Play Book Tag discussion

The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
Audiobook performed by Caroline Lee.
4****

In 1913 a little girl, only 4-years-old, is found alone on the wharf in Australia. She’s taken in by the portmaster and his wife, who are childless, and when no one comes to claim her they keep her and raise her as their own. Decades later her granddaughter tries to unravel the mystery of her grandmother’s origins.

What a magical story. The action moves back and forth in time, from the late 1800s to 1913 to 1975 to 2005. The four women central to the story are Nell, Cassandra, Eliza and Rose. Some of the sections are told from the perspective of a child, while others from the perspective of an adult. No one has the full story and anyone who has key elements is sworn to secrecy, so it’s a long, complicated and tangled tale that Cassandra tries to unravel and reveal.

I was engaged and interested from beginning to end. This is the first book by Kate Morton that I’ve read. It won’t be the last.

I don’t think I would have used the magical realism tag, but several other people have, probably because of the fairy tales that are a central plot point, and one brief mention of a ghost. (Eliza is an author and several of her fairy tales are related in the book; they are truly magical.)

Caroline Lee does a fantastic job of voicing the audiobook. She has a lot of characters to handle (most of them female) and I was never confused about who was speaking.




LINK to my review

I have totally wanted to read this one. Glad to see a review of it.

Loved this one!

I read this book a few years ago and The characters and stories shared in this book absolutely captivated me

Amy - Read it - I loved it!

Would you believe it’s number three on my TBR? And that means number three of 500. I might’ve even picked it for fairytales.

Ladyslott wrote: "Amy - Read it - I loved it!"

Totally agree with Linda .... Amy you will love this book!

There's also quite a bit of psychology involved with the relationships and I think you'll appreciate that aspect as well.

Oh ... and I listened to it on audio - Caroline Lee does a fantastic job of narrating.

I never cancelled my audio/audible thing. Thought I would give it the summer to see if I would try it or pick it up again. If I don’t do it by the pool or on a walk it’ll never happen ever again. At least for a while. Wonder if I should download the forgotten garden. Maybe that will be my goal for August. The two of you are rarely wrong.

Amy wrote: "The two of you are rarely wrong...."

Can I quote you next time my husband and I have a disagreement?

Without question! Tell him you heard it from an expert on marriage, too!

Updated review .... (Our TV / phone / internet was out all last night from about 6p till after we went to bed at 10:30 .... so I spent time catching up on writing reviews ... Thank heavens we didn't lose power as well, so we had A/C.)

I just added this one is much higher on my TBR. Just made the TBR shortlist, which means I should be getting to it by January 2019.

Amy, I also agree I think you will like this. I gave it 5 stars.
I think you'll love the historical fiction-ness with the interrelated stories.

It’s seriously moving up my list by the hour and with each post! Can you say August?

I still have this book on my my shelf. Someday I will get to it:)

Diane, it would be my fourth buddy Read if I tried to get to it with you anytime soon.