This was a both cozy and a little dark. Strange and yet simple at times. Conflicting writing at times...not really sure how I feel about it now that is done?
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Immersive and lush, The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt truly lives up to the expectations set by the title, as we’re introduced to Harriet, the titular character who is a little too strange for Victorian society, and her equally strange garden, whose wild sentience keeps her bound to her empty house. When an inspector comes sniffing around for information about her missing father, she soon realises that being a young woman alone in the world is a dangerous thing, but perhaps the charming and handsome neighbour who’s taken an interest in her can be her salvation. However, as she soon realises, not all that glitters is gold.

The creeping sense of danger that follows Harriet throughout the entire novel, pressing in on all sides from multiple different sources, made her small tastes of hope and freedom truly addicting. The curiosity and protectiveness of the garden is beautifully contrasted against Harriets own fear of losing control, further adding layers to the prison of her mind that keeps her bound to Sunnyside, will broken by both the men in her life and her own guilt over her past.

When everything comes to a head, Harriet’s escape from the house and her husband takes place in truly explosive circumstances, and her courage to seek help from her friends is what finally helps secure her freedom. Harriet’s journey from a peculiar recluse to despairing wife to a woman surrounded by love and brightness was very compelling, and I really enjoyed myself throughout the whole book.

While this story deals with themes such as grief and guilt, the cycle of abuse, and the fears that keep you in bad situations, it is more than anything a story of hope, healing, and finding true freedom. While I’ve thankfully never experienced parental or intimate partner abuse, I hope that anyone who resonates with Harriet’s story has been or will be able to find strength and the room to bloom freely from any constraints.

Content warnings: Domestic abuse (physical and emotional), child abuse and neglect (mentioned), death of a parent, rape (implied and attempted), forced institutionalisation (mentioned), injury by fire.

Harriet lives alone in her family home because her mother died and her abusive father has mysteriously disappeared. She has a magical connection to her wild garden where the plants respond to her moods and protect her from the outside world. Facing difficult questions bordering on accusations around her father's disappearance, along with rapidly declining finances, she accepts a proposal of marriage for protection and security.

I found this book slow to get into as the opening chapter was mainly prose with a lot of description, perhaps too much. I really enjoyed the interactions with the garden, but there was so much description that it slowed the story down and reduced suspense.

My main issue was that I felt as though I had read this story before. I knew what was about to happen and how it was going to end. That is not to say that it has been copied, just that it's been done so often before that it needs a point of difference. The magical garden should have provided that but it still felt as though it needed something else.


Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. My opinions are my own.

Harriet Hunt has a green thumb and she loves the plants growing in her rambling garden at Sunnyside House and she’s had more time to devote to it since her father Clement left. Harriet didn’t have a good relationship with her dad and he’s a bully, he did mention visiting a relative and she hasn’t missed him at all.

Harriet’s garden is a wild and over grown place and it’s full of ivy, trailing roses and an old plum tree. Harriet is shocked when she's questioned by a nosy inspector and he’s making it sound like her dad met with foul play and she’s to blame.

Harriet is vulnerable and never been on her own before, she meets Mr. Comstock, after a short friendship and he suddenly proposes. Harriet marries him and thinking Christian will give her the love and security she’s always wanted. Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire and she's made her situation worse.

I received a copy of The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen from NetGalley and Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not normally a fan of magical realism and fantasy fiction, however I enjoyed this book and I felt compassion for Harriet and she's an eccentric and likable woman. Three other characters in the novel were kind, her cousin Eunice and maid Amelia and Mr. Greenwood and I hated two. At times it's a dark and eerie narrative and about controlling behaviour and greed, mystery and secrets. I felt Harriet's garden protected her and had a life of it's own and four stars from me and I recommend.

Well written and intriguing.

Likable characters and lovely imaginations. The ‘peculiar garden’ was just that, peculiar with a high sense of loyalty.

After Harriet Hunt's mother died she is left to live alone with her father who doesn't understand her or her connection to the sentient garden on their estate. Now her father has disappeared and although she is happy to be free from him with her garden, she finds herself at the center of a relentless investigation by the local inspector. The story is set in a time when women have few rights and are sadly reliant on the men in their lives. Vulnerable, she agrees to marry to gain protection from the inspector. But her husband isn't what he seems either. It was hard to read about Harriet being treated as an outcast in her community because she was seen as different. Fortunately, she finds true friendship with the women who ultimately provide the needed support and stability to overcome the situation she has found herself in. The story is beautifully written with a message of female friendship and hopefulness.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Harriet is a young woman in the…1860s, I believe?, whose abusive father has disappeared. Because of her unusual and somewhat magical relationship with her garden and her now vulnerable status as a woman living alone, she marries a seemingly charming young man in order to avoid being committed to an asylum by a suspicious police officer. But her husband is also not what he seems and she may be in even worse trouble now. This was good, although I am not a huge fan of abusive spouse stories as a rule. SPOILER ALERT: There was one scene toward the end in which Harriet was surrounded by vengeful plants as her husband and father fought that I really liked: A woman rising to her feet, powerful for the first time in her life, preparing to take on her abusers while backed by threatening, wrathful plants. Amazing. 3 stars

4.5 Stars

Harriet Hunt’s life hasn’t been easy, her mother, the only one who ever gave her love, has been gone from this world for what seems to her like forever, the only one who ever really loved her, that is, except her garden. It is not your average garden, it seems to have a mind of its own, weaving here and there, creating what, to her, almost feels like family, this garden that gives so much to her, it is her place of solitude, the place she feels more at home.

There’s a strange man who keeps trying to get in touch with her, as this story begins, who weaves in and out, trying to determine where her father is, which she has no answer for. A man she meets declares his love for her, and soon after they marry, and her life changes.

There’s a sprinkling of magical realism in this story, along with an aura of darkness, although this is not, over all, an overly dark story. It’s a story of discovering one’s true self and finding a way to happiness through embracing her true self, as well as the magic of her garden, and the magic within herself.



Pub Date: 03 Dec 2024


Many thanks for the ARC provided by Sourcebooks Landmark

It's strange how a book can feel cozy and a little dark at the same time. 3.5 stars. It hits some slow moments but the end is worth it.

Beautifully written tale of a young woman who some see as odd and her magical garden. Bit of a slow start and the pacing was much slower than I generally like, but it worked for the time period.

Fair warning: our young woman faces abuse and neglect from her childhood on and some of the passages dealing with past or current experiences can be tough to read through. My heart broke multiple times for some of the things she had to endure at the hands of those closest to her.

I admit that I absolutely fell in love with Harriet's garden and it made me want to talk to my plants more!
All in all, I liked the book and glad I read it. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity.

The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt was everything that I wanted from Weyward that I didn't get. In this book Harriet, a young sheltered girl, lives with her father at their estate called Sunnyside. Harriet's father has been missing for 6 months and Harriet has no idea where he is. He has threated to leave her to go to Denmark, but he didn't tell her where he went. An inspector has shown up and suspects Harriet of fowl play. This is a story of a young girl who is forced to make bad choices for her limited options and her fear of leaving.

I enjoyed this novel and although the plot was a bit predictable, it was still a great read. Harriet represents many women of her time who were misunderstood and treated poorly. If you enjoyed books like Weyward or are looking for something witchy you should pick this one up. The preorder is now available.

Interesting premise and beautiful writing!
I found Iversen's prose dreamy and enticing, pulling me into the story of Harriet and her magical garden. I particularly liked the last quarter of the book, where we find the answers to all the mysteries as well as see Harriet really stretch and grow.

I could have used a trigger warning; I ended up skipping over parts concerning Harriet's father. It was a little too intense for me.

I really liked her cousin, and I found those scenes the most refreshing.

Unfortunately not for me. In a world with SO many books being published, I just don't see this as a must in our collection.

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. The idea of a garden come to life felt really magical and different. However, I think I just personally found the main character hard to connect to. While I understood her why as to the choices she made, I often still found them personally annoying. However, in a way I suppose that's how the reader was supposed to feel- while it made it hard to get through for me personally, I think that's just a reflection on not having patience for a character who was clearly a severely unguided young woman. It was fantastic character building in that way, and definitely something interesting to think about in terms of my own lack of patience with the character!

Amazing, this book was a masterfully crafted, haunting tale that was both deeply unsettling and breathtakingly beautiful. Its dark, jarring narrative was a testament to the unyielding resilience of the human spirit, shining a light on the capacity to persevere in the face of unimaginable horrors. A truly gripping and thought-provoking read that will linger long after the final page is turned.

Interesting premise with historical fiction and fantasy elements. Harriet has always known she was different with a well tuned understanding of plans and her ability to call on them in her time of need.
There are parts of Harriet’s past which are slowly revealed to the reader. After her mother’s death she is treated incredibly poorly, until he disappears.

I enjoyed the writing in this book but found some sections were overly repetitive and the pacing felt a bit off which reduced the suspense leading up to and at certain events.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc of this book in return for my honest review

This unique atmospheric mystery keeps one reading throughout, drawing your interest into the troubled life of Harriet Hunt.

This story follows Harriet Hunt, a young woman who is living alone following the disappearance of her father (who is a piece of shit). Society already deems her an outcast because she is a ~strange~ woman, so living alone creates even more drama for Harriet. Add to this a new neighbor/suitor (aka another piece of shit), and Harriet's ability to communicate with her garden, and you get a story that is a mix between The Secret Garden (the evil and gothic version), Weyward, and a Jane Austen novel. Or if you don't like Austen you can pick a similar female author of that era.

There are some whimsical and enchanting moments in this book. HOWEVER, the majority of the book is really tough to read. The amount of abuse that Harriet endures is heartbreaking. Some of the scenes are quite vivid and I had to take a break for my own sanity. She's been abused and isolated for so long that her practical and emotional intelligence is stunted. Because of this she ends up in some difficult situations that were frustrating to see her go through. This worked though because I was very invested in the outcome of her story.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC; I'm rating this 4 out of 5 stars. The one issue I had was the pacing of the first few and the last few chapters. The buildup was too slow and the resolution felt rushed, but I did enjoy this book regardless!

What an absolutely intriguing book from start to finish! Harriet was quirky, quiet and interesting. Loved her friendship with Eunice. I love magical realism . I feel that it was a perfect amount of mustery as I had no idea what Christian was up to. Not everyone starts out with the life they want but you can dream and one day have the life you want! Beautiful book and message.

This book confirms how much this author is talented. The plot, the characters, the writing style are top tier. How things are described and narrated really put the reader in the book.