Member Reviews

The Memory Tree is a powerful and moving novel that explores the power of love and the ways it can heal the deepest of wounds. Through the interweaving storylines of William Hatherwick and Hester Mordaunt in World War I and present-day Ann, author Linda Gillard masterfully tells a story of love and loss that will stay with readers long after they have turned the last page.

At the heart of the novel is a giant beech tree that serves as a metaphor for love’s strength and resilience. We follow the characters as they struggle with memories and loss, as secrets are revealed and redemption is found. In this exquisitely written book, Gillard poignantly portrays how love can conquer even the most traumatic of memories.

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In 2016, Ann returns to garden lodge to look after her mother Phoebe, a once talent painter, she’s recovering from cancer and the horrible treatment. Phoebe’s rather independent, she likes being alone and the mother and daughter have an unusual relationship. One night a terrible storm topples Ann’s favorite ancient beech tree, and it uncovers a secret tin box that’s been hidden in a hollow in the trunk of the tree for a hundred years.

Connor Grenville, is fascinated by history, and he’s trying to uncover his own family history. His grandmother Ivy was the ward of Hester Mordaunt and her family owned the grand estate called Beechgrave. Phoebe lives in the gardener’s cottage, it was once part of the Beechgrave and it's walled gardens. Connor’s grandmother has recently passed away, he’s trying to find out what upset her just prior to her death, he’s sure it has something to do with Beechgrave and the papers she partially destroyed. Connor’s a really nice man, he becomes a friend of Ann and Phoebe’s, together they spend the weekends going through photos and diaries, Ivy inherited from Hester and looking for clues.

A century earlier, William Hatherwick’s father’s is the head gardener at Beechgrave, he’s to take over his father’s job when he retires and his family live in the gardeners cottage. William loves plants, he knows all the Latin names for them and he draws pictures of plants. When WW I starts, all the local young men join up, including Hester’s two brothers and William. When her brothers Arthur and Eddie are killed, Cicely Mordaunt retreats into a world of her own and Hester’s left with the huge responsibility of running Beechgrave. Around the same time Williams father passes away, his sister Violet moves into the main house and helps Hester look after her mother. William’s reported missing in action, he’s eventually found and Hester pays for Ivy’s uncle’s care.

The Memory Tree is story about the link the old Trysting Tree has to so many people, including William, Hester, Ann, Violet, Phoebe and Ann’s father Sylvester. If only a tree could talk, it knows everyone’s secrets, sweethearts and hidden memories. A well written and very interesting dual timeline story by Linda Gillard, and five stars from me.

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A dual time line novel with a tree at the center? Why yes and it's a device that works well for this tale of love in the time of war. A very good read.

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A perfectly told tale of family secrets.

In the present day, Ann is drawn back to her childhood home to care for her elderly mother Phoebe, an artist whose physical infirmity is making it hard to live alone or continue with her work. Ann is recently divorced, and has her own issues to come to terms with both around this, and the disappearance of her father when she was small.

In the 1910s, Hester Mourdaunt's world is shattered by war. The comfortable upbringing she had at her country house home, surrounded by family, is rendered unrecognisable in just a few short years, and she finds herself intertwined with the Hatherwick's - the children of her family's gardener.

Enter Connor Grenville, whose search for answers about his family history draw Pheobe and Ann into his exploration of the events of a century before.

I won't give away any spoilers, but there are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing how this will all come together at the end.

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A great story switching between the past and present with believable characters and mystery meaning I couldn't put it down until I had finished it

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Thank you to Netgalley and Amazon for this copy in return for my honest review. I love a book and that draws you in and gives the character a depth that will genuinely make you feel for them and this book did just that. Definitely will watch out for this author as I'm interested in reading more.

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I started reading Gillard back in the days of RISI (ReaditSwapit), after reading and loving her first book I bought all the others available. This one popped up for review and I realised I didn't have it, it is like meeting up with an old friend, characters you just want to know more about and sink into the story. Split into two timelines, current day we meet Ann who has come home to look after her mother who is struggling after surviving cancel but fierce in her own independence. She has always been a prickly character but Ann loves her. Connor comes into their lives, a gardener who is trying to find out more about his past and an old felled tree gives up some secrets from the past - the trio work together to figure out the history and secrets witnessed by the tree. Taking us back to the past and those who lived there prior to and during the war, living the lives Ann and co are trying to piece together.

Gillard really does have a way with words, when we are in the present I didn't want to leave, when we go back to the past I didn't want to leave. The past is a time when war is looming, women must behave in a certain way and love and loss are abundant. It can't be easy bringing to life two lots of characters, in two timelines and keeping a flow and relevance between the two. All families have secrets and when the characters pry and piece everything together they may find more than they could have imagined.

I do love a book that pulls you in and gives you characters that have a bit of depth, two timelines that can be weaved together and pull you in very quickly. I think had life/work not got in the way I would have read this in one go. I still have a few of Gillard's books on my tbrm, I like her writing so much I was saving them, I think I need to bump them up the review mountain. 4.5/5 for me this time, if you haven't read this author before you really should, she creates characters/families you just want to know more about!

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Thank you for the opportunity to read this. Struggled to get in to it and did not finish. Have read past books by this author and will continue to look out for more.

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This beautiful sory odf love, life , loss, and moving on will steal your heart and leave you looking for the next book by this new author to me! so truly touching! A must read!

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A thoroughly unforgettable book!

I loved everything about it. The story, the characters, the romance, the mystery, the pace of the book... everything!

Highly recommend!

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I fell in love with this story! So many types of relationships, good ones, bad ones, new ones, old ones, sweet and bittersweet.

The characters were real, not perfect story characters. By the end of the book I was sad that I wouldn't be able to have these characters around anymore.

And a good mystery to boot.

I highly recommend and will be checking out more books from this author!
Thank you NetGalley for offering this book in exchange for honest feedback.

#TheMemoryTree #NetGalley

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This book was originally published in 2016 under the title, The Trysting Tree. It has been revised from the original. Ann has finally persuaded her mother to sell the family home and get a smaller place. They are living together trying to get the place ready to sell including fixing up the old garden. Connor is an historian and poses as a buyer to tour the house and especially the garden. He eventually tells Ann his purpose is to examine records to see how his grandmother is connected to this old estate. Set in England the book does drag in some places for me. The story line is interesting and the characters are likable. The book bounces back and forth between World War II and the present. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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This was such a good read, I could not put it down.

The story is really about Ann and her mother and what should be done about the house that Ann's mother lives in, which leads to the past and the story of William and Hester set 100 years in the past and the secrets that were kept and how it ties into the secrets that are kept in the present.

The back and forth between the present and past was what made this story really great, and the character of the book were easy to fall in love with and I found myself very invested in their stories.

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Ahhh, I loved this book! At first I thought it was just a story about the strained relationship between a mother and daughter. I love reading those type of stories, especially when they break through the binds and become close again, but this book was about so much more. The setting is an old house with so much history to it, and a young man who becomes friendly with the mother/daughter who actually has a family history with the house. He involves his two new friends in a family "mystery" of sorts that he's trying to unravel which brings them all to read wonderful family archives of letters and diaries and such. The story goes back and forth in time to his family member's stories and i love this format in books because it's a story within a story (gotta love it). I really enjoyed the realizations of the family mystery and I loved that one of the perspectives in the story was from the beech tree groves themselves, who stood watch and bore witness but never judged - i am paraphrasing a line from the book just there. One of those chapters actually made me cry. In the end this book was largely part historical fiction, part family reuniting, part family mystery resolution, all of it brushed with a romantic feel that left me emotionally satisfied. I highly recommend this book to lovers of emotional, family, and historical type novels!

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The Memory Tree

Through the decades Hester and William, Ivy, Violet, Phoebe and Sylvester, Connor and Ann. . . love and live within the view and care of the Beech Wood. I was captured by this tale, because of its use of botanicals, gardens, flowers, and trees, and then mixed in generational stories – I do love a good genealogy! – and family mysteries, to boot. I was sunk. No way I was getting out of this one just because it was turning out “romancy.”

Written in the format of switching POV by sections that is all the rage now, it was charming that the Beech Wood was personified and had its own section. I am tended and watched over by a grove of fir trees that my mother named The Committee nearly fifty years ago when we would go walking, never knowing that I would eventually live in the house that backs up to them. She is gone now, but every day The Committee and I greet each other as I wish them a good day and they stand guard over home. The Beech Wood and its place in this story felt familiar and real to me.

Not my usual genre, but in The Memory Tree it charmed me as romance became a compelling element of the storylines that intertwined as the pages turned. I've been known to abandon books when this realization cracks over my head, raw egg-like. Even so, I was pulled forward, had to know what was going to happen next. I persisted and was rewarded by this fully satisfactory read with all my go-to comforts, and the bonus of happy pairings.

I highly recommend this book (5 stars).

A sincere thanks to Linda Gillard, Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Now breathe...........The Memory Tree by Linda Gillard was just a beautifully written book. I have never read anything by this author and I love looking out for new books by different authors. Linda wrote this book with so much love and passion and I just loved it. It wont be the last book I read from Linda.

Big Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.

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It is rare that typical 'characters' are turned on their head by the time the story ends. It is even more surprising when I do not see it coming. We have a multitude of voices in this narrative, the oddest of them (while also the most profound and deep) being the Beech tree itself. It makes observations, giving us hints of events long gone by and others to come. There are enough humans chipping into the story too. Two in the past and two in the present as they try to make sense of that very past.

Ann and her mother Phoebe have never been close. The latter is an artist, someone who is now past her heyday because of cancer, the treatment of which ravaged her system. She is described in such vividly critical terms that it initially seemed that the relationship between them would either take a cloyingly sweet take and they will end up as best buddies or completely blow up. What follows over the course of the story felt unique for this genre. There is a very realistic arc that their relationship takes which made this book stand apart from all the other books in this genre. The past, however, seemed pretty obvious despite a few red herrings. A surprise guest ends up at their door and introduces them to the story hidden in the past, as does a hidden find in the downed beech tree. We are taken into the World War era as the house and the then owners struggle to survive the outside conflict as it ravages their families. We have an enterprising woman at the helm, Hester who represents the change that woman in that society hoped and wished for. She was an interesting woman who kept striving for something better, making it a treat to listen to her part of the story as well. I would recommend this to readers of the historical fiction genre, and those who like dual timelines with secrets hidden in both timelines.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but since I did not finish it before its publication, I actually read/listened to it via my KU subscription.

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I think that it should be against the law to rename a book. This was originally published as the Trysting Tree. Never the less it is an enjoyable read and as usual Linda Gillards characters are believable and well written.

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This is a fantastic book that is full of great characters and unexpected twists. Set in the present day, and during the First World War, it follows Ann, her artist mother Phoebe and their new friend Connor while they try to untangle the mystery of his family tree. The book covers many issues, including the suffragette movement, physical and mental illness and family relationships. I particularly liked Phoebe and her honest, no nonsense approach to life but did feel the storyline was a little confusing at times. Overall, a great read that I would highly recommend.

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I absolutely loved this book from start to finish. It had me captivated reading about how the strained relationship between Ann and her mother unfolded. I love books that cover 2 different time zones. It was one of the books that didn’t fail to deliver and when I finally finished I could never had imagined the outcome.
Will definitely look at more books by this author.

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