Cover Image: The Last Garden in England

The Last Garden in England

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Member Reviews

Julia Kelly ties the past and the present together in the beautiful gardens of England. The lives of five different women from 1907, 1944, and the present are drawn together as life, love, and war impact their lives and tie them all together across time. A beautifully written story that keeps you wanting more even as you finish the last line. The imagery makes you long for the gardens of England and makes you feel as if you are part of the story. There is love, mystery, and tragedy, a little something for everyone.

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This is a beautiful book, I loved it. The story is about a lovely garden in an English country house, told over 3 different time periods. Different women are involved in creating, modifying, and renovating it over time.
Well known gardening designer Venetia Smith originally created the garden, divided into themed rooms. Then in the present Emma Lovett arrives to renovate the garden. The original designer is Emma’s idol, and she wants to do her justice. The third timeline is set during WWII, when the house has been converted into a hospital for soldiers.
The different timelines were interesting, but I had a hard time connecting to the many characters. The writing was great, but this book never gripped me like others by Julia Kelly have. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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While this one certainly should have ticked all my boxes, ultimately I found the story slow and not for me.

DNF’d at 20%.

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This beautifully written book is about a garden that is a crucial part of three women's lives over a hundred period. It's told through three time lines and is the central point in each of those timelines.

1907 - Venetia is a popular garden designer for huge estates in England. When she's hired at Highbury House estate, she has a chance to really show off her designs. She is a woman before her time that had a career and was unmarried. The people that she meets at the estate are difficult to work for and they end up changing her life in ways that she never expected.

1944 - Diane and her young son live at Highbury House, her deceased husband's home. Diane is consumed with grief over the loss of her husband, and finds peace in the gardens. When the house was requisitioned and transformed by the Army to a convalescent home for wounded soldiers, she insisted that the gardens should be left alone and not changed. The other key character in this timeline is Beth, a landgirl who was sent from the city to help a farm family. She has no family and is just looking for a place to call home while she helps England out during the war.

Present day - Emma owns a small design company and has been hired to restore the gardens to their earlier beauty. She doesn't really have a home but finds a place to live near each of the gardens that she works on. Restoring the gardens at Highbury House is a dream come true because she had studied and was in awe of the first designer, Venetia. As she finds out more about the history of the gardens, she discovers secrets about the previous families that have been kept hidden over the years.

Even though this book is centered around the garden at Highbury House, it has many other elements - romance, mystery, friendship and love of the outdoors. I'm not a gardener and had to goggle some of the plants that the characters talked about but the descriptions of the plants and flowers in the garden were beautiful and made me wish that I was in the middle of a beautiful English garden.

Thanks to goodreads for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

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Beautifully written. Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a unbiased opinion.

This book spans three different time periods all connect by a beautiful garden in England. As a novice gardener, I especially loved this story as it gave me ideas for my own garden spaces. ❤️

We meet several women on our journey through time. From Helen and Venetia to Beth, Stella, Diana and then Emma and Sydney. These women are strong. They have weather some of the worst things life can throw at them and stayed true to themselves, their desires and their destinies. I recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, gardeners and strong female characters.

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This is a great book if you're a gardener. I got a little lost in all the names of plants that were in the gardens. I don't have a background in English gardens, but I found it interesting that gardens were divided into "rooms". Perhaps I will research this practice. I almost gave up on this book at the very beginning. I felt like there were too many characters. The book is told from the standpoint of three different perspectives in three different time periods. But they all centered around one main garden. The author switches from one time period to another. Just as I finally realized what was happening in that particular time period with the particular characters, she would switch again. Many times I found myself confused and trying to remember who was who and what was what. I did finish the book, and I don't regret spending time with it. But it did not leave a lasting impression on me. Perhaps someone with an English (as in the country) background, could relate better to the story.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

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Content warnings: miscarriage; death of a child; death of a spouse; depiction of abusive marriage.

I'm not generally a reader of women's fiction, especially not books that alternate between modern and historical timelines, but I always make an exception for Julia Kelly, because she writes so well that I end up swept away in the storylines. This book is probably her most intricate yet, with multiple layers of story all woven cleverly around a beautiful garden - I didn't think I was going to be able to connect to so many different characters, but I had no problem keeping the different women straight, as they are all so vividly portrayed, and I ended up invested in all of them. There are quite a lot of tragic elements, so it's not necessarily a cheerful read, but it is ultimately a hopeful one that leaves you thinking about love and kindness.

Also, the gardening parts had me itching to get planting, and it's easy to visualise the stunning gardens in the book - you can tell that a lot of care has been put into all the plant descriptions, and I enjoyed that very much!

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This would be a good book club pick as there are multiple main characters and time periods, so everyone will have their favorites. Sometimes the plot got a little maudlin, but overall, it was an enjoyable demonstration of how our human urge to harness nature and beautify our surroundings is part of a bigger need to create our identities.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

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The Last Garden in England
by Julia Kelly

Present day: Emma Lovett, is given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she uncovers 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 the high society set. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, her life is changed forever.

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 is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is trying to cling to her pre-war life now when the war department requisitions her home. Then tragedy strikes.

This was a delightful summer read. The Land Girls meets Downtown Abbey with some Hallmark Channel thrown in for good measure. A little sappy in parts, you know, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again, but it was a pleasant change of pace. The Last Garden in England is the kind of book that makes you sigh when you read the last page. Sometimes books set in multiple time periods stumble, but Julia Kelly connected the separate storylines well. The gardening detail was too much for me, but if you are a flower gardener, you are really going to love it. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

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I love stories with multiple storylines in different era's, and this one has everything I need! It fluctuates between the 1900s, 1940s and present day in Scotland. The main character is a garden, first when it's getting designed, during the 40s during the war, and then present day when it's being restored. A story of strong women and romance.

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This book tells the story of 3 different generations of women who were the architects of the gardens on one large country estate.

I found the stories interesting, especially related to the gardens. It was so interesting to read of the first architect during the 1900s, the gardens being requisitioned during the war, and then current day, trying to reconstruct the original gardens.

Interwoven are stories of the the owners of the grand estate for the three generations and the events that unfold in those years. Most of the intervening stories are set during the War with some of the staff, land girls, soldiers and friends.

I like how it all folded together, and even with the three time periods, the stories blended well and I was able to keep it all together and know where I was at.

It's a lovely, cozy. sometimes sad, many times happy, slice of the life around an English Garden and I thought it an enjoyable read.

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The Last Garden in England is my second book by Julia Kelly. I love multiple timeline stories and strong female characters and this book provided both. It’s about five women in three eras -- Venetia, Emma, Stella, Beth and Diana -- all bound together by the gardens of Highbury, an English country estate.

I enjoyed reading about the varied roles women played or endured during WWII, the depth Kelly gave her characters, and the way that all my emotions were touched. There was friendship, romance, pain, heartache, and joy. I love gardens so that part of the story also appealed to me. A light, enjoyable read.

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Masterfully crafted this story that centers around garden restoration is a wonderful story of hope. I loved the different storylines and found that I was entranced by the different stories of heartache, loss of loved ones and dreams, and the hope that follows. While I was aware of the requisition of manor homes during the world wars, I was not aware of how many beautiful gardens were destroyed. Quietly told, the allegory of the restoration of a garden and that of the human spirit celebrated the power of friendship, family and love.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from the author/publisher. I was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Julia Kelly’s Last Garden in England is a beautiful story that centers on a garden in a small village and spans over a hundred years and the women who lived and loved there. I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t sure how she would be able to connect them all, but the book kept me captivated until it all came together. In 1907 Venetia Smith was designing a garden for a wealthy family when she fell in love and risked everything. Then during world war 2, the house was requisitioned for a hospital for wounded soldiers. Diana had lost her husband in battle and was struggling to keep the house going and take care of her small son. In current times, Emma is tasked with returning the garden to its former beautiful glory. All three women will discover who they are and what is important. Along they way, they will find hope and peace and some new friends too! I really enjoyed this story! Great read! Thanks to #NetGalley for this opportunity. All opinions are my own. #bookstagram #all_the_pages

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Julia Kelly is a new author to me and I appreciated this historical fiction novel set in England. Told from the perspectives of multiple women throughout history, it weaves together the story of one garden at Highbury House. From the origins of the garden developed by a woman named Venecia, to the present as the garden is reconstructed to the original designs, Julia Kelly weaves a tale of interconnected brave women.

The garden itself is a character, with many "rooms" and features. The descriptions of each character, the community and the social customs of the day are very accurate. Each woman made a bold choice that was at times surprising, but definitely true to the character development the author weaved. The men in this story were very accepting of these choices, which sometimes made me curious. Would men at that time have been so progressive in their thinking?

It's was a slow burn for me, and that is just as it should have been in order to take in the nuances of each character and watch their stories unfold naturally.

To say it is a love story is accurate, though it is also not primarily a romance at all. We move through the challenges of war and how women were forced into service in ways that weren't necessarily what they had dreamed of. The author doesn't spare us from grief, which was unexpected and raw.

I do plan to read more by this author in the future. I highly recommend this book and I am grateful for the advanced copy from Netgalley. My rating is 4.5 stars.

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Having read Julia Kelly before, I was intrigued but hesitant to read her next foray into historical fiction. Greek gods and WWI was such an odd combo -- suffice it to say, I will never forget it.

Highbury House's famous garden attracts 3 women/gardeners/landscape architects. In modern day, Emma looks to restore it to the glory of her hero Venetia's design from 1907. In 1907, Venetia, a lady, defies convention and tries to fix a garden that hasn't been well taken care of and make it the best. She runs into obstacles-- in the form of convention and the people she's working around and with. In 1944, land girl Beth, cook Stella, and the lady of the house Diana find that war erases the normal social lines that separate them. When tragedy strikes, the women work together to ensure a future that makes sure they all can move forward.

I will admit, I was a bit concern about three different storylines and at first, couldn't talk myself into Venetia's storyline. Once we learn as reader's that her storyline is the inspiration for the current gardener, I could go along with it. It was still a bit to keep up with.

I loved the ending twist. It was so good. I think it really brought to the forefront, hey, this is what could happen. I don't know why they hadn't suspected before honestly. I guess the grandfather's name being the same was enough. The women didn't really comment in the 1940's if the boys looked similarly. .

Overall, I did find this an intriguing story. I thought that the angle of centering around the garden actually worked more than I thought it would. Thank you for the ARC.

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Loved this book! I truly couldn’t put it down, the way the narratives and characters wove in and out of each other was beautifully done to create one single story spanning generations!

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A beautiful historical novel about three women in different time periods starting in 1907. All of these characters were perfectly written and though each had a different storyline they all entwined together with one beautiful garden. A story of tragedy, love, and mystery. I look forward to reading more books by This author.

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3.5 stars

The story follows Emma (2021), Venetia (1907), and Beth/Stella/Diana (1944) as they all work at Highbury House and the gardens on the grounds. It was interesting to see how the gardens connected each of the women and it was also interesting to read more about the war from a woman's prospective. However, while I enjoyed reading this book, I kept waiting for some big event to happen or some big reveal to show itself, and it just didn't. Overall, it was an interesting story but just didn't WOW me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the copy to review.

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I am a fan of Kate Morton's books, but I haven't read any of Julia Kelly's other works, so I wasn't aware of her talent for also writing a long-spanning mystery with strong female characters. I will most definitely be looking for her other books now. It would be a great book club selection, particularly for those also interested in a connection to gardening.

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