The Memory Garden
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2015 LOCUS AWARD for Best First Novel
"…A SUPERB FANTASY NOVEL." — The Chicago Tribune
In a beautifully written tale woven together with magic and mystery, flowers and food, Bay Singer finally discovers the secrets her mother has been hiding.
Bay Singer has bigger secrets than most.
Not that she knows about them. Her mother, Nan, is sure that the burden of those secrets would be too much, and that's why she never told anyone the truth, not even Bay.
There's a lot that Nan's kept quiet over the years, especially those times with Mavis and Ruthie?times that were dark and full of guilt.
But some secrets have a power all their own, and Nan realizes she needs Mavis and Ruthie now more than ever. When the three meet again in Nan's garden, their reunion has spellbinding effects that none of them could have imagined, least of all Bay...
An enchanting fantasy, fans of Alice Hoffman, Sarah Addison Allen, will be captivated by Mary Rickert, the World Fantasy and Crawford Award—winning author.
What reviewers are saying about The Memory Garden:
"atmospheric, eerie, and utterly beautiful…" — Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Someone Else's Love Story
"A totally CHARMING, totally ENGAGING story told by Rickert, a magus of the first order. MAGIC IN EVERY LINE." — Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves and The Jane Austen Book Club
"The Memory Garden is one of the most intense fantasy books I've read in years…reminds me a bit of [Terry] Pratchett's Tiffany Aching books, but also of some of my favorite literary novels about misfits who invent themselves as they go along. I've seldom read a book that's as gentle, and yet as powerful, as The Memory Garden." — io9
"… a blend of poetical language and dark suspense... 'The Memory Garden' is a tale of tragedy, hope and kinship." — The Washington Post
"[A] BEWITCHING MARVEL of a book." — BookPage
"… absolutely STUNNING." — Christopher Barzak, author of One for Sorrow
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her first novel, Rickert, whose Map of Dreams was a World Fantasy Award winner for short fiction, unwinds the magic and mystery of a mother and daughter and three old friends, all at the fragile juncture of truth and forgiveness. At the heart of the story are 64-year-old Nan, rumored to be a witch, and her 16-year-old adopted daughter, Bay, bound by a carefully guarded secret that's revealed during a weekend reunion of Nan's childhood friends, Mavis and Ruthie. Ghosts live in the garden of Nan and Bay an angry boy killed in a car crash, an abused girl who died after a botched abortion, a disgraced neighbor and Bay can see them. Only her beloved Nan, dying Mavis, and tortured Ruthie can explain to Bay the melancholic restlessness of the ghosts, and the history that is connected to Bay's origin. But in the end, Bay has the magic that heals and comforts Nan with the realization that "t's one thing to be forgiven by someone else, another to forgive yourself." Bay's story is just beginning here, and Rickert marks a clear path for a sequel to this rich fantasy. "All I can do is teach her the basics and watch what she does," Nan says, as she marvels at Bay's supernatural talents. With this tale, Ricket can build an audience that will marvel at her witchy talents.
