The Heirloom Garden
A Novel
-
-
4.4 • 10 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Summer Cottage
In her inimitable style, Viola Shipman explores the unlikely relationship between two very different women brought together by the pain of war, but bonded by hope, purpose…and flowers.
Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to illness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.
When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.
With delightful illustrations and fascinating detail, Viola Shipman’s heartwarming story will charm readers while resonating with issues that are so relevant today.
Don't miss bestselling author Viola Shipman's charming new novel, THE WISHING BRIDGE—where an ambitious executive rediscovers the magic of family, friendship, home...and Christmas!
Other books by Viola Shipman: Famous in a Small Town The Secret of Snow A Wish for Winter The Edge of Summer The Summer Cottage The Clover Girls
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The emotional scars left by war unite two women, generations apart, in Shipman's sentimental family saga (after The Summer Cottage). The novel opens in 1944 with Iris Maynard working in a community garden in Grand Haven, Mich., where she receives news that her husband has been killed in WWII. Iris, a botanist, becomes a recluse and hides behind a high fence for six decades as she cultivates a garden with seeds and cuttings from her grandmother's and mother's gardens. Iris's story alternates with one set in 2003, when 30-something Abby Peterson and her family her young daughter, Lily, and husband, Cory, who endures PTSD from combat duty in Iraq move next door to Iris. After Iris accepts help from Abby, and Cory helps Iris with her gardening, their friendship eases Iris's loneliness and the tension in the couple's marriage. When the fence dividing the neighbors' property comes down in a storm, it is a pivotal turning point in all of their lives. An abundance of floral prose ("The daisies remind you to be happy... And the roses... oh, the roses! they prove that beauty is always present even amongst the thorns") is offset by poignant descriptions of the characters' inner struggles. Shipman's tale successfully captures these women's resilience and their hopeful desire for new beginnings.
