I first encountered Nicola Cornick’s novels last year, when Graydon House released “The Last Daughter of York.” I enjoyed that book so much that I’ve been meaning ever since to go back and read her earlier ones, but so far I haven’t had time. When her publicist told me about “The Winter Garden,” though, I jumped at the chance to cover it. It helped that part of the novel revolves around the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605—something I wanted to know more about, since despite having spent part of my childhood in the UK, where we let off fireworks on November 5 and watched the burning in effigy of Guy Fawkes, I actually knew few details of the plot itself.

Cornick’s novels, as a general rule, blend a modern perspective with a historical mystery and a paranormal connection between the two. One of her gifts is to make the contemporary romance comparable in strength and appeal to the historical portion, and that talent is on display here. Lucy, an internationally renowned concert violinist, has suffered a health crisis that strips her of her ability to perform. Facing the death of her career, she takes the opportunity to recover at a rural English estate. There she experiences bizarre dreams where she appears to inhabit the body of a Tudor-era woman named Catherine, even as she is increasingly pulled into a relationship with Finn, an archeologist working on the gardens of the estate while mourning the recent loss of his brother in a car crash.

Alongside this modern story, we follow the events leading up to the Gunpowder Plot, told by Anne Catesby, the mother of the main conspirator. At first, past and present seem far apart, but as the novel progresses, the links between them become clearer. Anne and Lucy are strong, determined women fighting circumstances beyond their control—for very different reasons—and I found myself rooting for both of them to succeed. In short, I loved every minute of this excursion into the origins of the Gunpowder Plot, the Knights Hospitaller, and the complex elements included in Tudor gardens.

I will be interviewing this author for the New Books Network (link below) in November 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-galley in exchange for an honest review. Nicola Cornick's novels are always a delight, full of lush detail and a carrying way of writing that pulls you deep into the story and the lives of the characters. Cornick again returns us to the intertwined lives of two women, perhaps three, who are all trying to find their next step and protect themselves and those they care about. I loved Lucy and I loved Anna. The clear attention to historical accuracy and work just sublimely blends in to the narrative. I always resurface from a Cornick novel, blinking at the world around me, as layers of the story tend to stick with me for days afterward. Beautiful!

The Winter Garden is a dual timeline story with the first timeline taking place in Tudor England where we meet the Catesby family - Anne, her husband William, and their selfish and wild son Robert, who they contract in marriage to Catherine Leigh, a sweet and beautiful heiress, and the two fall deeply in love. The second timeline takes place in the current day and features Lucy, a professional musician who can no longer play her violin after a virus left her with nerve damage. In mourning for her lost career, Lucy moves to her Aunt Verity's empty home, Gunpowder Cottage, and meets the landscape archaeologist who is working on recreating the Tudor garden which had surrounded the cottage and the original home on the land. There's so much more to this phenomenal story - the ghost of Catherine, searching for her lost treasure, hints that the home had something to do with the Knights Hospitaller, and Robert Catesby's involvement with the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. Nicola Cornick is an amazing writer whose characters come to life in the pages of her novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. As a Nicola Cornick fan, I did the happy dance when I received this ARC!

I read previous novels by this author and quite enjoyed them. I was drawn to the tale of the Gunpowder plot, the "remember remember the 5th of November" we all know and love. While a little slow in areas, this was still a great read.

1605: Anne Catesby fears for her family. Her son, the darkly charismatic Robert, is secretly plotting to kill the king, placing his wife and child in grave danger. Anne must make a terrible choice: betray her only child or risk her family’s security…and her very life.
Present Day: When her dreams of becoming a musician are shattered, Lucy takes refuge in her family’s ancestral home in Oxfordshire. Everyone knows it was originally home to the notorious gunpowder plotter Robert Catesby. As Lucy spends more time in the beautiful winter garden that Robert made, she starts to have strange visions of a woman in Tudor dress, terrified and facing a heartbreaking dilemma.
As Lucy's and Anne’s stories converge, a shared secret that has echoed through the centuries separating them will change Lucy’s life forever…
This is a good story by Nicola Cornick.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.