The Lost Garden of Garraiblagh: A story of a garden and its inhabitants

A captivating story of a garden interwoven with the lives and loves of the people connected to it. Beautifully illustrated by Jenny Methven.A love story reaching from Victorian times through to the present day in Ireland.A novel about the importance of place to people of all kinds; of a sanctuary and how a garden can hold the lives and loves of all those connected with it through good times and bad.A history of place: the passions and the heartache tragedies and triumph of the people involved.This book captivated and stunned and delighted me. Rosie OHara. No more bingo dresses.It is 1869 in Belfast; a fast changing city responding to the pressing demands of the Industrial Revolution. Amelia Henderson the strong willed independent young wife of an up and coming linen manufacturer has a passion: she wants to create a formal Victorian garden on their newly acquired Garraiblagh estate in the north-east of Ireland but she must learn to work with James Black the renowned Scottish head gardener and plant hunter brought to Ireland to oversee Amelias ambitious projectAs the years pass the garden and those living and working in it become bound together by the magic of the place. While at the same time they are forced to deal with pressing events outside the sanctuary of the tranquil garden and its small community dangers within the troubled island of Ireland and further afield. Still the garden remains a sanctuary for many and for some the cause of resentment.Frank a young gardener holds firmly to the memory of Garraiblagh as he struggles to survive the battlefields of France in World War I.Daisy and Tom find themselves thrown into helping people escaping from the Belfast Blitz.For Rose the garden is everything she hates and she has the power to destroy it.During the Troubles of the 1970s and 1980s the garden loses its immunity from the outside world. In one awful moment the outside horror visits GarraiblaghCan the garden recover?Can it help negotiate difference and love across the divide as the Good Friday Agreement is signedThe spirits of the past are ever present in the garden and the garden is a force of nature itselfIf you love gardens and historical romance then this is for you.An uplifting feel good story haunting and atmospheric.