I don’t even know where to start with this book. It was such a huge mess with unbelievable characters and unbelievable situations. I am totally perplexed as to how it received so many glowing reviews. Apparently I am not a fan of this genre, although I’m not sure what genre it belongs to. It is supposed to be a dystopian fantasy, but lacked the world building it needed. It was unclear throughout when and where the story took place, why the garden was walled in, why the two elderly sisters lived only in the kitchen and believed they were alone in the world etc. I had to force myself to keep reading. There seemed to be no plot here, just a series of unbelievable, sometimes horrific scenes. I received an e-ARC from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 1.5 stars rounded to 2.

Gray Gardens meets The Road. This is a sparse novel - 2 main characters who stay in the same place for the entirety of the story, yet there is heft and substance lurking just beneath the surface. The author does a brilliant job developing the story with the right balance of show versus tell. Great book club choice.

*Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review*

« Thank you Penguin Group Putnam for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. »
The “secret garden” novel is referred to as one of their cherished book. It’s an odd fantasy spin centered on a walled off and forgotten garden estate. Two elderly sisters were forced into isolation on their family estate after an apocalyptic event. Their parents’ outlook doomed them to survive off the food garden for decades. Their estate is their savior but the long standing isolation causes a stultifying contraction of their psychosocial selves. Some kind of “girl interrupted” phenomenon…. The beautiful writing slowly blends flashbacks via the elder sister’s childhood memories. Do people stay ‘sane’ without social interactions? For some reason, this story reminds me of North Woods by D. Mason. Two sisters raised to lean on each other on an apple orchard….

This is one of those dystopian books that kept me wondering what was going on! At 70% I was still trying to figure it out and it definitely kept me reading to find out. It follows two elderly who are quite the oddities themselves and trying to figure out their actions and reasons for doing things had me guessing. I would have loved to have seen a bigger glimpse into the world outside the walls but still a different type of post apocalyptic type of read I would recommend.

I’m gonna be completely honest here… I have no idea what the point of this book was. 🫣 Don’t get me wrong, the writing style was great and I was pretty hooked to the story for the most part. But I kept waiting for things to be explained or just become more clear but nothing was… like at all. And it wasn’t left like it could have a sequel. Unless there was a book for the same timeline as the boy and his journey. I would like that. I’m still giving it 3 stars because I was pretty hooked and wanted to keep reading to hopefully figure it all out.

I found myself intrigued by the story of these two sisters, Evelyn and Lily. But also questioning everything. Are they actually elderly sisters or are they overworked or is their diet (that we discover in the end) deteriorating them prematurely? Are they actually sisters? Their dynamic was questionable and I felt that they didn’t actually like each other very much. Then comes a boy when they thought nothing existed beyond their garden and the wall that surrounded it.

I wanted to learn more from the boy about what was outside of the wall. What happened in the world? Did something actually happen or was their mom just completely nuts? Who were these people that kept trying to break in and what was wrong with them?

And we literally got NO answers. At all. So yea… that’s very frustrating. I get if we have to infer some stuff ourselves in books but to literally get zero answers was annoying. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Disturbing but well written. I can't say I liked it but I did read it through. It was good and deserving of three stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the complementary digital ARC. This review is my own words and opinion.

In a post-apocalyptic world of unknown time or place, elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, live in isolation, never leaving their walled garden. And then the boy arrives and everything changes for the sisters. The book is sort of a dual-timeline because there are sections where Evelyn starts to remember parts of her childhood when her parents were alive with hints indicating their mother may have been mentally unstable. This book is strange, but it pulled me in from the first page. If you like reading books about dystopian type societies, The Garden is a must-read. Thanks to the author Nick Newman, Putnam (PENGUIN GROUP), and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I enjoy trying new authors. The book wasn't anything like I expected it to be.
I guess I was expecting something along the lines of The Secret Garden but not even close.
I expected two charming elderly sisters living together as neither had married and they've never ventured outside of their garden walls. Instead, the sisters fight constantly. Taking place mostly in modern times, of what year it is we have no idea. We also have a lot of flip flopping back and forth from this modern time to whenever the mother was alive. The mother put a lot of restrictions on the sisters, they couldn't do many things and even in their elderly age she still has control over them with their thoughts. The sisters spend their days taking care of bee hives, farming, cleaning and raising chickens. These are elderly women who have no help and no contact with the outside world. No mention of anything modern like tv's or phones. All of the sudden a ragged boy shows up and totally disrupts their world, one sister likes him the other doesn't.
Part of the huge house is boarded up from the time the mother was living, and it still is. The mother had a huge influence on them and still does.
The whole book has a strange and unsettling vibe to it. I have many questions that were not answered in the book and I'm sure there won't be a sequel to answer them.

I was given a complimentary copy of the book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

I enjoyed this dystopian book, but do think it could have benefitted from a bit more...you know...dystopia. Not a lot is known about what happened or IS happening in this world, as everything is seen through the lens of two elderly sisters who are more focused on day to day survival than giving us a history lesson (but we do witness a seriously intense dust storm!)

The sisters are compelling--pragmatic worker bee, Evelyn and dreamy, fragile Lily. The main thrust of the story is that the women receive a visitor to their compound which reveals secrets to we the reader, as well as this new character. This person destroys the careful balance in the sister's relationship, but also forces them to confront that they've outlived their roles and need to make changes.

There are flashbacks in the story, but more about family dynamics and a floundering marriage between Evelyn and Lily's parents than about whatever happened to shut them off from society. (IS there a society anymore? We don't really know.) I wanted these flashbacks to give me some answers, but they posed more questions.

So ultimately I found this to be more a book about sisterhood and secrets, and how people deal with grief, rather than a traditional dystopian story. (This might be why some people who profess not to like dystopian tales enjoyed this one.) I also thought it wrapped up a little too abruptly (though I did enjoy the ending.)

Overall, this was a mixed bag for me, but I did enjoy the characters and the descriptive passages. I just wished it had leaned more into some of the more practical and serious elements of the plot (i.e. less about ballet shoes and more about where the meat came from). Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This was interesting. I wasn’t sure what to make of it in the beginning but I kept reading and enjoyed it. The ending felt a bit abrupt, but all in all a good book! I would’ve liked a little more depth in the ending so it didn’t feel so rushed but it wasn’t bad. A solid dystopian book!

The Garden by Nick Newman is a great novel. Very haunting and interesting atmosphere that the author has created.

First thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
I absolutely loved this book! I was engaged from the start and totally fell in love with the garden, the sisters and the boy. Newman is skilled at creating believable, distinct characters and dialogue, even in this strange dystopian world they live in. There are mysteries that are revealed as we read and we come to understand why they are in the garden and what shaped their personalities.

I took my time reading this one, relishing Newman's prose and the descriptions of the world he created, and I'm not usually one who loves descriptive details. So often the bog down the story and become parts I skip or skim over. Not this one. The garden becomes a character as well and just as important as the other unseen characters--the women's mother and father.

I look forward to reading another by this author!

Told between the present and recollections of the past, The Garden is a dystopian look into the dysfunctional lives of two elderly sisters that have lived unconventional and cloistered lives due to a global weather event.

I had a hard time getting into this one as Newman sometimes writes very short and abrupt sentences that didn’t lend, for me the at least, the feeling of being led into the storyline. Instead it kept abruptly stopping which frequently pulled me out of the story.

Another issue I had was that Evie’s recollections were printed in italics, meaning every time there was a flashback, there were pages of italicized text. Italics are difficult to read when it’s longer than a paragraph or two, and Newman didn’t even include paragraph breaks, so reading 8 pages of solid, unbroken italicized text was absolutely brutal on my eyes.

Despite those cons, when the novel eventually picked up I found myself emotionally invested…
This is not a feel good book. Not by any means. Despite the ending having a kind of HEA, it was tinted with a melancholy hue. It also really makes you think about how you would react in a similar situation, and what lengths you would go to in order to survive.

I received an ARC copy courtesy of Penguin Group Putnam/G.P. Putnam's Sons and NetGalley, however my review is completely my own unbiased personal opinion, left of my own volition.
4 Stars

I read this but found it confusing as until near the end could not figure out the time line when I realized it was in some future time when we had destroyed the earth. I liked the writing but the story not so much. I finished it only because I was hoping for some closure or time line clarity.

📖Title: The Garden
✍️Author: Nick Newman
📅Pub Date: February 18, 2025

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🥰Thank you so much to @putnambooks for the gifted book

🏡First, I have to say this is one of the most gorgeous covers I've ever seen 😍🤗

📖Aside from the gorgeous cover, I picked this up because the synopsis intrigued me! I don't usually share the synopsis, but in this case, I want to share just enough to hopefully intrigue you to pick this one up, too!

📖"In a place and time unknown, two elderly sisters live in a walled garden, secluded from the outside world. Evelyn and Lily have only ever known each other. What was before the garden, they have forgotten; what lies beyond it, they do not know. Each day is spent in languid service to their home: tending the bees, planting the crops, and dutifully following the instructions of the almanac written by their mother."

💐Maybe it's just because I have Silo (the TV show) on my brain, but that gave me major Silo vibes! Sisters never leaving a walled in garden and they don't know why? SIGN ME UP! 👀👀

🏡This was definitely unique, but it's just what I needed after feeling like reads have become repetitive lately. So if you are craving something fresh and different, I highly suggest picking this up! It's not super fast paced, but I was never bored!

Definitely one I won't forget!

Nick Newman's "The Garden" is a haunting tale that lingered in my thoughts long after I turned the last page. Set in a crumbling house surrounded by a meticulously tended garden, this novel introduces two elderly sisters whose lives are governed by their mother's cryptic guidebook.

From the outset, I was plunged into a world of mystery and isolation. The sisters' existence was a puzzle, each page revealing another piece without quite completing the picture. Their routine, almost ritualistic in nature, was suddenly disrupted when a boy sneaked into their home. This intrusion acted as a catalyst, setting in motion a series of revelations that slowly peeled back the layers of their past.

Newman's storytelling is masterful, weaving glimpses of the sisters' younger years into the narrative. These flashbacks were like faded photographs, offering tantalizing hints about their upbringing and the events that shaped their current existence. The author's ability to create a subdued atmosphere is remarkable, perfectly capturing the sisters' isolation and the harsh realities of their environment, including the relentless dust storms that seemed to mirror their internal turmoil.

As the story unfolded, shocking truths about the sisters' parents came to light, adding depth to the family drama. These revelations were like tremors, shaking the foundation of everything I thought I understood about the characters.

The conclusion of "The Garden" is deliberately open-ended, leaving me with a myriad of questions. This ambiguity is both frustrating and intriguing, inviting me to fill in the gaps with my own imagination. It's a bold choice that will undoubtedly spark discussions among readers.

Thank you, G.P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley, for my free book.

The Garden follows two elderly sisters who are cut off from the world. They spend their days tending to their garden and living in the kitchen of their family home. All that matters to them is the here and now, their daily tasks, and each other. One day, a boy appears on the property and after so many years of solitude, the sisters are simultaneously frightened and intrigued.

While I can imagine some readers would be frustrated by the ambiguity of the setting, I feel it allows the reader to truly immerse themselves in the fear our main characters face throughout the story. Evelyn and Lily are so confused, and possibly misinformed, about the nature of the outside world, and not knowing time and place as a reader prevents us from being able to comfortably root ourselves in the narrative, creating an immersive story in which readers are just as bereft as our main characters. 

Highlights:
- dystopian
- vivid imagery
- grief and loss
- family conflict
- character-driven

‘The Garden’ is a haunting dystopian story about two elderly sisters who live in the kitchen of their family’s abandoned mansion and are diligently tending to their garden by meticulously following their late mother’s handwritten almanac. The garden is surrounded by a wall, and the sisters don’t know what, and even if, there is something or somebody beyond it. The rest of the house is boarded up, and they are not allowed to access it but don’t really know why. ‘’It’s full of men’s things’ their mother had told them before she died.
They are quite an eccentric pair, very different in character but are also perfect for each other. Lily is the mischievous one, an adventurous dreamer and artist at heart, while Evelyn is the obedient, dutiful and serious sister who always goes by the rules. Day after day, they go about their chores in perfect harmony but they both also keep their secrets from each other. The unexpected arrival of a stranger changes their routine and ultimately their lives.
The writing is stunning and so atmospheric. I loved the short chapters and was hooked from the very beginning. Short flashbacks describe the sisters’ childhood and what had happened to them and their world what must have been a very long time ago. Make no mistake, even though the book title and first few chapters are rather idyllic, this really is a dark, sad and psychological story with some gruesome scenes. I really liked and enjoyed reading it. I had mixed feelings toward each sister but was intrigued by the dynamics and development of their characters.
Ultimately the garden is a metaphor for their lives and world as they knew it, something they are desperately trying to hold onto at all cost.
I’d like to thank Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Mr Nick Newman for the opportunity to read the advance copy. I truly enjoyed it, and the above is my honest review and own opinion. The book will be published on 2/18/2025. I will be looking for more from this author.

I don’t know why or where or how or when. The thing about this plot is it will keep you reading to find out what happened but you may or may not get the answers you seek. A dystopian ish setting with two sisters surviving on their garden when an unwanted visitor turns things upside down.

This was a really interesting read.. the best way I can think to describe it is “dark cottagecore”. I somehow really wanted to visit this enchanting garden and crumbling estate, while at the same time I was filled with a sense of dread on what the girls endured. I can’t wait to read more from this author!