I was a great fan of Clare Beams first book, so I was excited to see she had written another one. Like The Illness Lesson, The Garden is set historically and involves issues that highlight "female issues" of the time period. In this case, it is late 1940s and concerns with motherhood and miscarriage. I was drawn into the story and think the "magical" portions of it were well-done. The nods to The Secret Garden were clear but not overwhelming. Though the main character was not typically "likable" (and definitely not a prototype of womanhood in that time period) I was quite drawn to her and her feisty approach to life and relationships. She had a combination of toughness and tenderness that I found compelling. The writing was excellent - evocative with a good smattering of gothic vibes. Though this may not be a "good for all readers" book, I'll definitely recommend it to many friends and customers.

“In 1948, Irene Willard, who’s had five previous miscarriages is now pregnant again, comes to an isolated hospital in the Berkshires, run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure for her condition. Warily, she enlists herself in the efforts of the Doctors Hall to “rectify the maternal environment,” both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she also discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own powers and pulls. As the doctors’ plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves—and must face the incalculable risks associated with such incalculable rewards.”

This cover caught my attention, I mean look at it! It’s beautiful!

It did take me awhile to get into this book. It is definitely a slow burn. It contains many topics that would be triggering to some readers so please look at trigger warnings. It centered heavily on miscarriages and pregnancy.

I usually don’t gravitate towards books around this subject because it is hard to read. But overall I did enjoy this one.

Irene has had several miscarriages and as a final attempt, she enters an experimental house/hospital in the Berkshires, where women, like her, are hoping for a baby. Run by a husband and wife team of doctors, these women come and stay for at least half of their pregnancy so they can be closely observed.

From the beginning, Irene is skeptical. She's always been a bit of a curmudgeon and even the temptation of motherhood can not help her questioning everything. During a day outside, she finds a walled garden, that appears to have been forgotten. That garden is soon the location of peace and of turmoil as Irene and two other women begin to experiment.
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I'm a little torn on my actual review of this book because I hated parts of it and then loved other parts. Irene's bad attitude made me like her more. This is set in the late post-WWII era and a woman with Irene's attitude was rare. Irene wants to know what is going on and why. She explores areas of the house that are restricted. She refuses talk therapy. She's quite rude to the other women in the program. Without her inquisitive nature, this book would have little plot.

Several plotlines seemed a bit extra. The grandfather and the flashes of the doctor in the past didn't add to the story. It could have been a quick paragraph/conversation towards the end.

Overall, I generally avoid books with a focus on pregnancy or motherhood. It's not interesting to me. This story is less about motherhood than it is about choices that women have to make to be successful, whether that success be motherhood or scientific advances.

Clare Beams has taken the true story of medical experiments and turned it on its head with The Garden. Is it magic? Is it a shared delusion? Is it worth it to get what you want?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for this ARC of Clare Beams’s The Garden.

Imagine a mashup of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” “Pet Semetary,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” and portions of The Handmaid’s Tale, and you’ll come close to The Garden. Beam imagines a mid-century scenario set at a private estate in the Berkshires where a husband and I’ve medical duo offer hope to the infertile. The house has been converted into a lying in facility for women who have had multiple miscarriages. Every aspect of their lives are controlled: food, sleep, exercise, therapy, medication. Harkening back to a time when pregnancy was treated like an illness or disease and the maternal mind simultaneously pathologized and blamed for every aspect, Beam injects into this already creepy environment a hidden garden. The protagonist, Irene, discovers somewhat by accident that she can reanimate dead things in that garden, only to find later that she is haunted by their specters in the house, and in her associations with the “creature” she Carrie’s in her womb.

For the most part this book works. I could see it being even scarier if it were made into a film of play. I really disliked Irene’s character, but I suspect that was by design, as she’s struggling with whether or not she is/can be maternal. From the outset, she doesn’t trust the doctors or the process. She has at once agreed to be at the house and go through their treatment and resists them every step of the way. Her resistance does read as uncertainty about whether or not she wants to be a mother at all, but Beam also leaves that ambiguous. Irene loves her husband George and the narrative tells us several times that their relationship and he is different from what the other wives have. At any rate, Irene acts the skeptic and eventually ropes two other women into the secret of the garden, where one thing follows another, the women begin to wonder if they might reanimate miscarried infants.

But Beam never takes it that far, a hesitation I actually found disappointing. If you’re going to tease me with eldritch horror, then there had better be a pay off. Instead, the only real horror is what has always been horrifying about childbirth: mothers die, children can have birth defects. That the conclusion causes Irene’s experience to feel like a confirmed case of maternal hysteria or pre-partum psychosis didn’t sit well with me. There were a number of ways this narrative could have been more satisfying. Even so, it will probably be of interest to anyone who likes to think about gender inequities and pregnancy.

I was drawn to this book by its amazing cover and the promise of a secret garden on the grounds of a gothic home for women with risky pregnancies. I assumed it would be more thriller or mystery with a promise of restorative herbs and flowers, but “The Garden” is really a dreamlike horror story about miscarriages and pregnancy loss. And therein is a huge trigger warning: I would not recommend this book to any woman who has had a miscarriage or a difficult pregnancy to read this. Even childless women should beware. Heck, even men might want to avoid this story.

Clare Beam’s writing is very ethereal and there are times when it’s hard to distinguish the supernatural from hallucination. Set in the 1940s, this had to be a terrible time for women who had multiple miscarriages (you are only admitted here of you’ve had three), when women would have doubted their self-worth if they couldn’t carry on the family name with an heir, would worry about be branded “barren,” and worry that their husbands would abandon them for fertile partners. The main character, Irene, is sometimes unlikable (even her husband notices that she tends to poison the joy of the other), but I felt for her — after 5 miscarriages, it’s OK to be bitter.

The story gets over involved with the backstories of the two doctors (the grandfather could have been jettisoned), and I never felt solidarity among the group of women in similar circumstances. Every pregnancy here seemed to end in terror, not joy, even successful outcomes were clouded by “what have I done to achieve this?”

I was happy to return to the 21st century where Miscarriage Awareness is now talked about and babies born after miscarriages are known as “rainbow babies.” (No rainbows are ever mentioned in this novel.)

There might be an audience for stories like this (“Rosemary’s Baby” comes to mind), but I’m afraid it wasn’t for me. 3 stars for mostly the descriptive, evocative prose. I wish I could just stay neutral — it’s the subject matter, not the author’s work.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Only blue ones were mentioned.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): Eh, the book is called “The Garden” and the book’s garden is a mess and it’s hinted that….well…are buried there.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

This one had an a Wilder Girls, Rosemary Baby vibe to it, the perfect amount of creepy, you couldn't tell what was imagined or not. I couldn't put this one done and finished in 2 days. I would have liked to see more of stand off or resolution between Irene and the female doctor, I feel like we never got that really resolved, and all those visions for Irene really led nowhere except that one last conversation, other than that it was a great read (I would go up to 4 stars if we had more of some sort of resolution or stand off between the two women), some may find it triggering as it deals with loss, miscarriages, but as someone who has gone through that myself I related greatly to some of these character. Definitely intriguing.

This was one of my top can't-wait-to-reads for 2024, and I wasn't disappointed. In some ways a companion novel to THE ILLNESS LESSON, with some of the same feminist themes and skepticism of authority and patriarchy, THE GARDEN fits even more into the horror genre, with a decidedly literary slant. In fact, it was the language that delighted me the most. I couldn't stop underlining great sentences and images, and I found the main character, Irene, complex and memorable. This is a page-turner that would also spur lots of great discussions in a book club. Highly recommended!

I posted the above on Goodreads. I will also be mentioning this book in two newsletters and mentioning the book in an upcoming class.

Thank you, Net Galley, for a copy in exchange for my honest review!

On its surface, The Garden is a gothic, haunted house story, but as you dig deeper into the plot it turns into a terrifying story about pregnancy, reanimation, and how a mother will go to any (and I mean any) means for her child. From the beginning, Clare Beams successfully creates a tense, eerie atmosphere that carries throughout the entire book. The main character, Irene, is an interesting, morally-gray protagonist and I enjoyed encountering the story through her eyes.

My only issue with this book is that there were multiple plots occurring that didn’t feel fleshed out or solved. For example – there is a subplot regarding Dr. Bishop and her family that felt unnecessary, and I’m not entirely sure how they connected to the story. I would have liked for this to have been explored more.

Set in 1948, Irene Willard, a woman in her thirties, has suffered a number of miscarriages. Irene wonders if she will ever be able to provide her husband what he so desires, a baby. Along her journey to provide for her husband, they find a husband/wife couple, both physicians, who specialize in providing both physical and mental care for women who have historically had trouble carrying to term. The aim of the physician team is to support the women so that they can carry to term, and have healthy babies. The couple work and live in the Berkshires, where the "hospital" is an old home refurnished to be a hospital. During one of Irene's walks around the grounds, she discovers a long-forgotten garden, where she believes she find it has special "powers" and quietly decides to test her theories, and slowly bring her two friends into the mystery of the garden as they all wait hopefully to have their pregnancies carry to success.

I enjoyed this book, despite being all around a bunch of pregnant women. The mystery/whimsy of the garden can be looked at in a number of different ways, but I suspect the parallels between the women hoping for healthy living children plays a role in what they believe they see "out the corners of their eyes" after visiting the garden. Additionally, I feel like Irene was the beginning of a contemporary thinking woman, and I quite enjoyed her attitude, despite her tendency to be abrasive. I found the book to be well-written, and I suspect it is written in a way that people may take something different away from the novel. I would recommend to anyone looking for something different to read.

I thought this was a really unique way of sprucing up the metaphor of life is a garden. I like that there was a supernatural element to the story, but we're not really sure if there is since the narrator is unreliable. A lovely exploration of a painful subject

This gothic historical fiction novel, explores womens, rights, bodies and policies. This is not a light novel or forthe faint of heart. This is a powerful piece of work, every woman should read!

The Garden by Clare Beams is a book that reminds of Pet Semaratry meets Rosemary's Baby. Irene Willard is on her sixth pregnancy, the other five have ended in miscarrages. Irene's last hope is with the help from Dr. Hall and Dr. Bishop, a husband and wife that are running a hospital out of their home for women like Irene. They are providing a dfferent approach to make sure that the women under their care deliver heathy full term babies. Irene befriends Pearl and Margaret who are a little father along in their pregnancy. Irene finds a walled off garden that seems to have some kind of magical element that brings dead things back to life. Soon some of the other women in the group are either suffering from miscarrages or still born babies. Irene, Margaret, and Pearl make a pact that if anything happens to thier babies they would resort to using the powers of the garden. The Garden kept my attention til the very end. It had all the elements of a good thiller/horror book. Doctors that think that they are God, ghosts, visions of things that aren't actually there, and finally dead creatures that come back from the dead. If you have read Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine then this is the book for you. Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Publishing for letting me read an advanced copy of The Garden.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for an eARC of this novel.

The Garden was an interesting piece of historical horror. It takes place during the 1940s/1950s, at this "medical center" for women who have had multiple previous miscarriages, in an attempt to help them finally have the baby they have been dreaming for. At this place, run by a husband and wife, there is a dilapidated garden in the back of the property. One of the patients, Irene, discovers that this garden has some type of power to bring things back from the dead. In their desperation to have a child, Irene and a couple of other women do whatever they can to make sure they have their babies.

Unfortunately, I'm not well-versed in the history of women's reproduction rights, particularly how women have been treated and experimented on throughout history (even though I'm fully aware of it) so I didn't realize until reading the Acknowledgements section that the drug being used on the women in this story was a real drug that lead to many health issues for the the women and their children. It was interesting (and honestly depressing) to see the parallels between how women and babies were seen in the 1950s vs today. Although there was definitely some body horror and creepy hauntings, this wasn't quite what I expected from a traditional horror standpoint, and yet I was still horrified how after all these years, not much has changed.

As someone who is currently childfree, I thought I might not have been as drawn into this story or connected to the characters as I was, but after finishing it I feel rage and sadness, and it does validate all my fears and reasons for being childfree.

As for everything else, this story was very well written and was still gripping despite the slow burn. It did get a little slow around 60% in but then it picked up for the ending. This is a very thought-provoking story, but definitely not for everyone.

This is great for people who enjoyed stories like The Secret Garden, The Haunting of Hill House, Pet Sematary, Rosemary's Baby and A Cure for Wellness.

A very lyrical and flowery prose with a somewhat tense atmosphere. I liked the writing but the plot wasn't what I expected. The story felt a little slow and I did not finish the book. The characters were mediocre but I liked learning about their struggle and their journey toward motherhood. 2 stars.

very lyrical writing, showcased the different women and experiences they have while pregnant and after having multiple miscarriages

I struggled with rating this but ultimately my strong, persistent dislike of the main character knocked this down one star for me. Such a nasty, unpleasant, vile woman put next to a bunch of underdeveloped side characters and I just couldn’t muster up any kind of investment in the outcome.

I thought the eeriness of the setting was conveyed well but it didn’t feel particularly well-grounded in its era. I don’t think I could’ve guessed what decade it took place in without explicitly being told. The mystery of the garden wasn’t fully fleshed out and I felt the conclusion was lacking in punch.

Overall, while I commend the unsettling feeling the author was able to get across, there was just too much else I didn’t enjoy.

Ultimately, I found this book to be dark and terrifying. The Garden is a horror story and psychological thriller about a strange treatment center for pregnant women in the 1940’s. I kept reading because I desperately wanted to know how it all came together but it never did for me. Too many weird things were going on. The book deals with infertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, blood and death. This was a very strange book for me and the ending was even stranger. I received this novel from Netgalley as an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an objective review.

I am so sorry. I just can not get myself to finish reading the book.
I read the Illness Lesson and so regretted reading the book because I got images into my mind that I'd rather have not stuck in there. Now, I am so afraid that the same will happen.
I really wanted to like her writing but it is just not for me.

This is an excellent motherhood-gothic novel about people--not always women--desperate to have a child and their doctors, desperate to help them have children. Beams mixes together a group of women trying to hold onto pregnancies after multiple miscarriages, a garden that has murkily resurrective powers, and Irene, a woman who doesn't buy into the wellness being pitched at her. Making alliances with two other women, Irene tests the garden repeatedly, giving it dead creatures of larger and larger sizes; unwilling to submit to the invasion of privacy that is psychoanalysis, she has visions of abuse in one doctor's past and uncovers infidelity in the other doctor's present. As the women get closer to their due dates, anxiety rises, pregnancies fail, patients die, and the lure of the garden becomes stronger and stronger, even as it becomes more and more repulsive. This is a terrifically dark book about motherhood and family and the lines between death and undeath and life that will find many happy readers.

Really enjoyed this book. I definitely understood the venn diagram of Rosemary's Baby and The Secret Garden as noted in other reviews. The energy of the opening creates a "who to trust" feeling from early on, and the character development lends to this until the very end. The reader can feel the desperation of the women at the retreat, as well as the pressures put on women to "just know" how to be a pregnant person. What really spoke to me was the way the guilt of the retreat participants was written, allowing insight about what happens when you can't trust your body or that nature may have betrayed you. Would recommend to lovers of The Secret Garden, Handmaid's Tale, and of course, Rosemary's Baby. Applause to the author for their thorough research (revealed in the acknowledgments) about pregnancy in the early 1900s.