The Twilight Garden
A Novel
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4.5 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Two feuding neighbors unite to resurrect a neglected city garden in this uplifting and quietly joyful novel by Sara Nisha Adams, author of the beloved The Reading List.
In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. Now it’s overgrown and neglected, an empty patch of greenery lost to time.
Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it – anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they’re not exactly neighborly.
But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted…
Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Adams's delightful sophomore novel (after The Reading List) revolves around a garden shared by two London houses and the relationships formed by the tenants who tend to it over several decades. In 2018, 30-something Winston lives alone at No. 79 Eastbourne Road, heartbroken after his lover and roommate, Lewis, moved out. Winston is also troubled by the steady noise of renovation projects next door at No. 77, and develops a grudge against his haughty neighbor Bernice, whom he dubs "The Queen of Sheba." The garden long ago went to seed, but over the course of their yearlong feud, they begin receiving mysterious letters and photos of previous residents posing in the plot during its prime. Eventually, they forge a plan to resurrect the garden together. A parallel narrative beginning in 1972 follows No. 79 tenants Maya and Prem, who move in as newlyweds, and their brusque neighbor, Alma, who softens after Maya gives birth to her daughter, Hiral, and the women bond over keeping up the garden. The simple story is carried along by seamless time shifts and insights into the rewards of unexpected friendship. Gardeners will be especially pleased.
