A group of independent women, from different eras, all connected to a lush English garden, are the backbone of this heartwarming historical fiction. The book takes place in three timelines—1907, 1944, and the present time, and the timelines flow seamlessly, each story melding into the next. The women themselves are all fascinating, ahead of their eras, going against the norms of their times. I loved that they all fought for what was important to them; their families, their careers, their loves, their homes. The setting was an integral part of their stories, shaping their present and their futures, and us described in exquisite detail. Each timeline was true to its place in history, and it was effortless to put myself into each of them. This story, the characters, and the garden itself, combine for a stirring and uplifting escape that touched my heart.

I've read a lot of WWII historical fiction and I'm always impressed when I find a new spin on it. This book is so much more though. Spanning 3 time periods, there's a little mystery that all revolves around this amazing garden. I really enjoyed seeing how everything cam together and the garden connected all kinds of different people. ⭐⭐⭐💫 I recommend this for anyone that likes light mystery and a new take on historical fiction. I just wish it wasn't winter so I could go plant in my garden!

In the Author’s Note in the end, she says, “I wanted to write a book about several different generations of women, all connected by a single garden.” 1907, 1944 and 2021 are the years she chose. Also in the Note she wrote that when she learned about requisitioned homes in England during WWII under the Emergency Powers Act of 1939, that’s when the story began taking shape.

Reading the novel, I was intrigued with the design of formal gardens in the British countryside. I had no idea that they were laid out as a house would be with different rooms having different functions and different themes, generally separated (or walled off) by yew shrubbery. Very special garden-rooms would be walled off with brick walls and a locked gate as in “The Secret Garden.” In fact I picked up on several literary influences in this novel.

Each time period was, basically, a TV soap opera with lots of characters and ample tension among them. There was lots of repetition. In the 2021 section the characters are talking about a grandfather or a gt. Grandmother, but the way it all bounced back and forth amidst the times, created confusion rather than continuity. However (continuing on my TV soap opera theme), like a soap opera, the reader became involved with the characters and became captivated by the ongoing drama.

I appreciate the ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Gallery Books, in exchange for an honest review.

Three different times. Three different stories. This book takes you on an adventure, showing how the gardens of one house have a different meaning during each time. The writing was lovely, and you can almost smell the flowers in the garden!

I really enjoyed this story of 3 generation of women all connected by a garden in England. There was the present day which brought the history to the now but still vividly connected the characters to the past.
Emma is hired to restore the garden of her idol, Venetia, who created a winter garden that she keeps locked up. Then it goes to the war time and the house and land is requisitioned to be made into a home for soldiers to recover in and some of the women that do their part for the war effort by working there and being land girls.
I loved reading the different historical backgrounds of the different timeframes as well as characters that were well developed and you cared about. I’ll definitely recommend this one to friends.

Thank you Gallery Books, Simon & Schuster, Inc. and Julia Kelly for the advance readers copy of “The Last Garden in England” for my honest review.

I really enjoyed “The Last Garden in England”. It had to be difficult for Ms. Kelly to write since the protagonists are three different women from 3 different generations. Venetia’s story is during the early 1900, Dianna’s is during wartime 1940’s and Emma’s is current 2021. The centerpiece of the story is first the building of the beautiful gardens at the famed Highbury House Estate and then of the the restoration of a English garden and the love life of the female gardeners.

Thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for an advanced copy of The Last Garden in England.

This book is exactly why I love multiple timelines historical fiction. This book is an absolute gem and my first 5* book of 2021!
Told in 3 different time periods we meet 5 women al connected by one garden. I thought all were engaging and well developed, I liked all women and they were easy to connect with. I loved that while one of the time periods was 1944, this isn't a WWII centered book.

The garden is developed in 1907 by Venetia Smith who is hired by Highbury House to design the grounds in a slightly different style than was popular with several small garden rooms and a walled garden. She never expects that her work here would change her life. In 1944 we are introduced to a WWII Land Girl - Beth Pedley who arrives to work on a neighboring farm but she befriends the cook of Highbury House - Stella, who has dreams of leaving and the mistress of the house a widow, Diana Symonds. Highbury House has been requisitioned as a convalescent hospital and when the garden is threatened they are drawn together.
And finally we meet Emma in the present day who has been hired by the new owners to bring the gardens back to their former glory. Venetia's gardens became famous after she left the UK and in trying to find the original plans, Emma opens up long covered up secrets.

I was immediately drawn into the book and didn't want to put it down. I loved the interconnected storylines among the five women and felt their struggles and successes. The descriptions and details of the garden and gardening were just right. There are a few heartbreaking scenes, but this was such a lovely, incredible book!

Also, the author's note at the end was perfect, since I'm always curious as to who or what inspires a book!

Well this was just lovely. Very rarely in a multiple POV book do I enjoy all the different POVs and find them all equally compelling but that was definitely the case in this book. I might have looked forward to Emma's story just a little bit more but that's because she is putting the pieces of the past together and that's one of my very favorite things.

All of the women featured are sympathetic and easy to connect with even if I didn't always like them or agree with their decisions. Each woman's perspective was completely different and very well developed. I especially enjoyed Beth's life as a Land Girl and Diana adjusting to her home being requisitioned and her life completely changing in an instant as well as Stella's below stairs perspective.

I loved watching how everything unfolded and even though I'm not a gardener I enjoyed all the talk of flowers and garden architecture. I would love to walk in Venetia's garden and explore all the different room.

This was my first Kindle read of 2021 and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. The only thing that kept it from being a 5 star read for me is that I really wanted just a little bit more of Beth and Diana's story (especially Beth) - something just felt a little unfinished there.

I absolutely loved this book. This book takes place in 3 different historical periods (1907, WWII era, and present day). All 3 storylines were captivating and I was never bored. That can be hard to do sometimes in books with multiple timelines..A great historical fiction novel. Thank you Gallery books.

4.25 Stars
Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her ambitious work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses.
1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades.
A beautifully written book that takes you to three time periods & we meet five fascinating women. I did wonder if three different time frames would work & they certainly did, my favourite was the war years. It was a page turning thoroughly enjoyable read, which I read in two sittings as I found it very hard to put down as it was well researched & the characters were so vivid that I really felt I knew them
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Loved the characters in this book. I do not garden but the descriptions of them and the plants, flowers and trees came to life. I love how the women’s stories intertwined. Satisfactory ending. Quite simply, a lovely book. Will definitely read more Julia Kelly!

This is probably my favorite historical fiction book that I've read in the past two or three years. The story was engaging. I loved the balance of the present-day story to the story in the past. I thought the dual timeline was balanced well. I loved the descriptive details without being over the top details that were redundant and not needed. This is a well-detailed book without being detail for the sake of detail vs detail with purpose which can be difficult to balance. The characters were fun to read about and easy to connect to. You end the book feeling like you've met them in real life.

The Last Garden in England is a look at the lives intersected at a single estate garden over the past century. Originally designed by Venetia Smith and lauded as modernistic for 1907 Highbury House has a the traditional rolling lawn, but also various compartmental gardens including the children's garden, lover's garden and others. When Emma Lovett is commissioned to restore the garden in the present day, she is captivated by the grounds and the people of Highbury. The Winter Garden has been locked and overgrown for a half century and the secrets surrounding the gardens and family emerge as Emma does more research on her project. I enjoyed this book and the historical perspective of its characters and the estate. I received an ARC of this book, all opinions are my own. 4.5 stars

When I think of historical fiction, this is what I want. My first Julia Kelly book was quite a treat! I really enjoyed The Last Garden in England. We follow five women separated by decades, yet celestially connected by a home and a garden. I love the time periods Kelly chose to highlight with Venetia Smith, the original gardener in 1907, Diana, the Lady of Highbury House, Beth, a land girl for Highbury’s neighboring farm, and Stella, Highbury’s cook at the height of WWII in 1944, and Emma, tasked with accurately restoring Venetia’s Highbury garden in 2021.

Each character was lovable and the story moved at a cooly intriguing rate. Kelly sucks you into the mystery surrounding the lives of all the women that you’ll gladly settle in for a history lesson and a stroll through the Highbury gardens.. who knows you might even find love there.

With five moving character plots, it can be confusing at first. I highly suggest hanging in there because each character brings incredible value to the overall story and ending!

If you’re a fan of Downton Abbey and Pride and Prejudice, and also can’t resist a modern feminist love story.. this is your next read!

Thank you to Net Galley and Gallery Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very engrossing historical fiction book by Julia Kelly. I love gardens and so this made the book that much more enjoyable for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly is a captivating historical fiction with a triple timeline story. A beautiful and amazing story that holds your attention from beginning to end.

I only got about halfway through this book. I thought the character were rather bland and I really didn't care about any of them. I guess this book just wasn't for me.

This was such a wonderful book. The author created a harmony of historical fiction, horticulture, light romance and interpersonal relationships, with one of the main characters being the house and gardens where all the stories take place, Highbury House, across 3 main time frames: present day, 1907 and 1944.

The chapters rotate point of view from Venetia, Beth and Emma, who are all strong female characters in their own timeframe. There are also strong supporting female characters, the owners and staff of Highbury House over time. Relationships (platonic and not platonic) are formed by each of the characters with men and women at/around Highbury, and choices are made.

Descriptions of the gardens are so well done that I felt like I could smell the floral scents on the breeze. Any person who enjoys gardening will like this novel for just that aspect. But I highly recommend anyone with an interest in historical fiction with female leads should click "BUY NOW" quickly!!

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

This novel details the relationship between a garden and various women from its beginning through restoration. The story is told through multiple timelines: 1907, when Venetia Smith has been commissioned to create a new garden at Highbury House; 1944 — and how Highbury House and three women living there deal with WWII; and the present, when Emma Lovett is hired to work on restoring the garden. Kelly is able to tie all of these time periods together quite well, all the while letting the reader become involved in the lives of the various women connected to the garden, as we’ll as some of the “secrets” the garden holds.

Overall, this was an interesting and very enjoyable read. It is the first book by Julia Kelly that I have read, and I look forward to reading other by her.

If you love gardening and historical fiction, this is the book for you. Set in 3 time periods, 1907, 1944, and present day. This story revolves around a beautifully designed garden established in 1907 and restored in the present day. In 1944 the house was requisitioned as a war hospital. Full of love and loss, this story explores sacrifice and how to gauge what is worth your personal risk. I really enjoyed that although this is a WWII story, the 1907 element was largely at play as well. Plus the WWII timeline has a lot of Downton Abbey vibes. Overall the women in each of the timelines are empowering themselves to make their own choices and forge their own paths. They each are very different, but the theme of choosing your own adventure is strong.