the window. And her husband, despite the obligatory grumbling comments about the bills piling up, was always happy to roll up his own sleeves and grab the pruning shears.

It occurs to me that somewhere in between the dead shrubs and struggling peonies, it's become more than about saving money. Whatever we can master alone, we will, because that's what happens when love and challenge cross paths.

Like I said, the garden is a great metaphor for a memoir: through following the seasonal cycles of her plants, and adding the life stories of beloved dogs, and ultimately, what she learns of the life stories of her parents, Risen is able to plot her own position within the circle of life; birth, growth, decay, and death are the fate of us all; the earthworm and the oak. On the other hand, there's something not quite universal about this particular story: Risen's husband Cam might balk at the expense of restoring the crumbling pagoda, but he's a Toronto banker who wears silk Hermès ties; these are people who hire an expert to come in and show them how to throw pottery when they discover clay in the garden; people who bought a ravine-backing acre in downtown Toronto, no matter how neglected. During the course of the book, they host David Suzuki and his wife for an impeccably sourced dinner at their home:

During dinner, David asks me if tapping for sap damages the maples. Chef Jason has been promoting our maple syrup. I'm surprised that as an elder, he doesn't know the answer. I assure him we take only 10 per cent of the sap, and I explain the process, and how the Natives first discovered sap when it froze into “sapsicles” from winter tree branches. He's fascinated, now that he's assured that the trees are unharmed, and the rest of the conversation flows because he respects the Natives' closeness to nature.

(My better angels tell me to put that passage there without comment, yet I can't help but add that I am tired of people thinking that “as an elder” David Suzuki is some all-knowing guru.) The book ends with a garden dedication ceremony involving a smudge-stick wielding geomancer. (That I will leave without further comment.) Unearthed is interesting enough, but won't be universal to everyone's experience or bizarre enough to really teach anything new about the world. Yet, it's an undeniably neat little package about the lessons Risen learned from her garden, and with a likeable voice and a willingness to bare herself, she succeeded in creating something worthwhile and enduring from her experience.

[Kathleen Nightingale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a really enjoyable read. It allowed me to reflect on my youth growing up with a backyard in Toronto that backed onto a ravine. I have come to the conclusion that Alexandra Risen bought a home that backs onto the Bayview extension or Rosedale Valley Road. Areas of Toronto which bring back fond memories.

One of the quotes in the book is:

A garden is a state of mind. Tranquil sanctuary for walks work play reading and laughter. A place to find receptive and remember your core of self. To rediscover your soul!!

I loved Risen's reflections on the raccoons. I remember being about six and watching the raccoons in my neighbourhood stealing the garbage out of our garbage cans and washing it in the neighbours swimming pool. Risen had it all, raccoons, deer, koi, red tailed foxes along with geese and ducks. Now living in Kitchener I still get to see and love nature.

The secondary issue in this book was Risen coming to terms with her parents. We never really understand our parents until they are gone. While living they are Mom and Dad. When they pass away/die they become people. A rediscovery of a person. We all come with histories and have all had lives before we had our children.

I absolutely loved Risen's picture in the pagoda and I think they did a close up of her face for the book. Her website is worth a look if only for the picture. The pagoda picture was awesome, what serenity and peacefulness could be obtained in that 8 x 8 hexagon. I'd love to have the opportunity to meet with her and just sit and see what presents itself.

At points I struggled with the ages of the parents and Risen herself. It wasn't clear cut but I figured it out and realized that her parents had their children when they were older than my parents. Of course, okay, but also brings a different history to the equation. Her parents were immigrants and were part of the Displaced People living in England after the 2nd World War. They, Risen's parents, came from a very different history. And yes Risen was a girl and the second child born. I can just see how her father never spoke directly to her. How unfortunate but she was able to work with the issues and came to a calming tranquil space in life. It is part of her history and not reflective on how she is raising her son.

What a truly lovely book!

[J.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second daughter of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada, Alexandra Risen saw the way they valued the land and their meager possessions. It wasn't a lesson she internalized until much later, however, when she and her husband purchased a home with huge gardening potential. Beginning with the death of her father - whom she tells us only ever spoke 20 words to her - and ending with the death of her mother after a struggle with Alzheimer's, we see her come to grips with her upbringing by parents who survived the horrors of WWII in eastern Europe while she wrestles with a large and very overgrown garden.

I'm really not a fan of memoirs but was drawn to this by the idea of a once-grand garden rescued. The house isn't anything special but they find one surprise after another in the city garden; an incredible view of downtown Toronto, secret pathways, not one but 3 spring-fed small ponds complete with ducks and ancient koi, and even an old marble gazebo with a pagoda-style roof. Of course, everything is a mess and fixing most of it is way out of their limited budget, but with their own sweat and effort they make headway through the years. Each chapter is headed by a find that Risen ties to memories of her mother's garden, and everything is woven into the story of her own childhood and the increasing dementia of her mother. As she and her sister discover their parents' old documents, she begins to read and research their past from the fragments, being drawn closer to them and finding a new understanding of who they were.

This was a surprisingly compelling book. I enjoyed both the gardening and the family aspect of it. (I rec'd an advance copy of this book through the FirstReads program.)

[Hundeschlitten · Rating 2 out of 5]

This summer, my wife and I moved our family into a home enveloped by trees on an acre of land just a block off Roosevelt Road in a near Chicago suburb. So I wanted to love this book about a family moving into their own magical acre near downtown Toronto, and I like the meticulous way Risen approaches both her garden and her writing. But this was just too hippy-dippy for me. I read to the end, but it kept getting more and more cringe-worthy, capped by a ceremony where Risen's family is dragged into a pagoda and forced to listen to some pseudo Druid make incantations while passing around these supposedly mystical rocks and crystals. My guess is there are a fair number of women's book groups and the odd coffee klatch who might find this narrative captivating. But it wasn't my cup of tea.

[Vishal Katariya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really lovely.

[Bonnie Parkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. I like memoirs, I like gardens. It ought to be great. The premise of finding the reason her parents, especially her father, were cold and distant by making endless metaphors comparing her personal journey of her understanding to her garden-building project was just too too contrived. And didn't work for me. She's like one of those people to whom you say something and they immediately turn it around so that it is about them. "Father's district is mountainous and forested . . . My lifelong obsession with rocks and the White Mountains comes from somewhere -- I was born with mountain blood and didn't know it. I pause, peering into the lare wooden bowl where I store my rock collection on a side table near my desk, where the mix of sharp and smooth granites and sandstones, veined and marbled stones, represent the history of the planet. OR MAYBE I DID!" Oh please.
And besides the constant comparisons there is the gratuitous research which makes me crazy. This book also wants to be a textbook or several, as if it hasn't already bitten off more than it can chew. A textbook of -- everything! Parenting, cooking, decorating, chemistry, gardening, new-age belief systems, history of Ukraine . . . etc, etc. Much of this is conveyed to us as her educating her son. As a character, Alexandra's husband comes across as a voice of reason and compassion, Alexandra herself as a whiney, stubborn, impulsive, spoiled rich brat. She spends huge amounts of money on advice and help and still kills the koi who had survived untouched for 20 years, the big trees, and it seems like she does a fair amount of work hurting herself while showing off, but the bulk of the garden work is done by boatloads of professionals whose main job is to talk her out of her silly ideas. I'm sure the garden is beautiful now, (it ought to be after the fortune that was thrown at it,) but the book could have used a whole lot of weeding.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unearthed is a memoir that flashes backward in time to show us a woman struggling with her relationship with her distant, difficult family, then returns to the present to show us as she restores a fascinating, one-of-a-kind garden.

I've got a real soft spot for gardening memoirs at the moment - is this the single lady version of nesting? - and from the opening pages of Alexandra Risen's book, I was in! She's got such a lovely touch with her family, writes so well about her father in particular, and paints a picture of the garden that shows just the level of wildness in the garden.

I wonder if there were a few arguments in the household after the book was published, as the details of her husband aren't always kind and there are times when Risen's poking fun at herself, but it comes across as a bit... flaky rather than funny. I did wonder how the couple afforded this restoration and/or whether the writer was working when this was going on. And I have to admit, I was really frustrated by the fact that we never really figure out why Ms. Risen's father was so distant. I was hoping there might be some kind of revelation at some point, especially given the build up that Risen seemed to be constructing, but we never learn much more about Risen's parents, other than where they were born. We know nothing about their lives, their ancestors, etc.

Still, Risen does a great job without a ton of material to work with when it comes to her parents background and she doesn't shy away from admitting her own mistakes and her own failings when it comes to extracting info from her mother when she had the chance. I teared up when her mother finally passed and promised myself to ask my own parents a few more questions now, while I still have the chance.

[Amy Roebuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this on a list I checked as moderator of a non-fiction book group. It is a memoir, a gardening journal, and an investigation of the author's parents' Ukrainian roots. It isn't always easy to follow, much like the work of restoring a garden. But, like the garden work, it is worthwhile.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as the author and her husband buy an acre property just outside downtown Toronto, her father dies. This doesn’t make much of a difference in Risen’s life; in her entire life he has hardly ever spoken to her. He didn’t ignore her; he would work on projects with her- silently. That was pretty much their only interaction. It wasn’t that he couldn’t speak; her parents had long, loud arguments all the time. Her mother, always working in the garden or putting food by, is now alone and getting fragile, and has always preferred Risen’s older sister; she also almost never spoke to her younger daughter. The restoration of their new house and property, a chunk of a former large estate, is narrated concurrently with Risen’s quest to understand her parents.

The reason that the author was so taken by this rundown and overgrown piece of property is that it’s on a ravine and is like a piece of forest in the urban setting. As a child, she would escape into the forested ravine behind her house, spending hours there away from her parents, who apparently didn’t care that she was never home. It’s also a challenge, I suspect; if she can make this garden beautiful and orderly, maybe her gardener mother will finally think her worthy of love and attention. Sadly, over the ten years of so it takes to renovate the acre, her mother has a stroke and then develops dementia. Despite Risen’s insistence that she get on a plane and visit, she will never see this piece of property. But when the author and her sister clean out her mother’s place as she is moved to a home, they find a cache of old papers- papers that may hold some answers to her questions about her immigrant parent’s origins.

I really felt for the author; like her, my now dead parents are a deep mystery. Unlike her, there is no folder of hints or clues, but her search for answers struck a chord with me. The urge to know where one came from is, I think, fairly universal, and to have parents who never speak of the past leaves a hole in one’s heart. I’m also an avid gardener, and would love to have a property with old oaks, a redwood, a spring fed pond, and an old falling down pagoda. I understand the amount of work it would take to bring a place like that back into orderliness, although I have no comprehension of the amount of money it took them with all that they hired to have done- had the concrete pagoda rebuilt, professional arborists, landscape designers, a pool installed- their place is the proverbial money pit.

Risen does remember her mother’s lessons on wildcrafting; each chapter ends with a recipe or craft done with plants from the land. Risen also chronicles her son growing up; he’s not very much into gardening-he’s a computer kid- but he does enjoy the paths and the pond, wildlife, and some of the crafts. The garden provides them with ways to be closer.

The story is bookended by deaths; the author’s father begins it and her mother’s ends it. Risen has not found the answers she wanted, but she has learned some of what made them who they were. And she feels they did, as my mother said she did, ‘the best they could’. I really liked the book, even though I found the author frustrating at times as she had moments of immaturity. I stayed up nights reading it, and thinking about it when I was out gardening.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book about life, largely, but also about a fabulous garden the author discovered after buying a home backing on to a ravine in Toronto. Wonderful and a real pleasure to read.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Alexandra Risen has written a universal gardeners story and immigrants life lesson and parenting in nature lessons one thru ten all in one book. It is rather extraordinary how many of its themes touch my own life and interests right now. The decisions of palliative care, a good death, silence about the war, not being a boy, finding craftsmen who share your vision enough to fill in the unknowns, the joy of discovery, ... the list is long. And yet the chapters flow quite naturally from one to the next. I read it in three days while work was being done, or not, on our house and each encounter with this family and their enormous ravine project lifted my spirits. A perfect book to encounter in the late summer.

[Diane Schuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really should not have read this over such a long stretch of time -- it was in-between reading and late-night before-bed so I may have an unfairly jaded view for that reason.

I enjoyed her writing style but felt that sometimes too much detail was spent on the garden aspect. And I'm a gardener! I did enjoy how she finally brought things together and, especially what she got out of her gardening and how it helped her deal with her life with her parents, and her sister to a degree as well.

Hard to rate and likely unfair to star this because of how long it took me to read it, but in the end I did like it.

[Angie Vancise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Risen's narrative throughout this memoir is witty and genuine as she takes the reader on a regeneration of a backyard garden in a city where backyards have become a thing of the past. Her use of flowers and shrubs, herbs etc to describe scenes and emotions were clever and gave me goosebumps. The descriptions painted a vivid image of just what the backyard grew to be after a ton of blood, sweat and tears went into it. I found it funny and I couldn't put it down. I have used a couple of the recipes too! Great job, an overall feel good story of a journey beyond just her garden.


Angie Vancise, author of Cry of an Osprey

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book - the match between the book and the reader is terrific for a start. I'm still amazed that an acre abandoned garden could be in the middle of downtown Toronto! What a crazy amount of work with the pagoda, the koi and duck ponds, aggressive invasive weeds ... I find Alex Risen to be disarmingly honest about mistakes of parenting or occasional petulance (we aren't always perfect, are we!) as well as her having to come to terms with her parents doing the best they could even though she sees her childhood as a cold experience.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an engrossing tale which twined together Risen's search for her family background, the death of her mother and the resurrection of a derelict garden and pagoda in a Toronto ravine. Well written, deep, honest, poignant. Risen acknowledges and is grateful for the blessings in her life. I kept thinking, "These people must be very rich to hire all these people to fix up this garden and pagoda and to travel back and forth to Edmonton." Cam must make a lot of money because there is never a mention of Alexandra working for pay.

[Pegi Eyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed "Unearthed" and the many themes related to nature immersion, plant knowledge, gardening and earth remediation. Also of incredible importance is the discussion around reconnecting to our ancestry, as so much of our heritage(s) in Canada were lost in diaspora, the immigration process and through Settler-Colonialism. I was incredibly moved by the author's honest memoir of this process in her own life. A truly beautiful book for our time!

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an enchanting read. The story is about a family moving into a house with a "wild backyard". As she strives to keep the wildness while cultivating a way to be able to move through the yard, she also shares stories of her family life. At times it was a wee bit pretentious (maybe I'm just jealous not to have endless amounts of $$ to do the work we need to do in our yard). But for the most part I really enjoyed it.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I received this book for free through Goodreads giveaways*

As a gardener and avid forager, I enjoyed reading about the experiences of Alexandra Risen and her family with their garden. I loved the inclusion of the recipes for foraged foods- and can't wait to try some of them for myself. Beautiful memoir, recommend!

[Lynn Wyvill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sitting in a lovely space of book completion, where I can say, "Ah, what a lovely book." The author wove together her history, her love and concerns for her son and her relationship with her partner into a lumpy and real story. The garden evolves as life does, with unexpected turns and surprising joys. And I'm left with satisfaction and hope for my own unwieldy garden of living.

[Sari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author and her husband purchase a home with an overgrown ravine in their backyard. Over multiple years they reclaim and restore it with the help of numerous hired workers and volunteers. Nature enriches them and their son. Juxtaposed in this memoir is the author's loss of first her father and then her mother, as she seeks to learn about her parents' past in the Ukraine.

[Diana Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intimate, genuine, soulful and bare, this memoir hit home. Not just for gardeners (although any horticultural interest, from experienced to amateur, will appreciate), Risen’s is a story for mothers, for daughters, for those searching for a connection to their homeland, their history, their roots and their futures.

Beautiful. A Canadian gem.

[Maeghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't start this book if you have other things to do like work or eating. I picked it up from the library where it had been on a display and I happened to see it. Could. Not. Put. It. Down. Odd for the genre, but true nonetheless. Perfect for a rainy or snowy day when you can't get out to garden.

[Stephanie Abrams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As an avid gardener, I identified with the author some of the challenges I have experienced with my garden. Having recently lost both my parents, this book really hit home in the sense of learning where you came from and keeping my parents' memories alive. Thank you for a wonderful story.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the perfect time of year to read about a garden restoration. And it's even better that I didn't do any of the work. The author did a wonderful job of transporting me to her garden. This also has a little more depth with her struggles with her parents.

[Julia Alleyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great memoir. Even more meaningful if you have any of the following threads in your life...a garden, lived in Toronto, eastern European blood, parents and children, trying to understand marriage. Through the garden, each chapter reveals more and more of life's truths.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love, death, grief...restoring a garden as well as a past. I liked this book a lot, the writing, the people, the plants, the pond. Being the eldest child of immigrants to Canada in 1959 I related to a lot of Risen's memories, her childhood. Glad I picked this one up.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful written! A heartfelt story.

[Vontel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent on so many fronts! Highly recommend.

[Carrie C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! Reminded me a bit about my grandparents garden in Toronto.