The Forgotten Garden question

Well incest is the word that came to my mind !

I always got the feeling that he loved Georgiana in incestuous way but didn't act on it, content with watching her and taking his pictures. That would explain why Georgiana was so sure he would help her get away with her sailor. Then when he tried to cut her she realized he didn't love her as a sister and knew she needed to get away from there alone. He definitely seemed to be the creeper that she described to Eliza.
I think Eliza felt she had to get Ivory away because her aunt was nuts and only ever cared for Rose and she knew on some level that Ivory would be an afterthought, if even that. Her uncle was creepy and it was Ivory who said she wanted to get away from him and his broken dolly. Whether or not he did anything beyond try to give Ivory Giorgiana's old doll I'm not sure of.

I'm pretty sure that Eliza and her brother were fathered by the sailor she wanted to run away with but Georgiana's brother hired someone to make him 'disappear'. Georgiana just knew he was lost at sea and she was pregnant and needed to get away. Eliza and Sammy were twins.

Yes, I definitely got creepy vibes and suspected incest...however, I'd say that's a pretty huge event to not actually mention in the book, and Eliza doesn't seem to really care one way or the other about her uncle; he just seems like an unsettling nuisance. I honestly felt that the plot line with Linus was sort of dropped; the author left his story quite unresolved. I think the author wanted to go there, to the taboo topic of incest, but then maybe decided it was too graphic for her intended audience...

It's been awhile since I've read this book, but I was thinking that her uncle was actually her father...is that possible? I seem to remember some reference to that, but since I borrowed the book from the library, I can't go back to check.

Yeah, he was really creepy. But I think, harmless. He was a broken man. Handicaped, abandoned by his parents and with no friends. His love for photography made him look weird to others. And there was his perfect sister. The only one who ever loved him, accepted him, respected him. So, when he lost his sister, he lost everything. He hated his wife, his home. All the had, was the hope of finding his sister again. And we all know, hope is a tricky thing. It can make you go crazy. And then, Eliza came. Not only looking like her mother, but accualy being like her mother. Suddenly, it was like she is back. So he became "obsessed" with her, because he projected everything on her, and this doll (I think, he lost touch with reality by then..). The doll was his symbol of his sister.

But it did wonder, too, why he never tried to stop his wife. I mean, she sure was a piece of work, a real monster. But still, his sister was his sun and moon. So I didn't understand that part, eather.

Yes, Machele, that sounds plausible. It has been a few months for me, and I am unsure, but I do agree that he was creepily incestuous. But then there is the question as to where Eliza's brother came from. Maybe I was just to suspecting of the whole thing. However, Eliza was extremely worried about Ivory being left to her Aunt and Uncle. If the uncle was an honest to goodness creep, that would explain her urgency to get the child away from them...

I think Linus had feelings toward Georgiana that are not appropriate for a brother to have toward a sister, but I don't believe he ever actually acted on them. Because Georgiana was the only person who ever showed much love and concern for him, Linus elevated her in his mind to the point that he ended up falling in love with and idealizing her. That is why he became so violent when she told him her plan to leave Blackhurst--in doing so, she destroyed the idealized portrait Linus had of her in his mind. When Eliza came to Blackhurst years later, she reminded her uncle so much of Georgiana that the obsession started all over, but I don't think he ever acted on whatever inappropriate thoughts he had. I think Eliza just got a very bad vibe from him and tried to stay away.

He told his wife that Ivory was his grandchild towards the end of the book.

it's a cliche really isn't it: the incestuous-minded aritocracy?!

The uncle was very creepy. I wonder if that was who her mother warned her was the bad guy. There was several parts in the book that made me think he was going to do something awful to her. He kept saying she was playing games with him it was so weird.

I always thought it was something incestuous going on with the uncle but I could be wrong.

It seemed to me that his reaction when he heard that Eliza was dead was very poor, he just asked about the baby and that is all.... He clearly was obssesed with Eliza, his reaction was written poorly.

What did the young fellow see through their window that bothered him so much?