The Garden of Longing

by Gavin Eyers

Long-abandoned Heron House is being restored and Robert has landed the job of his dreams: to turn its overgrown garden into a place of beauty. He soon learns that nothing is as it should be. His garden grows unnaturally fast, he finds an old diary with entries written in fresh wet ink, and night after night he dreams that he's not sleeping alone. The house is filled with loneliness and the ghosts of past residents – the victims of a shocking Victorian crime. Robert finds it difficult to leave…

Genres: Fiction

281 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2020

About the author

Usually told around the beginning or end of relationships, his fiction sometimes has a ghost or two peering in, somewhere... His flash fiction story 'Shubunkin' was shortlisted for the 2021 Farnham Flash Fiction Award, and his short story 'Here Too' was recently published by The Fiction Desk in the anthology New Ghost Stories IV. His debut novel, The Deceit Birds, published in 2016, his second, The Garden of Longing, in 2020. His latest book, Amber in December: A Christmas Novella, is out now. He lives in Bracknell, England.

Reviews

[Linda Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited to receive this Ebook from Goodreads, and just in time to read for spooky season! It did its job and kept me in suspense right from the beginning.
Robert, the narrator, is a lonely young man who lives with his parents and has serious self esteem issues. In a gamble to find a better life, he impetuously applies to a newspaper ad. Heron House, abandoned for years, is being renovated into a hotel, and the new owners are looking for a gardener to bring the once beautiful gardens back to life. Robert is immediately hired and the suspenseful story takes off. There were so many things to wonder about as I read. Why won't the owners spend the night there? Why does the old woman in the nearby cottage tell him to, "Piss off and go back to London?" How do the plants grow to fill in the garden so unnaturally quickly? And who brutally murdered the beautiful lady and her young son in the 1800's? Plus, The Garden of Longing is about finding love as well as finding ghosts.
I had a hard time putting Robert's story aside. I needed to understand what was happening. This is a book you will enjoy...I highly recommend it as a perfect book for October!

[Phyllis Krall · Rating 5 out of 5]

An old Victorian house is filled with secrets, ghosts, and murder. All is not what it should be in Heron House, where Robert takes a job as gardener while the house is being renovated during the summer.. As he restores the garden , everything he plants grows at an alarmingly fast rate. Robert feels as if someone is always in the house with him and has strange dreams about the people who lived there.
When he finds an open diary, written in fresh ink , all is revealed. He discovers that a murder was committed there and tries to find out all he can about the horrible event. When it is time for him to leave, Robert finds himself pulled into the past and his dreams become reality.

I received this E book as a gift from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review. It was hard to put down and I cannot stop thinking about Heron House and the supernatural events that happened there.
Highly recommended!

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

My apologies to Mr. Eyers. I could have sworn, I completed this review; but, I goofed!
Thank-you for providing an opportunity to read this.

This was lovely story. It's obvious, there is a passion for nature & gardening. Fortunately, Eyers doesn't belabor the descriptions like some authors. The garden becomes the scene of transcendance & hope, and a metaphor is sublty built to the ending climax. I did have a bit of trouble with the intro. It felt more a story about 'place' than people. There was very little initial action as the author spent time setting up the garden. Zzz It must also be pointed out; that much of the action happens BEFORE the internet & cell phones take off. So, it wasn't initially clear & I kept wondering WHY they didn't just Google something or whip out the handy...

But at 10% in; the 'strangeness' starts to pull you in. Oddities and strange happenings that Robert notes; but, doesn't quite see the significance. It is well done and suddenly, this became an all-night-read for me. Would I read it again? Yes!

The element of a 'ghost' story along w/a well-developed mystery, crime & romance made this a must buy. I felt as if Eyers took elements from all my favorite authors & combined them seamlessly into a wonderful read. As he stitches together the details, the garden becomes both a place and an metaphor for Robert's evolution. Common items, that were presented earlier as oddities are assembled into greater significance as you reach the ending. As it should be!

I do not like comparing authors to other authors or their works. But the elements of a gothic mystery/romance were familiar enough to feel 'recycled' some times. But then... Not. Eyers did craft a unique voice for his male lead (Robert) and the handling of the paranormal aspects keep it real enough to be believable. This would have easily been five stars if the intro had been more engaging. Instead, the reader is handed pieces of a puzzle they don't even know they are putting together. But, the ending is DEFINITELY worth the effort!

[Annemarie Neary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A compelling story of love transcending time and death. The present-day narrator, Robert, has come to Heron House in order to sort out its overgrown garden in preparation for plans to turn the old house into a hotel. However, he soon finds himself entangled in another story entirely. When he discovers the diary of a Victorian woman, Charlotte, he begins to discern her presence in the house. Soon, her lavender perfume is on his pillow and Charlotte, who created the garden in the first place, is everywhere. But has Charlotte entered Robert's world, or is he beginning to inhabit hers? A dark past lies at the heart of this book, and it is this (and Robert's efforts to unravel and remake it) that gives the novel much of its narrative impetus. This is a strong, deeply romantic story with thrillerish elements. And, like all the very best ghost stories, it is utterly plausible. But the quality of the writing is also top-notch - quietly poetic, never overwritten, unerringly precise. I strongly recommend this book.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story takes place in the early 1990’s in London. It’s about a man named Robert who is in his early 30’s. He lives with his parents, introverted, and insecure. He has a boring office job but suddenly decides to take up an ad from a couple looking for a gardener to fix up an old estate garden located in some village 50 miles away. He underestimated the task at the enormous mansion. It’s completely overgrown and huge. The couple plans to renovate it into a hotel but have a tight budget so it’s mostly Robert there and one other interior worker who comes and goes. He mostly sleeps ALONE in this giant mansion. The story builds really slowly as you meet the villagers and learn about the 150+ year old estate. A mother and son were murdered there over a hundred years ago. Things start to get creepy during the day and night. Ghostly sightings. The garden growing abnormally fast. Alarms setting off in the night. But something calls to Robert and eventually he steals a diary from a villager. Awful I know. At least he knows he did a bad thing I guess. Then begins some strange time warp between him and a ghost that turns into longing between the two. So I’ll leave it that but it was actually pretty good and I liked some of the side characters like the villagers. You also get to know Robert really well and the differences between the way he sees himself versus how everyone else sees him and it’s pretty interesting. If you like paranormal romance set in an old mansion and some scary stuff going on then this is the book for you!

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lot darker mystery novel than I've been reading lately but I devoured it. An introverted gardener who spends his idle time reading romance novels takes a job at the 300 year old Heron House. As he works in the neglected garden, he uncovers it's history. And then, the vivid dreams start. Who is the woman with chestnut-colored hair who keeps coming to his mind? Then, he steals the diary of a long-dead woman and he uncovers things which were better left in the past. Yet he digs deeper into the past and finds he doesn't want to leave the house.

[Pablo Soto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange and Addicting

The story is very strange and I found it to be addicting. I had a hard time putting this one down. Grateful to have received it as a giveaway, as it's not something I would typically pick out for myself. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the story and the characters.

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better than I thought it would be; my expectations were low but I did like the idea of a haunt going both ways. I think I remember reading a tumblr post like about that at one point in the past. Anyway, the main character was like, distressingly self-conscious sometimes, which honestly gave him some charm.

[Amber Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wait what?!

This book is beautifully written and the story really pulls you in. The end ruined the book for me. There were a lot of loose ends left untied. I wish it had ended differently. I just feel sad now.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book quite a bit but near the very end it became quite confusing. Too many unanswered questions? I think I know what happened but I’m not sure? So confusing.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, heartfelt and haunting story that will provide readers a satisfying and involving reading experience. Recommended 4 star book.

My thanks to goodreads and the book’s giveaway sponsors for the opportunity to obtain and read a copy of this book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Held my attention throughout

[Eugenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written book that kept my attention until the end.

[Marie-Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful written and hauntingly romantic! I could not put this book down!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coming-of-age novel for 20-something Robert. The Garden of Longing has a small town filled with an eclectic group of characters, a centuries-old home being remodeled, a diary that writes itself, a young man discovering who he truly is, and even murder.

I enjoyed the characters but felt they were a little slapdash and not fully developed. The book feels as though the outline is there but the details haven't been fleshed out.