The Sweet Folly of Hope

It’s 2000, San Francisco. Hope takes root in the hearts of a patched-together family and their neighbors struggling to turn a barren lot into a community garden. Steering their way through tantrums, turmoil, deadlines, loss, and family secrets they must face down their own inner frailties and save the garden from a greedy real-estate developer who plans to snatch their garden to build a high-rise. 

This charming urban love story is told through the eyes of five characters as their lives unfold over the course of four seasons. Lotte is a successful freelance writer who cherishes her well-ordered life, hard-won after a difficult breakup. Everything turns topsy-turvy when her ex’s daughter, Liz, a volatile recovering alcoholic, and Allegra, Liz’s beguiling but troubled six-year old daughter move into Lotte’s loft. Shy Mr. Adams, haunted by guilt from a tragic accident, is a reclusive high school janitor who prefers the uncommunicative company of teenage misfits…until the garden demands he come out of his shell. Nina is a smart, feisty public defender lawyer and single mom with a penchant for fancy shoes and bad boy lovers. The garden’s future rests precipitously in her current crush’s hands.

The Sweet Folly of Hope is a heartwarming, feel-good novel that weaves together reflections about love, family dynamics, friendship, recovery, community, and the healing power of gardening.