This novel is set in early 1941 in Britain when the war seems endless and, perhaps, hopeless. London is on fire from the Blitz, and a young woman gardener named Gwen Davis flees from the burning city for the Devon countryside. She has volunteered for the Land Army, and is to be in charge of a group of young girls who will be trained to plant food crops on an old country estate where the gardens have fallen into ruin. Also on the estate, waiting to be posted, is a regiment of Canadian soldiers. For three months, the young women and men will form attachments, living in a temporary rural escape. No one will be more changed by the stay than Gwen. She will inspire the girls to restore the estate gardens, fall in love with a soldier, find her first deep friendship, and bring a lost garden, created for a great love, back to life. While doing so, she will finally come to know herself and a life worth living.
I was really excited about reading this book because the premise sounds so promising! A bunch of elements that really intrigued me, especially a lost garden and the setting being the war era, which holds a strange fascination for me. This is a beautiful and well-written novel, but even so I was somewhat disappointed in it. The prose is flowery but flows well, the author is indeed a gifted writer. But there were some parts of the story line I just didn't care for. One thing I did like about it was the detailed descriptions of the suffering of London during the bombings. As Americans I think we are rather ignorant of how much the people of our mother land suffered.
All in all, I'd say this is a good story, but not one of the best I've ever read.
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