The Seeing Garden

I really enjoyed getting to know Catherine Ogden as a main character, she was interesting and worked with the environment around her. I enjoyed the story itself and getting to go through this book. The rest of the cast worked well with Catherine and I wanted more. Ginny Kubitz Moyer does a great job in telling the story and having it be a great written novel. It had what I was looking for from this type of book and I enjoyed the journey.

“Of course you may, if you like.” He stopped and bent to kiss her, ducking slightly to bypass the brim of her large hat. Pleasant as it was to be kissed by him, part of her still felt self-conscious, as if her aunt were watching censoriously. “Do whatever you want with the garden,” he said, as they strolled on. “I’ll talk to Thomas, the head gardener. He’ll be here for a few more months. Plenty of time to get it done.”

Set in California in the early 1900"s, the reader is introduced to Catherine, who has moved there to be close to her fiancé and their upcoming wedding. In the past as a small child, she is raised by her parents( her father, an artist from a wealthy family and her mother, a former maid and an artist's model ). .Tragedy separates her from her parents and she is raised by her father's brother and wife. With the expectations of the time and her family , she is expected to marry (and to a wealthy family). A wonderfully written love story; the descriptions of the early California is interesting to read. Also, Catherine's love of gardening , makes me want to start my own garden. A highly recommendable novel.

The Seeing Garden by Ginny Kubitz Moyer is a wonderful historical fiction that takes us to Northern California in the early 20th century.

Catherine Ogden is a stunning MC. Her coming of age story is so beautifully depicted and described. The way the author blends the colors, textures, sights, and emotions through multiple avenues and mediums truly makes this novel a work of art.

Add in the historical contents of society and social expectations, aspirations, and limitations…and the reader can be fully immersed in a book that engages and tests all of your senses.

I loved the location, time, threads of romance and also independence, the pace and progression, and I loved the conclusion.

The journey to finding one’s purpose and passion within oneself, as well as within your surroundings, is something that I think every reader can resonate with. It is something fundamental that surpasses space and time.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and She Writes Press for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N accounts upon publication on 5/9/23.

Nineteen-year-old Catherine Ogden appears to have everything: youth, wealth, birth, breeding, and beauty. No one in New York high society is surprised when she attracts the attention of William Brandt, an up-and-coming business tycoon from California. It’s 1910, and the job of women like Catherine is to marry well and make their families proud.

At her aunt’s urging, Catherine agrees to visit the Brandt estate near San Francisco. There she falls in love not with her prospective groom but with his beautiful, sun-filled house and, most of all, the extensive gardens that surround it. When he proposes marriage, she accepts.

Yet Catherine is not quite the society heiress her appearance suggests. The daughter of a wealthy man who gave up his fortune for art and love of her mother, Catherine grew up in a household that valued emotional fulfillment more than status and pride. So she can’t ignore the prickles of concern that arise during her conversations with William. For a while, she distracts herself by designing a beautiful garden of her own, but as the wedding day draws closer, a series of surprises force her to confront what she most wants in life.

As noted in her bio, Ginny Kubitz Moyer lives and gardens in the area where she has set her novel, and it shows. The exquisite descriptions of the landscape and its effect on Catherine could carry the novel, but they don’t have to. Catherine herself—with her combination of innocence and self-awareness, her unexpected past and its contrasts with her very different present—is the heart of the story. And although we can predict where she might be heading, Moyer keeps us guessing almost to the end as to how her heroine will get there. All in all, a very satisfying read.

I will be interviewing this author for the New Books Network (link below) sometime this summer.