Home > Categories > Books > Fiction > The Garden of Lost and Found review
Nightingale House, 1919. Liddy Horner discovers her husband, the world-famous artist Sir Edward Horner, burning his best-known painting The Garden of Lost and Found days before his sudden death.
Nightingale House was the Horner family's beloved home - a gem of design created to inspire happiness - and it was here Ned painted TheGarden of Lost and Found, capturing his children on a perfect day, playing in the rambling Eden he and Liddy made for them. One magical moment. Before it all came tumbling down...
When Ned and Liddy's great-granddaughter Juliet is sent the key to Nightingale House, she opens the door onto a forgotten world. The house holds its mysteries close but she is in search of answers. For who would choose to destroy what they love most? Whether Ned's masterpiece - or, in Juliet's case, her own children's happiness. Something shattered this corner of paradise. But what?
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I started reading the book and really struggled with the prologue, it kind of reminded me of being at school and trying to read Shakespeare, it was like it was written in a foreign language but once I started the actual story it flowed easily.
It was kind of obvious to see that there was some kind of tragedy that changed the family history. The book had some of the past of Liddy and Ned and then to the current time of the great granddaughter but it was easy to be able to tell which story was being told. There were parts of the story that was rather obvious, parts that made me go "Thank goodness I never had to put up with those attitudes and being treated like a second class citizen" and there was hinted at a really big family secret but I was able to work it out really early into the story and I was right!
I really liked how Juliet went from being the person that was walked over and pushed around to someone that stood up for herself and her kids, she did really develop some strong character. The painting was a huge part of the story but there was more than enough drama to keep the story flowing. The older generation was typical of how my grandparents told me stories of growing up, to escape a horrible childhood Liddy gets married and things seem to be going really well but tragedy soon strikes and not in the way I was expecting.
I would recommend this book as it has plot twists and turns and some that were obvious. It is a really long book with over 550 pages so don't expect a fast read but it is a good read.
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