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Published by SparkPress
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, The Crown, and Downton Abbey.
American grad student Lucy Silver arrives in England hoping to solve a longstanding literary mystery, write her dissertation, and finish her graduate studies in a blaze of academic glory. But as Lucy starts to piece together the correspondence between her late grandmother and Elizabeth Blackspear, the famous poet and garden writer who’s the subject of Lucy’s dissertation, she discovers puzzling coded references in the letters—and when an elderly English aristocrat with a secret connection to Elizabeth offers Lucy access to a neglected walled garden on his estate, the mystery deepens. As spring turns to summer in Bolton Lacey, Lucy finds herself fighting the Blackspear Gardens’ director’s attempt to deny her access to vital documents in the archives . . . and trying not to fall in love with an attractive Scottish contractor. In the midst of this turmoil, she stumbles upon an illicit plot to turn the historic gardens into a theme park, and becomes determined to stop it. As she races against time to save the gardens, Lucy’s search for the truth about Elizabeth’s life leads her to a French convent where she uncovers explosive evidence that will change her life and the lives of everyone around her, ultimately revealing a home—and an inheritance—more incredible than anything she could ever have imagined.
American grad student Lucy Silver arrives in England hoping to solve a longstanding literary mystery, write her dissertation, and finish her graduate studies in a blaze of academic glory. But as Lucy starts to piece together the correspondence between her late grandmother and Elizabeth Blackspear, the famous poet and garden writer who’s the subject of Lucy’s dissertation, she discovers puzzling coded references in the letters—and when an elderly English aristocrat with a secret connection to Elizabeth offers Lucy access to a neglected walled garden on his estate, the mystery deepens. As spring turns to summer in Bolton Lacey, Lucy finds herself fighting the Blackspear Gardens’ director’s attempt to deny her access to vital documents in the archives . . . and trying not to fall in love with an attractive Scottish contractor. In the midst of this turmoil, she stumbles upon an illicit plot to turn the historic gardens into a theme park, and becomes determined to stop it. As she races against time to save the gardens, Lucy’s search for the truth about Elizabeth’s life leads her to a French convent where she uncovers explosive evidence that will change her life and the lives of everyone around her, ultimately revealing a home—and an inheritance—more incredible than anything she could ever have imagined.
Product Details
- Publisher: SparkPress (May 17, 2022)
- Length: 344 pages
- ISBN13: 9781684631322
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Raves and Reviews
2023 IAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist: First Novel
2023 IAN Book of the Year Award Finalist in Fiction: Romance
2023 PNWA Nancy Pearl Book Awards Finalist in Best Book: Literary Fiction
2023 International Book Awards Winner in Fiction (Romance)
2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Romance
2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in General Fiction/Novel (70,000 to 100,000 words)
2022 Foreword INDIES Gold Winner in Romance (Adult Fiction)
“A well researched love story with multiple plot twists.”
—Booklist
“The narrative drops enough hints to ease the audience through its twists; anticipating the young detective’s discoveries as she works toward a happy ending for her grandmother, her new friends, and herself is engaging. The Walled Garden is a gentle novel about forbidden love and the cost of keeping secrets.”
—Foreword Reviews
“Maass’ debut novel blends romance and poetry with the language of flowers….In addition to [Agatha] Christie, Maass’ novel evokes Dan Brown’s 2003 bestseller The Da Vinci Code, with suspense arising from poring over poetic passages as well as the study of flowers and plants.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Robin Farrar Maass is a terrific writer whose voice and vision will hold you captive from page one. But this mystery is more than a page-turner: it's also an exquisite portrait of a young woman who is, truly and finally, seeking to solve the mystery of herself and discover who she is. This is a wonderful book. Read it!”
—Bret Lott, New York Times best-selling author of Jewel and Dead Low Tide
“Part literary mystery, part love story, part gently ironic send-up of both, The Walled Garden captures our American tendency to romanticize all things British, particularly lush gardens, eccentric poets, Oxford, and aristocrats. Maass deftly manages to weave them all together is this witty, absorbing, warmly intelligent novel. One to savor on a long summer afternoon by the backyard roses.”
—Suzanne Berne, author of The Dogs of Littlefield
“The Walled Garden is a truly atmospheric novel; it’s a mystery with the lyrical beauty of a spring day and the yearning of a young and broken heart. . . . A joy to read both for the story that it tells and the way in which it tells it, The Walled Garden is a thoughtful, provocative piece not to be missed. Highly recommended.”
—Readers Lane
“A remarkably well crafted and fully engaging story that deftly combines an historical mystery with elements of a coming of age saga and of college romance. A perfect choice for a summer recreational novel, The Walled Garden is an original, entertaining, and unreservedly recommended addition to community library collections.”
—Midwest Book Review
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