I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Joe Byrd, and Giverny Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own free will and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am most pleased to recommend Joe Byrd to friends and family. There is obviously intense research involved in his work and his protagonists are sympathetic and well-rounded. He drops you without effort into that time, that place.

Oscar Bonhomme is a third-generation gardener, son of a single mom who was responsible for establishing many public gardens in San Francisco, including the world-famous Golden Gate Park. He and his mother immigrated from France to the United States when Oscar was quite young, and he grew up working and playing in those gardens. After graduating college with a degree in garden design Oscar felt that, with the world at war in Europe, he should return to France and enlist, both for France and the US. It would also give him a chance to look for his father. The only fact his mother shared with him is that his father was a French artist, one of the new wave of impressionist artists of the new twentieth century.

Injured near the end of the war, Oscar received several bullet wounds as well as a strong dose of mustard gas, which damaged, perhaps permanently, his lungs. During his service in France, his mother passed away, so upon his release from the hospital, he was in no hurry to return to California. A friend of his mother, who had visited him in the military hospital gave him a letter of introduction to Claude Monet, recommending him for work in Monet's gardens. Gardens and water gardens already bearing a world-renowned reputation and were featured in many of Monet's current paintings. This was a dream job for this young man, one he cherished and worked at daily. And in his off time, he went to his mother's old neighborhoods and friends, always in search of his father.

And in the search, he found his place in this world, and a family - something he had never had.

Gardener Oscar works for Monet in his impressive gardens and pond in the south of France. Not knowing who his father is, Oscar joins Monet’s family and is accepted by them. Encountering love and romance, Oscar is searching for his roots, and is surprised by the turns his life takes in this well written historical novel. Recommended for 2021.

When I got this book from NetGalley, I was so thrilled. This is a book about my favourite painter in a period of time that I adore. So I really can't miss this book.
And it is good. It contains lots of details about that epoch and about Impressionism. Even I discovered something new. And the description of the garden in Giverny can make everyone wants to go there and enjoy it.
But on the contrary the main character, Oscar, really annoyed me. I couldn't understand him. Yes, he suffered from the trauma, but he is so judgemental, he tries to label everyone, even his dead mom. For him it is only black or white. And he really tends to overthink everything.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.