Two elderly sisters live in a walled off compound in a walled off home, once grand, but now reduced to a single room for reasons unknown. Where? We never know. They have been alone since the death or their mother, after her father's disappearance. The isolation is self-imposed, after some sort of apocalyptic event. Within the compound is an Eden-esque garden that sustains them. Each day of each passing year, they toil according to the instructions painstakingly recorded by their mother to care for the garden. The sisters do not live in perfect harmony - one being the free child, and the other the nurturing parent. Their equilibrium is upset when another stranger enters their world.

The cover is beautiful, the title simple - I just had to request a review copy from NetGalley, thank you! I stayed up past my bedtime to finish it on more than one night. The basic plot, a stranger disrupting the equilibrium of an environment, is hardly unique, but this is not cliched. The present time story is interrupted by memories, now fading, of their childhood and the early stages of the "after" life. I felt for Evelyn and Lily, but identified more with Evelyn as the sister cum parent. It was interesting how undeveloped the details of the apocalyptic event were, we only know what the sisters know, which is very little.

The book could have ended around the tragic plot point, but it did not. I'm grateful for the author's choice in this, I prefer to avoid that pain in the hollow of my chest at the end of some books.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. It felt like a dreamlike story, a haunting dystopian tale, with a little bit of horror thrown in. It brought forth so many questions and left me with so many more by the end.

The story follows two elderly sisters living together on their family estate, tending their garden surviving day-to-day with only their memories and each other to keep them company. The story is told from the present as well as flashbacks into the past, where everything slowly starts to unfold. One day, a mysterious young boy find his way into their Garden leaving them to question everything they knew. At what lengths will someone go to survive when their world is turned upside down?

I enjoyed the story even though it was slow in places. The ending however, left me wanting more.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars...This book is a very slow burn and is for readers who enjoy minimalisticly haunting storytelling. There's not a lot of action in this story, and a lot of information is never given, such as the year, location, ages, and names. It's all very vague. Some people dig that sort of thing.

I do not.

I kept reading in hopes of finding out a little more about what happened to the world outside Lily and Evelyn's garden, but we're never told. The day-to-day upkeep of the garden and the slow revelation of what happened to the family just wasn't enough to keep me super interested.

Overall, while this wasn't for me, I do think there are a lot of readers out there who will enjoy this. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I’m sorry, but this book just wasn’t for me. I was extremely bored and thought it was very strange. Just not my cup of tea.

For years, sisters Lily and Evelyn have only known the confines of their garden home. After a dust storm buried everything, the sisters and their mother surrounded themselves behind walls where they lived an isolated life, growing their own garden, and surviving on their own. To them, the outside world is gone. Decades later, when Evelyn starts to notice everyday items not where she left them and food missing from their pantry, she starts questioning if they really are alone.



This was a very strange book. Told in present day as well as in the past when the sisters were preteens, we slowly get a glimpse of what happened. I say “glimpse” because this is one of those books that does not fully reveal what happened before or after the storm. We are not told much about what happened to all the other people, or why these violent dust storms keep happening. The past is very murky, with the limited view from Evelyn as she experiences things from the lens of a child. We can only guess what is going on. Despite the vague explanations, I did enjoy this story. It allows readers to formulate their own opinions. While this was not an action packed story, it was engaging and dropped little nuggets of surprise as we learn how the sisters have survived so long in isolation.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Garden has an intriguing premise that leads to an even more intriguing story. Set in England after an unknown disaster - perhaps the slow poisoning of climate change or a more deliberate one - that brings debilitating dust storms and previously destroyed the land with heat, not many people seem to be around everyone. The exception for the reader is sisters Lily and Evelyn, who seem to have grown to an old age unthinkingly on auto pilot in the day to day tasks of survival. Both sisters hold a host of secrets from each other, and when a young boy ends up in their garden and home those secrets begin to creep out - but what do they mean, and will the boy be another secret that nourishes the garden and their livelihood, or the destruction of it?

Much of the novel is a mystery as to what occurred and what’s happening outside of the garden’s walls, since the women are terrified to leave and reference their dead mother as if she’s a vengeful more than nourishing god in their world, she who instilled the fear of the outside and devotion to their land in them. Surely their odd behavior and Evelyn’s fractured memories of her family at the turn of the disaster carry some significance to why the women have isolated themselves, but to understand why and just what depths these women have descended a reader must fully cocoon themselves in this world which is eerie and not a little scary.

While there isn’t a full resolution, the last few chapters bring twists and realizations that ramp up the tension of what was read before even more. A guarantee - you will be thinking about this long after you’re done reading.

Oh my. I’ve just binge-read this whole book in a single day and I’m struggling with where to start my review.

This was a haunting, gothic story about two sisters (Evelyn and Lily) living on the edge of a dystopian wasteland and the young boy that barges in and disrupts their fragile peace. For all the ways that our protagonist (Evelyn) thinks they’re thriving in their little garden, long-buried memories and new knowledge of the outside world brought to them by The Boy slowly erodes the balance the sisters have built between them and calls into question the future. The story was incredibly immersive and character-driven with a plot that slowly ate away at my expectations and assumptions. The world was built beautifully down to the smallest details and the characters felt incredibly human in that they were fully fleshed out with a broad mix of motivations, emotions, consistencies and inconsistencies.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read early with an ARC. I adored this book and will look to read more from Newman.

🌿 The Garden by Nick Newman

This book was odd—and not in a thrilling, mind-bending way, but in a slow, dreamlike drift that put me to sleep after only a few pages every time. The writing is undeniably atmospheric, weaving an eerie, hypnotic world where time feels suspended. But that same haziness made it hard to stay engaged.

That said, the sisters, Evelyn and Lily, were the saving grace of the novel. Their dynamic was fascinating—both tender and unsettling—and their bond kept me reading even when the plot moved at a glacial pace. The mystery surrounding the boy had potential, but the execution felt too meandering for my taste.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5)

Moody, atmospheric, and more of a question than an answer; The Garden is a unique exploration of two elderly sisters whose lives are upended when their solitary existence is upended by the arrival of a mysterious guest. Who is he? Why is he here? But more importantly - why are the sisters in isolation? What caused this? And where do they go from here?

This novel defies genres and definitely isn’t within my normal realm of fiction, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. If you’re looking for something different, I’d say this is a great option! Thank you NerGalley for a copy of this arc!

4 🌟

Definitely not your normal dystopian tale. Haunting, quiet, and unsettling, the end of the world - the one at large and the self-contained one of the garden - is revealed slowly through flashbacks and the narrative.

As I read and got to know the sisters, the more concerned I got. There is much more to them than what we see initially, and not all of it is good. The building sense of dread throughout the novel is resolved in simple, but no less dreadful ways. It was really beautifully done and I greatly enjoyed this read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book!

I SO enjoyed the speculative and mysterious vibes around this one, as well as the relationship (and its ebbs and flows) of the sisters. I think there was unexpected character development in a few spots that was so realistic BECAUSE it was out of left field and felt like a complete 180.

I will say it felt slow at times, and I expected more in terms of a resolution. Due to the pacing and the lack of clarity, I give it 3 stars.

The Garden by Nick Newman is a highly recommended dystopian fairy tale-esque literary novel with gothic/horror elements.

Evelyn and Lily, two elderly sisters, live only in the kitchen of a decrepit manor and spend all their time caring for the garden, fruit trees, and tending the bees behind the stone walls that keep them secluded from the outside world. They have lived in isolation for years. Evelyn carefully follows the instructions of the almanac written by their mother, even though the information in it no longer resembles the world they live in where dust storms are always a threat. At the same time Lily takes the daily chores leisurely and prefers to dance or play. When a nameless young man is found hiding in the house it changes the dynamics of the relationship between the sisters.

In this eerie, slow-paced atmospheric novel it is clear from the start that something isn't entirely right with the sisters. Their life-long relationship is dysfunctional. There is character development but in their completely isolated and dystopian world their personalities are odd, childlike, and still subservient to their deceased mother orders. They are also still acting out their roles from childhood. Their deceased mother is almost another character and flashbacks to their childhood intimate she was likely abusive.

For readers many questions will quickly arise and most won't be answered. No location or time period is ever mentioned and it's likely the sisters don't know. We have no clear understanding why everything from outside the wall is to be feared. Some of the sister's ritualistic behavior is nonsensical. We know that huge dust storms can occur. We know they have been instructed to fear men. The tension increases when Evelyn begins to suspect someone is on their land, while the horror elements are slowly uncovered in a natural development of the narrative.

This is a well-written dystopian novel that has similarities to other previously published books in the same post-apocalyptic/isolated population genre, but is a unique, entertaining take on the trope.
Thanks to G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

A fable of sorts, a bit of a eden sequence dystopia. Overall a good concept but I was left wanting more.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Garden by Nick Newman is a haunting, slow-burn dystopian novel that’s both eerie and thought-provoking. The story of two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, living in isolation within their crumbling family estate, captivated me with its quiet tension. The writing is atmospheric, and I loved how the sisters' complex, layered relationship evolved, especially with the arrival of a mysterious boy. While the pace was a bit slow at times, I enjoyed the building unease and the unsettling mystery about the world outside the garden walls. The ending was ambiguous but fitting for this gothic, character-driven tale. A unique read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book! Overall, I really liked "The Garden". Nick Newman has created an intriguing secluded world with unsettling hints dropped throughout the novel that slowly reveal what has transpired outside the walls of this Eden. The two sisters personalities are swiftly and succinctly defined, and very believable. I enjoyed how their mental/emotional intelligence reflects the strange circumstances through which they have lived most of their lives. The somewhat sparse writing style really worked with the tone of the story, and it was a very quick read. My only complaint is that I wish it had delved into just a bit darker/scarier territory, but I think some of the other reviews I read before starting the book gave me unrealistic expectations in that department.

Once upon a future time…
Two elderly sisters live an isolated, self-sufficient existence within the boundaries of their estate’s stone walls. Beyond that – well, they believe their mother’s description of a frightening, threatening desert, where all men are monsters. In their walled garden, with fruit, wheat, and vegetables growing, bees making honey, and chickens laying eggs, they pass their days in work and rather childish play. And then their wall – and world – are breached by the strange creature of a boy.

The sisters were raised from pre-adolescence with no contact with the outer world by their enraged, man-hating, paranoid and abusive mother. She teaches them that danger exists everywhere but in the garden and the large kitchen, barricaded from the house, where they make their home. Evelyn, the elder, responds with slavish devotion to her mother’s instructions and then to her memory of them; Lily, slightly younger, is a free spirit, asking questions, testing limits.

The story of their strange later life, and their relationship, is powerfully evoked by the author Newman’s descriptions.
However, the somewhat sudden, detailed conclusion of the story seems disconnected from the strange shadowy world he so carefully created. I think the tale would have been better served with a more ambiguous finish.

Dark, intriguing, horrific, riveting, thought provoking, and hard to put down! Come take a walk in The Garden and meet Evelyn and Lily, two elderly sisters who have lived in isolation in their walled in garden. They do not know what lies beyond the walls. They have each other, their garden, their bees, their flowers, their vegetables, and their crumbling home. They follow the instructions their deceased mother left for them in what they call the almanac. The sister's lives are ordered, organized, and the same day after day. They live in the kitchen while the rest of the home lays to waste. Evelyn takes comfort in her life of order, while Lily is curious and inquisitive. When a boy is found living in the home, questions swirl through their minds....

What a delightfully dark and unique dystopian tale about two elderly women, a boy, and what may or may not have happened in the outside world. I loved the haunting and eerie atmosphere, the shocking jolt that the boy's presence had in their lives. This book is oozing with atmosphere and unease. I was full of wonder and dread not knowing where this book was heading. I could not help but wonder what it must be like to spend almost one's entire life with only one other person to talk with, to share a meal with, and to endure with. Having nothing but memories of the past, their mother, and their father. The Garden has a something-isn't-quite right feel jumping off the pages. I enjoyed how the author had the sisters both experiencing the boy’s presence in differing ways and watching as it affected them individually and its affect their relationship with each other.

If you are looking for something a little peculiar, dystopian, original, and atmospheric, look no further. The Garden grabbed me from the very first chapter and never let go!

I think this story left me with more questions than answers, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Evelyn and Lily live in a walled-off garden in the kitchen of their childhood home and spend their days tending to their garden and caring for bees and chickens. One day they find a boy hiding in their garden, and they don't know where he's come from or what he wants.

This is a slow read with a world full of childhood trauma to be unpacked and explored that only led me to have more questions as to what kind of dystopian world they're in.

As interested as I was in the plot of the story, I don't think this book was for me, but I will say I enjoyed the author's writing style and am open to reading more by him, hopefully in the near future.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘦-𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.

As a fan of postapocalyptic fiction, I was excited to have an opportunity to read The Garden in advance of its publication date. As a sibling with one sister, the summary resonated with me. I appreciated the way the author began the story long after 'the event' and throughout the story began to unravel how the sisters ended up in their current circumstances. No spoilers but was completely surprised by something revealed over halfway through the book. I would have preferred a stronger ending but overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend.

This story seems to be set in a not to distant future where a devastating event has isolated 2 elderly sisters. Their family had deteriorated due to their mother’s mental illness, and they have spent their lives first, caring for their mother till the end, and then following the mother’s plan book to maintain the garden.
There are many odd features of their lives, and, due to their mother’s teaching, they live in fear of anything or anyone from beyond “the wall”.
When their routine is interrupted by the discovery of a strange boy on the property, their well regimented life spirals out of control.

While and interesting premise, I was not impressed with this book, and would not recommend it.