The Garden House: A Novel

by Marcia Willett

Marcia Willett's The Garden House is a charming and heartwarming novel about family, yearning, and long-buried secrets …

Genres: Fiction, Romance, British Literature, Contemporary, Adult, Grief, Friendship

249 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 17, 2021

About the author

Marcia Willett began her career as a novelist when she was fifty years old. Since that first novel Marcia has written twenty more under her own name as well as a number of short stories. She has also written four books under the pseudonym "Willa Marsh", and is published in more than sixteen countries.
Marcia Willett's early life was devoted to the ballet, but her dreams of becoming a ballerina ended when she grew out of the classical proportions required. She had always loved books, and a family crisis made her take up a new career as a novelist - a decision she had never regretted.

Reviews

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

After her father, Marti,n dies, El decides to move to his cottage in the town of Tavistock in Devon. Julia is also mourning Martin. The relationship between Julia and Martin was one neither of their families knew about. They used to often meet at The Garden House. The relationship between Will, her stepbrother, and El is getting complicated. When he comes to help El sort through and dispose of some of Martin’s things, El learns there were things her father was hiding. She is determined to uncover the truth.
A story of grief, family and love it took a while to settle in as there seemed to be too many characters and their various stories happening. Once it settled and I put them all all in context, I was happier.
The story rambles around a bit with characters that are largely likable and the setting is good. The ending seemed a bit rushed but, all in all, a light and entertaining read. Have to say though it never fully engaged the emotions of this reader. Still, a pleasant way to spend some time if not exactly a memorable story.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catching up…

Heartwarming story about family, yearning and long-buried secrets.

El is trying to find her way. Fresh out of university and also dealing with the loss of her father, Martin, she moves into his home in the countryside. Her step-brother, and friend, Will comes to help her.

And…

While living in the house, she begins to discover things about her father she and her family didn’t know about him.

Secrets.

Including…

Mysterious messages on his phone.

Julia is also grieving the loss of Martin.

But…

Secretly. They communicated in text message code, and their memories were spent at the Garden House. A place they met and fell in love.

Will El and Will finally figure out the messages on the phone, and come face-to-face with Julia? 3.5 stars

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realise how much this book had affected me until I turned the final page and then the tears came. A wonderful, gentle story about family secrets and following your own path after a bereavement. My first read by Marcia Willett (I must admit I bought it purely on the basis of the charming cover) and I will now be searching out more of her novels to see if they stir the same sorts of emotions in me.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story of love and loss, family and friendships. There are quite a few characters in this story, some of which are not really quite memorable. As for the main characters, I liked their story and their efforts to identify and make closure and move on, as well as identify some hidden secrets.
A nice, calm, quiet read for me on a cold winters day. 😉

[Eros Bittersweet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
(TW: homophobia)
Apologies if you see this twice. I tried to mark it as having spoilers and Goodreads just deleted it entirely!?

***

Back in pre-pandemic times I used to occasionally go to a nearby Starbucks to work when I wanted to get out of the house. This Starbucks bordered on a super-rich area of town. So, it was always filled with super-rich people gabbing over their coffee and made for the most entertaining eavesdropping. I’d overhear elaborate stories about so-and-so selling their vacation home, and so-and-so downsizing their family estate, and so-and-so having an affair with so-and-so’s husband, and the daughter of so-and-so being taken with the son of so-and-so, “which is such a shame, because he’s gay.” Ouch. And not okay.

And this is exactly the tenor of this book, down to the casual and likely unintentional homophobia? This is a story that most readers have described as cozy and gentle. And I get where that’s coming from: this is a book about the relationships between a deceased man’s family, former circle of friends, and his secret lover which aims for low-drama domestic coziness. As a result of the events in this book, the deceased man’s daughter winds up living happily-ever-after at his former house in the countryside. His former friends talk incessantly amongst each other about how to downsize or laterally move amongst their many properties. His secret lover, and this seems like the most British thing ever, is constantly being recognized from a show she presented for the BBC called Cakes and Ales. There’s many slice-of -life descriptions of people running into each other at the local pub, having coffee together, day-drinking (an unreasonable amount of mid-day wine is consumed), gossiping, making very strange excuses for cheating (apparently cheating is something that just sometimes…happens?! And everyone’s cool with it when it’s their longtime friends doing it, especially if the guy’s marriage is known to be bad!? Can’t say I agree, but all right). There’s also a lot of wandering around the titular Garden House looking for clues about the deceased man’s love-affair, using decoded text messages on his phone as clues.

All that is mostly frothy and fun and cozy. But the homophobia?!

Okay, let’s go through what it consists of. There are three queer characters in this book and none of them are handled that sensitively. The first is Christian, the hero Will’s best friend. Will’s got a long history with this guy. They’ve gone through pilot training together. They live together as roommates. They are frequently pilot and co-pilot on commercial flights. Will, to piss off his annoying stepmom, once invited Christian to a family holiday dinner where they both wore pink shirts and trolled everyone into believing they were both gay.

Inviting your queer friend into a queerphobic environment to troll your family members is just not a kind thing to do to that friend? For the sake of argument, let’s say Christian was in on it, and he fully consented to trolling Will’s family for a laugh, knowing the probable outcome, that he would be “hated” by the homophobic family members, as the text says he is. But it doesn’t end there. The main outcome is that as a result, everyone in the family now believes Will is gay, though he’s never said anything about his sexual identity. And the way this is conveyed in the heroine’s thoughts! El’s evidence for Will’s queerness, besides this family holiday trolling, is that Will has a Kylie CD in his car which he tells her is Christian’s (I don’t know what 27-year-old is playing CDs in their car in the year 2021, but we’ll roll with it) and he also buys some pottery for Christian at the market. They are obviously together, she concludes, and Christian’s love language is handmade pottery and Kylie CDs.

El has this massive crush on the Will, but repeatedly thinks about what a “waste” and a “pity” it is that he’s gay?! His being presumed gay forms the main impediment to their relationship, and it’s somehow more of a barrier than the fact that these two are stepbrother and sister. That’s right, they’re technically siblings.

This is not okay. I mean, the “technically they’re siblings” thing is jarring but that’s not the thing here. The narrative makes it clear that they were adults at the time their parents married and never lived together as siblings and it’s uncomfortable for everyone, but whatever. The queerphobia is what’s not okay. Saying it’s a “waste” for someone to be queer implies that hetero relationships are better than queer ones, and that a man’s life is inferior if he isn’t settling down with a woman. That’s a toxic way to think about queer people. It would be fine for the heroine to struggle with his presumed identity in the face of her attraction: for example, internally expressing envy of the lucky man he gets to be with. But it’s not all right for her to put down his identity in the way she does as lesser than a straight identity. And look, I know the audience here is likely older people, and that casually including three queer characters in a fairly conservative book aimed at older people still indicates a cultural shift unimaginable 20 years ago. But if your grandma is reading this book thinking it’s okay to call queer people “a waste” and “a pity….” I just think it’s evident we can collectively do better, for the sake of all our moms and grandmas who want to read about queer side-characters in their women’s fic.

There’s another gay bestie in this plot. The Cakes and Ale presenter Julia, the mystery lover of the deceased man, has a friend named Dave. Who is in this book to validate Julia’s former relationship by putting down his own past relationship and his own struggles. When Julia confesses to Dave that she had a longtime relationship with a divorced man who has recently died, and her existence is unknown by his surviving family, Dave is extremely sympathetic. Julia remarks that Dave’s had his struggles as well – his former partner left him. Dave says that it was ‘different’: “Phil and I were like an ongoing sitcom. Everyone knew about it. They were taking bets on how long we’d last.” This hits on some cruel cliches about queer relationships being inherently unstable and unserious. Later, Dave de-centers himself again to validate Julia’s tragedy, saying “I’ve been feeling pretty low and sorry for myself, and now I know what you’ve been going through for these last few weeks I’m quite ashamed of myself.” Julia does tell Dave to feel his feelings. But there’s no need for the narration to use Dave’s breakup to emphasise that Julia’s heartbreak is more valid than his own emotional pain. Combined with the previous sentiments about queerness being a “shame” and a “pity,” it amounts to using queer characters to validate the greater legitimacy of straight ones.

And finally, Issey is a lesbian who keeps running into this side-character named Plum, whose lesbianism is treated as straight-up villainy. Plum and Issey went to school together and Issey is, like, literally obsessed with Plum, stalking her around town and coercing her into sinister, uh, coffee dates. We know she’s a lesbian because she has an ex she’s told Plum was named “George” but was actually named “Georgina.” So, she’s not out to Plum. Other characters think of her as a “loose canon” out to cause trouble for Plum, simply because she looks animated and happy around Plum, which is just bizarre. Those lesbians, with their friendliness and their arm-twisting you into going out for coffee- how can anyone trust them, am I right?!

Plum, in a moment of alcohol-induced weakness (I mean, the volume of day-drinking in this novel; it’s understandable), has confessed to Issey that she had a one-night stand with Martin before his marriage ended, the same man who went on to develop a relationship with Julia. Issey fantasizes that she’s going to use this knowledge to ostracize Plum from her friends by dropping a “Plum had an affair with Martin” truth bomb on them, so she can drive them away from Plum and become her closest friend. This plot is resolved by another character, Kate, confronting Issey privately in a bathroom. Kate, who already knows about Plum’s affair with Martin, threatens to out Issey’s suspected attraction to Plum, which causes Issey to flee in shame. She is never seen again on the page. So Issey’s supposedly terrible for seeming to be attracted to Plum, and contemplating telling the truth about Plum, when Plum’s the one who cheated on her husband with a married man.
Just for the record: outing closeted characters: not kind or good. This is homophobic. Using a character’s sexuality as a threat that endangers another character? Also homophobic. The long and the short of it: Don’t write a one-note lesbian villain in a cozy women’s fic whose purpose is to obsessively worm her way into another character’s life, making her queerness threatening to straight characters.

Issey also thinks it’s highly stupid that Plum is actually named Victoria yet goes by Plum. Reader, is she wrong?

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many love stories! There are many characters that are so well written in this book. I'm not a fan of this part of England (sorry), but the descriptions were beautiful.

Family dynamics are everything here. I think I'll send a copy to my daughter.........

[Marta · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was such a shame that a book with a pleasant, relaxing and effortless premise wasn’t nearly as much of an easy read as I’d hoped. The characters aren’t delved into enough, what is supposed to be a sentimental “mystery” is solved far too quickly, and any of the conflicts appear to inexplicably peter put with nothing realistic or elaborate whatsoever. Despite this, certain minute details linked to characters’ homes and addresses are thrown in to only confuse the reader further. I was disappointed to say the least!

[Julie Spratt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favourite of her books. I was almost waiting for something to happen with every page I turned but nothing really did. Nice story and pleasant characters but this one not for me.

[Deidra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the mystery and little surprises along the way. Sweet story.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picking up a book by this author is liking reconnecting with friends. Always good

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant story about a young woman inheriting her father's cottage in Devon and making a life for herself after university. Much slighter than Willett's usual books but she manages to include Cassie and Kate, who are cherished recurring characters.

[Amy Widdowson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda boring and characters all over the place without having any meaning in the plot.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters from her first book are aging now, kids all grown. Now they're helping the next generation navigate relationships, life, and grief.

[K. East · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have read many reviews in the past where a reader has said s/he just didn't really care about or connect with any of the characters. I've read over a thousand books in the last decade and I can say I have never failed to have some kind of reaction -- good or bad -- about a character. Until this book. I fear this will have to be a DNF because I'm more than half way through this novel and I can honestly say that I still can find no connection with any of these characters. I don't like or dislike and of them [well, I suspect Izzy is going to turn out to be nasty] because they feel like weak shadows of real human beings. I can't seem to get a sense of where this book might be headed or what the theme or controlling idea might be and 150 pages is a long way into a short book to still be without a direction. The book seems to have a lengthy wait list at the library so the next person on the list might be more pleased with this book than I am. Life has become too uncertain the last few years to spend a lot of time on a book that does not speak to me and I have hundreds more to chose from every month. I wish the next reader greater luck.

[Gisselle C. Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DISCLAIMER: This review may contain spoilers for The Garden House.

The Garden House by Marcia Willett is a tale of love, grief, death, and secrets uncovered. Fresh out of university, El moves to the small town of Tavistock following the abrupt death of her father, Martin, and inherits his home in the countryside called the Pig Pen. Grappling with her new reality after her father’s death and figuring out what to pursue in life after university, El accepts the help of her stepbrother, Will, in maneuvering through her grief and sorting through Martin’s belongings. When El finds Martin’s phone and discovers coded text messages from someone called “J” within, El realizes that there was more to her father than she knew. As El and Will work to decipher the codes in the texts, they get closer to the truth, to the mysterious “J,” and to each other.
The Garden House is a charming little story about family, the process of grief after death, and the revelation that, sometimes, you find out that people you thought you knew will have secrets, and that’s okay. However, it was difficult to get into it at first; the beginning was extremely slow-paced, there were a myriad of characters introduced that I struggled to remember, and Willett’s style appears to be (at least in this book) to provide as much detail as possible, despite it not bolstering the performance of the plot. An example of this can be found below:

The black car gleams under the overhead lights and, as he presses the button on his keys and the indicators flick, he takes a moment to appreciate its lines. To the untrained eye it is like any other large saloon, but to the enthusiast it is an understated achievement, quiet power and quality. The Phaeton is his pride, joy... and money sink. Bought to celebrate his command - and to irritate his stepmother - it is the perfect vehicle for a new captain.

Willett’s characters add a lot of dimension to the story and of our examination of Martin's absent character. Each person introduced – Angus, Kate, Plum, Julia, and even Will – provided their own insights into Martin’s character. We are able to see into their minds and witness their thoughts concerning events and other characters within the text. Yet, while this was valuable, I felt at times that these characters' thoughts were sometimes irrelevant to the story and served as more of a distraction; there were too many times the side characters jolted our attention away from El uncovering Martin's secrets, and instead we were treated to Kate's fondness toward Angus or Will's disdain towards Felicity, El's mother and Will's stepmother.

Moreover, for all the characters that Willett does introduce, we never get to know any characters outside of Tavistock, such as Felicity. There is a distinct lack of a differing perspective, and it is due to this that I feel that a lot of this story felt wholly biased and one-sided in its narrative, despite the omniscience of how its told. Martin and El's company in Tavistock consists of a lot of "yes people;" these friends did not take issue with Martin cheating on his wife (regardless of whether or not Felicity was a horrid woman) or El and Will pursuing a romantic relationship with one another, despite being stepsiblings. It just appeared that for all these people care for one another, they outright refuse to call each other out on their actions.

​Yet, regardless of the above observations, I did like this book. The more I read, the more I began to appreciate the story for what it was. The Garden House is a tale of life after death and the love that exists thereafter. While the description of the novel lends itself to allowing for a more sinister plot, this is a simple story of a daughter coping with the loss of her father and coming to terms with the fact that there were parts of his life that she did not know. Willett captures the whirlwind of grief and acceptance beautifully, and while I have not experienced the loss of a parent at this point in my life, it was tangible enough that I painfully empathized with the pain that was tangible in the novel's pages. This doesn’t have to be a mystery thriller or contain a dark revelation of Martin’s past; to simply examine the impact of a loved one’s death on a person is powerful enough by itself.

As Vision says so beautifully in WandaVision: “What is grief, if not love persevering?”

[Wendy W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Garden House
by Marcia Willett

Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A charming, emotional book with a group of supporting characters that combine to make a very satisfying journey to an idyllic village.

Publishers Blurb:
After the death of her father, El moves into his home just outside Tavistock in Devon. Fresh out of university and dangling on the precipice of adulthood she questions what it is she really wants from life. Although her childhood friend, Will, is there to help her through her grief she soon realises there were things her father was hiding from her…

Jules is also mourning Martin, but they thought best to keep their relationship secret, she must now grieve entirely alone. All she has to remember her love are the memories of their time spent at a beautiful community garden and teashop nearby. The Garden House is where they met, fell in love and where their secret affair will inevitably be uncovered.

As El and Will begin to piece together her father’s secrets they bring them closer and closer to both Jules and a truth that is difficult to face.

My Take:
After a slow start with a lot of backstory and details, this story became a charming look at families, grief, love, and secrets. The author, Marcia Willett, is masterful at description, and I felt at home in the charming village of Tavisiston. I love a small town/village story full of interesting characters all with their own quirks, challenges and drama. The story is told from various points of view, to include the main characters and many of the other characters. I liked the way the author took us into the thoughts of the various story characters.

The story mainly deals with grief and love, and the different ways the characters deal with these emotions. I enjoyed the way El and Will followed and solved the puzzles left by her father that opened a piece of his life that they never knew existed.

I always love a book that transports me to a new place, and I liked that Taviston is a real town, in a real country. The Author knows the area very well and I liked all the details about the various areas in the story.

About the Author:
Marcia Willett began her career as a novelist when she was fifty years old. Since that first novel Marcia has written twenty more under her own name as well as a number of short stories. She has also written four books under the pseudonym "Willa Marsh", and is published in more than sixteen countries.

Marcia Willett's early life was devoted to the ballet, but her dreams of becoming a ballerina ended when she grew out of the classical proportions required. She had always loved books, and a family crisis made her take up a new career as a novelist - a decision she has never regretted. She lives in a beautiful and wild part of Devon where she loves to be visited by her son and young family.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend this book as a feel good emotional read.

This review is based on NetGalley ARC provided in exchange for an honest, unbiased opinion.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the English countryside, Martin a father dies unexpectedly leaving his small village cottage to his adult daughter El. Two women in the village have secrets in how they know Martin and how well. When El finds his phone, she is baffled and surprised by a series of mysterious texts seemingly in code. How will she find out about her father’s secret life and why he felt a need to keep it quiet? After all, he had been divorced from her controlling mother for years and living alone. How will things work out for she and her stepbrother/friend Will as they work alongside each other increasingly closer figuring out the clues? How will the 2women who were close to Martin in secret find peace as they each grieve his loss?

+ gentle story about grieving & the need for friends as well as solitude-long walks with dogs
+ learning to see your parents as adults separate from yourself with their own needs & lives
+ beautiful descriptions of English countryside, villages, tea houses, gardens
+ lovely descriptions of stars and air flight
+beautiful textured acrylic or oil painting cover of a house with a red tiled roof and stucco walls with lots of flowers-peaceful

- Negatives: gay & lesbian characters ALL perpetrate stereotypes about homosexuality: if you have a close gay friend, you must be gay. Putting your gay friend in the position of ridicule by pretending to be his partner to rile your new stepmother. Main female character calling it a “shame” and “Waste” thinking this attractive man is gay. Leave it at: she was jealous of their relationship and wished he had a straight brother.
Lesbian as manipulative unbalanced person- no, no, no, don’t go there!!!
Male gay friend whose relationship loss is less valued because it was “like a sitcom “ full of drama. When I thought the publication date was 30-40 years ago, I cringed & hoped the author met some real LGBTQ folks since then , but it’s 2021- yikes!!!

91 She knows that Davies is one of the few people she could confide in without risking the pit balls that go with sharing the pain of bereavement. He won’t over emote or do that all for competitive grieving thing, he’ll just be there, but even so she needs to feel strong. It’s odd that it’s so easy to feel even weaker after sharing these feelings than before, and it’s perilously difficult to get the timing right.
200 don’t be so hard on yourself, he says. This grieving business is really tough and you’re still a beginner. It’s like being a bit crazy all the time. Sometimes you feel normal, other times you feel desolate. Sometimes, when you’re having a really good time you feel terribly guilty. You get these mood swings and it’s terribly bloody. Just don’t feel guilty about any of it.
248 & 101 Crosby, stills, Nash and Young. Woodstock. We are Stardust, we are golden. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my third Marcia Willett read since discovering the author, who is heir apparent to the Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy school of books. Her books are usually shorter than theirs, but share the coziness factor of family and old friends and the dramas that ensue in their lives. I am a big reader of mysteries, but every once in a while my soul needs something gentle and soft, to remind me the world is a lovely place, and Willett's books fill this need.

The Garden House opens with El, whose father Martin recently died, deciding to live in the house, called the Pig Pen, which he has left her in his will. She has just graduated university and is a bit up in the air as to what to do with her life. She steps into the small Devon town where Martin's old friends embrace and welcome her to their fold. El is happy for this, as she stayed closer to her father after her parent's divorce, and her Mother doesn't forgive her for this. Her Mother has remarried, and the only bright spot to come out of that is the addition of Will to her family. He is technically a step brother, but as they were both adults when their parents married, he feels more like a friend. There is some confusion over whether Will, who is a pilot, is gay, as he lives with his good friend Christian who is definitely gay. This complicates El's evolving feelings for Will.

There is a small mystery in the background, as El finds a message on Martin's phone which indicates that he had a lady friend in his life who was important to him. But the messages are cryptic and coded, and Will and El begin to make a game of unraveling who this mystery woman could be. Meanwhile we hear the story of this mystery woman, Julia, from her viewpoint, as she tries to decide if she should come forward and confess to Martin's daughter the relationship they were hiding.

There are some small side dramas amongst the friend group which make the story a bit more interesting and rich. I will confess that I did not get quite as drawn into this story as I have some of the past ones, but I still enjoyed it immensely.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and author Marcia Willett for allowing me to read this ARC.

[Jackie M · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Garden House. A Novel by Marcia Willett, St. Martin's Press, 2021

This book is about new university graduate El, grieving her beloved father Martin’s recent sudden death. Never forgiven by her now remarried mother for continuing to see her father after her parents’ divorce, El inherits and moves into Martin’s house on the Devon moors, finds a part-time job at a nearby book store, and sets out to build a new life supported by her step-brother Will and Martin’s friends.

The story is also about Julia, widowed mother of two sons and Martin’s lover, a secret they intended to keep only temporarily to avoid upsetting their children. When El finds coded messages between them on Martin’s phone, she enlists Will’s help in figuring them out. Meanwhile, life goes on for El and Martin and Julia and Will’s friends and families, their everyday happenings are woven into the story.

Marcia Willett is a wonderful story teller with an approach to character development that, when I first encountered her in the 1990s, reminded me of Rosamunde Pilcher. The two share elements of their writing style that simply captivate and engage readers such as developing kind and realistic characters, describing beautiful settings, weaving in rich details of everyday life and letting secrets came to light

It was lovely to meet Martin’s friends Cass and Kate again in this book, as following a series of my own moves and periods of study, I lost track of these old acquaintances, as I did this author.

I have to admit that I gobbled up this book faster than I should have. Now I will need to go back, reread and catch up.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of The Garden House for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. #TheGardenHouse #NetGalley

[Gina House · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first introduction to the world of Marcia Willet. I really wanted to love this book, but I think it just wasn't quite for me. I think part of the problem was that I was reading a novel by Rosamunde Pilcher at the same time and comparing the two was not good.

Although both writers have a lovely and engaging writing style, I felt that RP has more cozy domestic details, wit and "sparkle". I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading The Garden House, but it didn't entirely wow me like I was hoping it would.

Possible Spoilers Next....

I think one of the problems I had with the novel was that I was confused why Julia and Martin had to keep their relationship so secret. It baffled me. I can understand that Julia couldn't marry because she would lose her widow's pension, but they could have still had some sort of relationship. And, after Martin was divorced, it would have been "safe" to acknowledge their relationship publicly. Why were they so afraid to tell their almost grown up children??

The other issue is that books about people not communicating simple things frustrate me. El could have very easily (at almost any time) asked Wil whether he was in a relationship with Christopher. They spent so many days together alone and it seems unlikely to me that there was never a "good time" to ask. Especially if they were trying to get to know each other as friends. So much emotional pain to endure for no reason...ugh.

I'm glad that I read this book, but I would highly suggest not reading a Marcia Willet at the same time as a Rosamunde Pilcher. I may give her books another chance because so many of my friends love them, but I think I've been spoiled by RP and I have a hard time reading a book that so alike (but not quite) in writing style and genre.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

El’s dad died, and she has inherited his home. She has a lot to do to make herself comfortable, living alone with fond memories of her father. Her mother and father divorced, and her mother and brother resented the fact that she still wanted to spend time with her dad. As she morns, Will, the son of her mother’s new husband, is the only one she feels comfortable with sharing her grief. He lost his mother when he was younger and can empathize with El’s feelings. While looking through her dad’s phone, she comes across a few texts that seem to be in code. She wonders who the texts are from. How could her father have someone special and not share it with her? Will and El make it their mission to solve the clues and find out what El’s father was hiding. In the meantime, Will and El’s relationship deepens. I really liked this book and the Garden House that not only brought El’s dad comfort but also draws Will and El together. I enjoyed watching their relationship blossom. The setting was wonderful. I could see the beauty and peace of the gardens, feel the chill of the weather, and warmth of the hearth and the people who cared for each other. Great book.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first book by this author and I enjoyed it, even though I was once again thrown by the British phrases (what the heck does "I'm ten and eight over it" mean?) The Garden House is a story of grief and loss as well as friendship and love.

I thought the plot was fairly unique. El goes to live in her father's house after he unexpectedly dies. She ends up finding what seem to be coded messages between him and some unknown person and goes on what appears to almost be a treasure hunt to figure out what was going on. She gets unexpected help from her step-brother whom she thinks is gay. They have never been close, but find themselves developing a friendship.

El's old friends round out the list of characters and each has their own little subplot going on. At times it seemed like maybe there was too much going on, but there certainly wasn't a good ending to really wrap things up sufficiently. The ending just wasn't very satisfying.

I was gifted a copy of this book via St. Martin's Publishing Group and NetGalley.

[Norma B · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as I enjoy reading books about gardens and romance, this book started alittle slow.
El inherits her father ,Martin's house. There is a garden that holds the characters mystery from past and present.
I was abit stumped however with some of the story lines. I had to start from the beginning again to grasp who was who..It took me longer to read it.
The greif El is going through ,losing her father and unsolved pasts. The real character here that stays alive is her father's cellphone,which holds the mysteries of The Garden House and a teahouse and a romance that couldve been. Clues of Jules, Martins freind,, is alone and hiding her greif and a secret.
The story is set in the village of Tavistock in Devon England.
Will, EL's stepfather's son helps her solve the mystery romance.
By the time I was starting to enjoy the scene, a new one stepped in. Once I figured out what was going to happen, and just like that,the book ended.
I received this advanced copy from Netgalley for my sole opinion.

[Caroline Hedges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marcia Willett always tells a wonderful, gentle tale in stunning settings and The Garden House did not disappoint. There were no great surprises, no real secrets or darkness. There is friendship, joy in family and lots of love (and quite a few dogs!). The real star is the descriptions of Devon and the gardens, you can feel the genuine affection for the bleak moors and the tamed gardens. I am not sure Willett got the voice of 21 year old El right. She sounded so much older, just like her dads friends who would have been much older. This book felt like either the first in a series of books about the characters and town or a book well into a series. I couldn't quite gel with them and so many arcs were left unlinked. That was a little frustrating.
However, as a summer read this was perfect. I want to pack my bags and get myself to Dartmoor right away.
Thank you Netgalley for this ARC, this is my honest review.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Garden House by Marcia Willett was just everything that you could want in a novel. Beautifully written, smart characters that you can help but feel drawn to, gorgeous scenery that is described so magically that you can see it clearly in your mind's eye. The story is lovely, Martin dies suddenly, just before he and his paramour were going to announce their long, ongoing love affair to their children. His daughter El moves into his home and finds his cell phone which has a number of cryptic messages to an unknown number. El and her stepbrother Will try to figure out who the person is, as they realize it must be a woman with whom he had a relationship. As El and Will grow closer they traverse the English countryside in pursuit of this woman, but what will they do if they find her?

This novel is heartwarming and many thanks go to the author, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of it in exchange for my honest review.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

El has just graduated from University when her father passes away quite suddenly. She had always enjoyed being at his house and decides to keep it and live there herself. A few weeks later as she is cleaning out her father's clothes, she finds his cellphone in a pocket. She checks it to see if there is anyone else she needs to notify and finds a string of cryptic texts which seem to indicate that he had a relationship with someone that she didn't know at all. Julia is that woman and she feels isolated in her grief because she and Martin had kept their relationship a total secret. Can both women move on?
I struggled with sections of this because so many of the characters have been in her previous books. Rather than enjoy this as it's own tale, I was trying to remember the contexts for the other characters. If I had read this without any of her other books, I think I would have had a different response. Still an enjoyable, cozy read.

[Patrícia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't even know what I expected from this book... Maybe it just wasn't for me.😶

I didn't hate it [well, ok, at least not in the end], but I can't say I enjoyed it that much either.

The story was dragging and only got slightly more intriguing around 70% in (and only after having a longer break from forcing myself to keep reading this).

I feel that any book should keep you interested in reading throughout the whole plot (it doesn't have to be all the time, but throughout the different intervals in the storyline would be nice).🫥

As I said, there wasn't much going on plot-wise, plus the mysterious aspect (of having El figuring out her dad's secrets) wasn't appealing enough to significantly spark my curiosity.

I agree with some other readers who said they couldn't connect with this story. It's like, okay, the characters are there, but I just don't care about them... nor about their "secrets".👻

[In a nutshell]: not the worst, I guess.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin kept one secret from his beloved daughter El- his relationship with Julia. Set in the small village of Tavistock, this is about the aftermath of his sudden death and how El and his friends move on. El's 21, just graduated from university, and at loose ends so moving to Martin's cottage works for her. She's conflicted about Will, her step brother, who readers of the genre know will....There are perhaps too many characters here- I felt like I'd stepped into a second or third in a series because everyone seemed to know each other and I was a bit lost keeping track of who and what was important. At the same time, I liked the atmospherics (I'm a fan of moors) and I was entranced by what Will sees as he flies into Bristol. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. There's nothing dark here an fans of British village tales will enjoy it.

[Celeste Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was different than I had expected. It does talk about infidelity and the story is partially based on that information and the consequences of that action. The protagonist development was well written, you can see her growth from where she began to how she decided to live. I do not justify infidelity, but that part of the story helped each character develop and grow. It helps for them to figure out what they want from their lives and each other. However, it was a little confusing the beginning. Confusing because after the first chapter there were various characters that were mention and I had to keep referring to the first chapter to know who these characters were. This book is mostly about the decision an individual takes and how much you are willing to be at peace. She experiences so many emotions and obstacles to get where she wanted.

[Papyrus Shelf · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I finished this book the first word on my mind was "incomplete". For many reasons, in my point of view, all the characters lacked substantial side stories to be intertwined with one another. As for the grief and mental struggle after the passing of a loved one, the sentiment and emotional standpoint was lackluster. Eleanor and Will's chemistry was highly superficial and Julia and Martin's was just too cordial and stiff. Again, we are introduced to too many characters (Felicity, Freddie, Plum, Christian, Angus, etc.) and yet we are left with inconclusive plot lines or polite narratives. Nothing substantial enough to make you cheer, hate, love or be mortified by them. Mind, this is a one side personal perception, you may have a different experience while reading and maybe enjoying this book. Not worth re-reading in my opinion.