This is a story about a young girl, still in her teens with a young baby, who is dropped off in a small coastal town, on the East coast of the US, by the babies father, who soon there after leaves, never to return. Certain people in this town take her under their wing.
This is a wonderful study of the characters that live in this small town or end up moving there, and all of the good, bad and ugly of their lives and how each one relates to the other. I have always been a lover of detailed character development, and this book is full of that, after the premise of the story is laid out, the author takes us into the lives of each of the characters and fills us in on the what has transpired through each of their lives.
To me this was a very satisfactory read. The author writes very well, and kept me engaged.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, allowing me to read it.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Girl in the Garden. This is my honest opinion of the book.

As Mabel was going through the process of winterizing the cabins at her campground, an exhausted young woman with a baby, accompanied by a surly man, requested a 10 day stay. Paying in cash with a questionable driver's license for ID, Mabel was instantly distrustful of the man who most certainly had something to hide. After he abandons the girl and her baby, Mabel allows June to stay, in exchange for work around the cabins. Having lost her husband two years past, Mabel is not ready to have June and the baby stay with her over winter, so she enlists the help of her friend Iris. Will the walls that Iris so carefully erected around herself, after discovering her husband's body when her daughter Claire was only a teenager, remain intact when June and Luke move in for the winter?

Told in multiple perspectives, the story is so disjointed that it never gained its footing for me. The only link that the characters have, besides being acquainted with each other, is that they all have something from their pasts that they need to reconcile. As they each come to terms and make peace, their lives change and become fulfilled. The problem is, with all the backstories in different vignettes, the book becomes almost like a series of short stories with the smallest of threads to tie them together. The Girl in the Garden was a miss for me, but readers who like multiple perspective stories may enjoy it.

It's 1974 in a coastal New England town, where a mysterious young woman, her baby and an unfriendly man posing as her husband show up at a seaside motel, looking for 10 days of lodging.

By the time the 10 days have passed, the man is gone, leaving behind the woman, June, and her infant son, Luke. Over the course of time, June captures the hearts of Mabel, the widowed innkeeper; Oldman, a colorful but wise World War II veteran; Duncan, the town's lawyer; and even Iris, an eccentric elderly woman who's cut herself off from the world ever since the death of her husband. When Iris' aloof daughter Claire returns home after about two decades, tensions run high.

These people barely know this mysterious out-of-towner, and yet they practically move heaven and earth to make her and her child feel welcome in their world. Each of them seem to have personal reasons for taking her in. They see something of themselves in her, perhaps - stranded, misunderstood, friendless. And as a result, we learn intimate details about all of them.

I really struggled to get into this book at first. In a mechanical sense, it is maddening. The author has a very poetic style of writing that borders on rambling. This book is rife with run-on sentences, which drove me crazy. And at the same time, she describes the town and the people in such a vivid and beautiful way that I could almost overlook the need for shorter sentences, fewer commas and more periods.

"The Girl in the Garden" is STRONGLY character driven - so much so, in fact, that there's never really any mention of exactly where these people are in New England. It seemed like a very deliberate choice by the author that we never learn where the girl came from. After all, her whole aim for going to New England was to leave home and see the ocean. The farther I got into this book, the less it mattered to me whether the author ever revealed specific locations ... because this book isn't about places at all, but people.

There are myriad themes in this book dealing with human nature - grief, loneliness, regret, resentment, desire, etc. I came to appreciate that pretty quickly. At times, when the author delved into painstaking detail about a character's past, I found myself wondering why I was supposed to care. But as it turns out, those details matter. They influence interactions and relationships between the characters in really interesting ways. I think the connections between Iris, June and Claire are especially fascinating, but I don't want to give away too much.

"The Girl in the Garden" is a story of people, at their best and worst, that incorporates subtle mystical undertones. If you can wade through the wordiness, it's definitely worth checking out.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful story, with such great characters. You will feel as if you know all of them.

I just didn't love this book. There were too many point of views, and it was super slow. From the description, I thought there was going to be a bit of a mystery, but the answer was revealed early in the book. I was hoping it was going to be a quick read for me, but it took me quite some time to get through it.

Every once in awhile, you run across a book that just sears your soul with the poignancy of the characters and their life. The Girl in the Garden by Melanie Wallace was just that type of book. June is a young girl with a baby abandoned by the ocean, She was one of the people who live on the edge of society without ever being able to depend upon and believe in the future. She has never had hope or understanding of anything beyond her small circle. Given a place to live by Mabel and Iris and finding herself in a small community where people do help and care as evidenced by Duncan and Oldman, June’s story slowly emerges to the reader, as do the stories of the other characters. Each with their own tragedy and show of resilience as they move forward with each other.

The Girl in the Garden has marked me, and I will carry these characters and story with me. Each portion tugged on heart strings and quite frankly leaves me speechless to share my thoughts. What I can say is the book is a wonderful read with characters that have faced adversity and have shown resilience and with each other perhaps found their way to happiness.

Strangely, I can't quite remember how I heard about this book; I know I read something about it, somewhere, and thought it sounded interesting. This is not a debut novel, but Melanie Wallace is a new-to-me author; these selections do not always pan out well, but I'm so thankful that something prompted me to give this one a chance.

The novel begins with a young woman named June who, having recently given birth to a son named Luke, has, over the course of her life, learned not to expect much from anyone. She is dropped off at an oceanside inn in New England by the father of her child, with no money and very little of anything else.

"He didn’t have the impression that the girl even understood her luck; indeed, to the contrary, she seemed broken by never having had any luck whatsoever."

So much of what follows is character-driven; not by June, but by those she encounters in this community as she begins to create a life for herself and her child. These characters are beautifully broken and the author doles out their individual stories in bits and pieces, reminding me of the visits that I have with patients and families in my own line of work.

"Sam began laughing too, the room was no longer reeling but somehow expanding, contracting, as Oldman went on to ask: So, what happened to you? - and then Sam’s chest was heaving, a strangled sound came from him as he began sobbing into his hands, his tears salty and the taste of them bitter and Sam unabashed and anguished. For no one - not his parents or his brother, not Freddie, neither Rita nor Gloria, not Leonard, no one - had ever asked; they’d seen him, they’d seen what had become of him, Rita had often touched his scars, and maybe they’d all waited for Sam to recount what he’d been through, but their silence only reinforced his impression that they all, every last one of them, willed his story to remain untold, his past unspoken."

Throughout this novel, I would catch myself nodding empathetically and I thoroughly enjoyed the author's vivid descriptions, the writing that seemed, at times, almost like a stream of consciousness. I experienced these characters, and their stories, as highly relatable and I delighted in reading more about each of them.

While I haven't seen too much else about this novel, I certainly hope others will take a chance on it as I did; The Girl in the Garden has been an unexpected delight and I'll be recommending this one for months to come!

The prose is beautifully written and the characters are sympathetic, but I was a little disappointed in the pacing and the plot. Much of the book is sad and one can't help but feel sorry for some of the characters, but I never felt a total connection.

This is not an easy read, but it has some worthwhile points and insights.

This was a lovely piece of literary fiction. The story was good, the characters all different. I liked the ending a lot.

Even though it took me a couple of chapters to really get into this book, I continued reading and did end up liking this story. The prose is so different from other books I have read but Melanie Wallace does it beautifully. I liked the characters in the story, young June, Mabel, Iris and Sam, but especially liked the character of Oldman, a WWII veteran who is kind and decent and takes it upon himself to helping June and her baby son get settled in the town in which they were abandoned by the baby's father. This is not a fast-paced read and it is a sad at times but once finished, the story and characters will stay with you for awhile. At least, it did with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is the story of June, a young woman and her baby, and also of Mabel, Iris, Duncan, Oldman and Claire. A beautiful and emotional novel where people come together after suffering several heartbreaks. Each one of the characters had their own sad story and because of that, I found this to be a really sad book. Although it seems that June might be the main character, this is not her story, but everyones'. Set in 70s, The Girl In The Garden had all the ingredients I look for in a book.

Sometimes, you know a book doesn't have anything wrong, it's just you that can't connect with it. I'm afraid that's what happened in this case. While Melanie Wallace's writing was beautiful and unique (I wish I could write like she does), I struggled with the long sentences that never seemed to finish, as I couldn't read as fast as I would've wanted.

Maybe it's not the right time or maybe I will never be ready, but I was quite disappointed when I realized wasn't enjoying this as I would've hoped. Not a lot happened in the story, but I think I could've liked this a bit more if I had been able to connect with the characters and the author's writing.

It's not you, it's me.

This book is not about one girl but a collection of people and their stories. I enjoyed the character development of everyone. It was different from many books I've read and takes place in the 70s. This book is short in length but it needs to be read slowly to fully feel like you are getting to know everyone. I loved slowing down with this book. The character development was some of the best I have read in books. Thank you to NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this book.

By VICKI ROCK

“The Girl in the Garden” by Melanie Wallace, Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 240 pages, $25.

A couple, Ward and June, and their baby, Luke, arrive at a resort on the coast of New England.

Ward doesn’t treat June well, and that makes Mabel not want to rent them a cabin, but she feels sorry for June and does. Within a few days, Ward has gone off, abandoning June and Luke.

This is a small town. Oldman is the person that everyone trusts. Claire is a photographer.

The style is the main problem with this novel. Wallace writes long, rambling sentences and doesn’t use quotation marks. There isn’t enough of a plot and the characters aren’t interesting.

***

Very sad, bleak almost. But the writing was lyrical and lovely

It looks like many others really enjoyed this but I found it to be a very sad and depressing book! Coupled with the struggle I had with the long rambling sentences and the switching from one character to another I found myself frustrated and disappointed. I kept thinking there was going to be light at the end of tunnel - I saw a few flickers but then the light went out and I was left with nothing but darkness. The hope of redemption for these characters never really materialized.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have to give The Girl in the Garden 4 stars because of the writing, although there were some small things about the story that irked me. Despite the use of the word “girl” in the title, this is not a thriller or mystery, and it’s certainly not any kind of popular fiction wannabe. This is a book to be read slowly, less about plot and more about damaged reclusive characters and their inner thoughts and feelings. To the extent there is a plot, The Girl in The Garden is about a teenage girl who arrives in a small town with a baby, and how a small group of people in the town find a way to make room for her. The story is told from a few points of view. We learn about the girl’s backstory and about the complex stories and inner lives of the people who take her in. The narration moves back and forth in time, the sentences go on and on and the paragraphs are sometimes longer than a page, and there is very little dialogue and what little there is has no quotation marks. Because of this, there is no reading this book in fits and starts. It requires attention, patience and calm. But I felt rewarded for slowing down -- I felt like I really got into the heads of these quiet, complex and reserved characters. I can’t say what irked me about the story without giving away spoilers. Suffice it to say that the explanation offered for one of the character’s reclusiveness and the fallout from that explanation was jarring and didn’t ring true. Otherwise, I really liked the way in which the author created a harsh world balanced by significant acts of kindness and decency. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

The first thing you'll notice once you've read the first few pages is the writing. Wallace writes beautifully and it does require focus to really appreciate this novel. This book doesn't necessarily have a strong plot, it's one of those novels you read because the writing is so great that you can't get enough of it. Her style is her own and for that I'm a fan!

I can highly recommend this one for lovers of smart, beautiful, even poetic writing.

I liked this despite its odd style. The characters of June and Oldman got me especially, but I liked them all.

When June arrives on the coast of New England, baby in arms, an untrustworthy man by her side, Mabel—who rents them a cabin—senses trouble. A few days later, the girl and her child are abandoned. June is soon placed with Mabel’s friend, Iris, in town, and her life becomes entwined with a number of locals who have known one another for decades: a wealthy recluse with a tragic past; a widow in mourning; a forsaken daughter returning for the first time in years, with a stranger in tow; a lawyer, whose longings he can never reveal; and a kindly World War II veteran who serves as the town's sage. Surrounded by the personal histories and secrets of others, June finds the way forward for herself and her son amid revelations of the others' pasts, including loves—and crimes—from years ago

I really enjoyed the author's writing prosaic writing style, and the cast of characters. Most of their life stories revolve around their "brokenness" but also give them growth and new chapters when they interact with each other. There are plenty of sad parts throughout, but it wasn't depressing. When I finished, I felt a sort of lovely melancholy. The author was able to show the despair while leading to redemption. There isn't really any specific plot point, but rather a portrait of a small community of people, their lives, and pieces of grace.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I had a difficult time gathering my thoughts and deciding how I wanted to rate this book. When I closed the book after the final page, I wasn’t even sure whether or not I liked it. The primary reason for this was because I spent most of the book wondering where the story was going and waiting for the plot to start taking shape, which didn’t really happen until the end. The book appeared to start off strong, with Mabel taking in a teenage mother abandoned by an older gentleman, but from there the story just sort of meanders. The story jumps from character to character, talking about their lives and what led them to where they are. After a while the story is barely about June and baby Luke, or any character in particular, with several stories running alongside each other. There were several love stories, and all of them made me ask why they all of them seemed to involve an older man and a woman far too young for them? I didn’t find any of them all that romantic, just mildly uncomfortable.

The book spends such a lengthy amount of time introducing and talking about characters it carried on almost to the 70% mark. All the characters were interesting, and some I could even find believable, but after a while it just kind of got overwhelming. Characters talked about at length earlier in the novel basically disappear except for a few scenes at the end, and it makes me wonder why they are even there at all, or why I spent so much time reading about them. The ending focuses in on a character that is barely present throughout most of the novel but connects to June and the baby.

The prose was beautiful but at times confusing and heavy handed and became tiresome to read. Run on sentences that carried on for an entire paragraph. The writing is almost overly descriptive, and sentences were so heavily spliced with commas that things get convoluted. I had to re-read several of these blocks of text a few times just to make sense of it. There were also no quotation marks to denote the beginning of a conversation, which wasn’t the end of the world since the speaker was usually noted after, but this style was still not favorable. The pacing is dreadfully slow. I got into the story at certain points, but it was the type of book that I could read for a chapter, then put it down and forget about it for a week.

The sentiment I got from this boiled down to the idea that happiness, love, and healing is always possible, even for those of us that are the most damned. I love this idea, but it just felt like it was executed poorly and made the whole book and its characters, as interesting as they were, feel like they lacked any real substance. I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did but I just didn’t enjoy it.