I am delighted to share my review today for The Garden by Nick Newman. This is a dystopian story that features two sisters who are self-sufficient.
My huge thanks to Penguin Random House for accepting my request to read this book via NetGalley.
Two elderly sisters tend a large walled garden, planting and reaping crops according to the plans left to them in an almanac by their mother. They are entirely self-sufficient, they believe that the outside world is a wilderness and that they will only survive if they remain in the garden and live as their mother dictated. They live in one part of a large house inherited house, the doors to the upper levels sealed off – the secrets of their past sealed along behind them. And they dare not look beyond the walls for fear of what lurks outside.
But then the arrival of a young boy unsettles their careful lives and makes them begin to question the existence they have so carefully forged and the ‘truth’ that has been laid out for them in this strange new world. One sister believes that everything their mother has taught them will keep them safe; the other longs for the possibilities of a different life she might have lived. Meanwhile the boy is perhaps not quite as innocent as he seems…
MY REVIEW
This is a really interesting read, the concept is that two sisters are living alone in a world that has been destroyed. There are dust storms, the threat of the unknown and they are getting older. They are struggling because they are completely self-sufficient with what they grow in the garden that their mother started.
The sisters have been living in the kitchen of an old, rather large house. They do have some memories of their childhood when things were “normal”. They have a journal that their mother painstakingly compiled with when to plant, sow, harvest and care for the plants they would need in the garden. Over the years though, this journal has become out of date, things are changing.
This is a story of the two women, how they see themselves and how they see the world beyond the garden walls. While it does sound like a wonderful life, living in a kitchen and having the bounty of a garden just outside the door, it is not quite right. Their mother was a big influence in their lives when she was alive, but she did have an opinion that skewed the way the sisters think.
They have never gone beyond the garden walls, never ventured into the house. It is not until a young boy is discovered in the garden that they get to hear anything of what has happened outside. His arrival, while good for the sisters, also sees an unbalancing as such. An odd number, but also someone who has not had the same upbringing as themselves and this leads them to ask questions of what they have been told.
I do like the set of this story and the way the author has kept it enclosed, while there is information about the sisters, the garden and then the boy, there is not much else to know about before. This is not an issue for me as the story is focused on the women and their lives so it does work well. This makes the story more character-led and it is a slower pace which suits the age of the women as well. I think the author has got the balance right for this book, it is a quieter dystopian book that focuses on their solitude, attitudes and opinions as they go around with their everyday tasks.
I really enjoyed this one, it was an interesting concept and it made a nice change not to have battles, but that being said though, there are some darker moments. Ideal for fans who like dystopian and character-led novels and one I would be happy to recommend.
Many thanks for reading my post, a lie or share would be amazing 🙂 xx
