Plant Therapy

A story of love, courage and a love of plants and gardening. Strong women standing up for what they believe in and supporting each other when tragedy hits. Healing their hearts in working at Kew Gardens and helping others with the healing plants they gather and grow. Finding new beginnings and surviving loss during a horrible war that changes everyone and everything it touches.

Daisy, the young wife of an RAF serviceman worried about his fate overseas joins the crew of the Kew Gardens to keep her mind off her worries and makes a new friend. Beth, a nurse joins to work in Kew Gardens because she wants to learn more about medicinal plants as she has aspirations of someday becoming a doctor. Soon Daisy and Beth are good friends.

Louisa once worked for Kew Gardens in the first World War and she is not yet ready to give up her green thumb and her gardening knowledge.
With bombs bursting over London every night, the hospital full and Anderson shelters popping up all over the place the ladies find solace in working in the gardens. They work together and confide in each other their personal challenges and their concerns with the war and with other issues. When a tragedy befalls one of their own they are all there to comfort each other.

There are many underlying themes throughout the book. Prejudice against women in the workplace, discrimination, a father's misguided love, romance, loss and despair. There is also courage, strength, forgiveness and compassion.

I really enjoyed reading the first book and now this second book about the Kew Gardens. Each one is different and each one equally great. I loved both book. I would defiantly recommend this book.

Thanks to Posy Lovell for writing a great story, to Penguin Group Putnam for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available to me.

The Kew Garden Girls at War is a historical novel about women who work in the Kew Gardens during World War II. It is a beautifully written, engrossing historical novel about friendship.

I wanted to read this novel because I love historical fiction and especially am interested in the 1940's time period. The details in this book are wonderful - lovely descriptions! I recommend it highly for other historical fiction fans.

Thank you so much publishers for the opportunity to review this book! This was a wonderful read even thought it deals with war and sad times. The characters were so strong and I loved spending time with them! I didn't know it was a sequel but that is okay! If you like a well developed historical fiction book I think you will enjoy this!

I read the original Kew Garden Girls novel and really enjoyed it and I enjoyed the sequel just as much, I enjoy how the characters 'grew up' and the stories have intertwined and grew with them. The novel tackled a lot of really heavy topics in a very nice way.

An enjoyable read set during WWII in London with likeable main characters. Some of the story was a little cheesy for me but overall was a heartwarming story.

It is WWII - men are enlisting, the women are left alone, and Kew Gardens is again looking for women to help.

Daisy’s mother, Ivy, had worked at Kew Gardens during the last war, and Daisy was excited to help. She knew it would help her to not miss her husband so much.

We learn about what the Londoners went through and learn about Anderson Bomb Shelters.

We get to visit with Ivy and Louisa again and see new friendships and old ones continuing and blossoming along with all the flowers and vegetables being grown.

We also get to meet new characters that will warm your heart.

You will love the strength of the women and how they all work together to help each other get through each of their darkest times.

And you can’t have a wartime book without love. Love that is lost because of war as well as love that is difficult to achieve because of prejudices.

A lovely, lovely read despite heartbreaking war situations.

This book is very enjoyable and uplifting just as the first KEW GARDENS book was.

You do not need to read the first book to enjoy this book, but my review of THE KEW GARDENS GIRLS is BELOW if you want to check it out and see how Ivy's mother and Louisa warmed the hearts of readers when they were young. 5/5

https://tinyurl.com/j29ky3a3

This book was given to ​me by​ the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

When I began this, I fell in love with the homefront women of this terrific sequel, which turned out to be just what I didn’t know I wanted to read. The story was strong and kept my attention and interest.

This is the sequel to the fantastic The Kew Gardens Girls, which took place during the first world war. This novel is a wonderful one, buoyed by the sustaining friendships the characters in this built, this story touched on so many real issues during WWII.

Recommended.

I enjoyed this homefront WWII novel, that was homefront England instead of the US. So that was a nice change something different. And I loved learning more about Kew Gardens.
nspired by real events, a touching novel about a new class of courageous women who worked at London’s historic Kew Gardens during World War II.

I enjoyed this historical fiction novel about the lives of the brave women during WWII who worked in London’s Kew Gardens. This is the second book I have read in this series. The first book, The Kew Gardens Girls, takes place during WWI.

The Kew Gardens Girls at War, focuses on strong female characters coping with life in wartime London. Daisy is the daughter of Ivy and Jim from the first book and works at Kew Gardens, just like her mother did during WWI. Also working at the gardens with Daisy is Beth and Louisa. Beth is a nurse who wants to go to medical school and Louisa is Ivy’s friend and a former suffragette who wants to help by working again at Kew.

I liked this book for the strong female relationships and the honest look at wartime London.

I was a little disappointed in the first book because the author didn’t share some of the historic facts that she discovered while writing the book. However, in the current book there are plenty of details in the “A Conversation with Posy Lovell” at the end of the book.

The Kew Gardens Girls at War deals with much more than the issues we expect in wartime; food deprivation, everyday fear of the enemy and worry about loved ones fighting. Added to these monumental stresses in this book are racism and postpartum depression. As in The Kew Gardens Girls, strong and vivid characters lead the way and do not hesitate in the face of all-too-real threats to their survival. Daisy, daughter of Ivy and Jim in the first novel, finds ease and friendship working at the Kew Gardens as her mother did during the Great War. Beth Sanderson puts plans for medical school on hold to work at the gardens, and Louisa will find a new reason to rise each day through her contributions to the gardens.

The Kew Gardens Girls at War is a compelling read as a stand-alone or can be enjoyed as a sequel to The Kew Gardens Girls.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book in advance. I loved the first Kew Garden Girls and I love this one. It was kind of heartbreaking at times but that just makes it more real. Great book.

What an amazing novel touching on the many social issues of WWII. From women working to racial prejudice to post partum depression, The Kew Gardens Girls at War picks up at the start of WWII as Daisy sees her new husband off to join the RAF. Not knowing his whereabouts has Daisy on edge, combine that with the nightly bombings…her anxiety soars. Receiving encouragement from her mother, a former Kew gardener herself, Daisy signs up for the Dig For Victory campaign and focuses her time and energy into an allotment of land. Beth, a nurse, who is fighting what seems like a never ending battle for gender equality in the work place also signs up for the project with the hopes it will get her foot in the door of the committee researching plants and their medicinal values. She hopes to use this to add experience to her application for medical school. Together these girls learn not just about the land but about the power of friendship.

I have to admit that I did not know that this book was a sequel when I read it. I enjoy learning about the different roles women played during the war so this book peaked my interest and I have the Kew Gardens Girls in hand. I love that this book touches on so many social issues during the war. From women proving that they are just as capable as men in the medical field to interracial relationships to post partum depression to friendship, this is just an all around wholesome book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group and Posy Lovell for early access to this gem! I’m off to read the first installment now!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It certainly covered many social issues of the WWII era. Women's rights to work, lack of equality with men in the workplace, expectations of young women to marry and not have careers. Mental health issues, post-partum depression, interracial relationships, prejudice. Sounds like a lot of topics to have covered, but they were all woven into the story so well, it didn't feel scattered or overwhelming. The relationships between the women of multiple generations and how they supported each other during the hardships of war were at the core of the book. A very different sort of WWII novel. I haven't read the previous volume, but am about to start it. Thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for a preview copy.

When Daisy Turner's new husband joins the RAF to fight the Battle of Britain, she's terrified she's going to lose him. So when her mother Ivy suggests she joins the gardeners at Kew to keep busy, Daisy's intrigued. After all, Ivy worked at Kew during the last war and made lifelong friends along the way. Ivy's friend, Louisa Armitage, is feeling old and useless at her Kent home, wishing she could return to Kew and do her bit for the war effort. Tensions are rising between Louisa and her husband, as they argue over their nephew Christopher, who's enlisted. But Louisa's soon on her way to Kew with an idea that could really make a difference. Meanwhile Beth Sanderson is furious after her father stops her applying to medical school. Angry and frustrated, she applies to a new wartime role at Kew Gardens, alongside her doctor friend Gus Campbell. But the committee is run by men and Beth is asked to take a job a gardener instead, running a demonstration allotment with new friend Daisy. Beth is also attracted to a Jamaican doctor who is relegated to the pharmacy at the hospital where they work because of the color of his skin. When tragedy hits, the women are forced to come together to support each other through their darkest hours. But can the Kew Gardens Girls survive the horrors of war-torn London this time?

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about gardening and how plants could be used for medicinal purposes. It was apparent that the author did her research. I also enjoyed the characters and how they matured and developed as the story progressed. I did not find out until reading the notes and author interview at the end that this was here second book about the Kew Garden girls, the first was about Ivy and Louisa's experiences during WWI that were alluded to in this book. So, now I want to go back and read their story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this well written book.

As more and more men join up to fight during WWII, Kew Gardens needs to recruit women to replace the male gardeners.


Daisy is recently married to a RAF pilot and needs something to do in the war to take her mind off of her husband, as her current position is not enough. Her mother was a Kew Garden girl during the Great War and suggests that Daisy do her part by becoming a Kew Garden girl herself, Daisy realizes that this may be the ticket she needs to distract herself from the constant worry she feels regarding losing her new husband and to feel that she is doing her share to fight the war.

Louisa aches to do more for the war effort, she was a Suffragette and knows how to fight for what is right! Additionally, in the Great War, she was a Kew Garden Girl and worked hard for the war effort. While she may be older, that doesn’t mean that she cannot contribute to the war effort in her own way with her unique life experiences.

Beth Sanderson isn’t just a nurse, but a woman on a mission. She wants to be a doctor, but her father refuses to sign the paperwork for medical school. When she hears about Kew Gardens working on potential plant pharmaceuticals to be used in place of drugs that are in short supply, Beth is determined to figure out a way to be able to join the team in an effort to improve her application to medical school. She signs up to become a Kew Garden Girl and is chosen to work on the “Dig for Victory” garden alongside Daisy. Not exactly what she had envisioned, but Beth makes it work and gains newfound confidence and friends along the way.

All three women encounter hardships and difficulties, but will their friendship and compassion for others help them to overcome their problems and persevere? Will the cruel dictates of war prove to be too much?