Jo Bellamy, holding a degree in horticulture, has been
hired by the very rich Graydon Westlake to recreate a White
Garden as the original one at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent,
England. He actually has ulterior motives towards Jo. After
Jo informs her grandfather Jock of her intention to travel
to England, he commits suicide, leaving behind writings of
an "unknown" woman. Jock originally came to New York from
his home in England, where he had also worked as a young
man at Sissinghurst Castle. This mystery drives Jo to
investigate her grandfather's ties and his suicide to the
events of 1941.
Upon arriving at The White Garden, head gardener Imogen
Cantwell allows Jo to tour it and acquire information and
photos in order to reproduce Mr. Westlake's garden. Jo
finds an old manuscript in the tool shed portraying events
of 1941 during the war with missing pages. Suspecting this
could be a long-lost original work by the famous Virginia
Woolf about her friend/lover Vita Sackville-West, owner of
Sissinghurst and The White Garden, Jo convinces Imogen to
allow her to borrow the manuscript to check the
authenticity. Jo, together with manuscript expert Peter
Llewellyn, become embroiled in a search and chase for
information as other experts are trying to steal the
manuscript. During their race to King's College Library
archives at Rodmell and back, Jo finally uncovers the
tragic events that weighed heavily on her grandfather all
those years.
THE WHITE GARDEN is an exciting mystery; did Virginia Woolf
actually write the manuscript, since it's dated after her
recorded death? Jo is a dedicated granddaughter who loves
her grandfather enough to pursue her search at the risk of
losing her job. Finding the missing pages is very creative
of the author, Stephanie Barron, and made the
reading go quickly. History of the garden itself and the
time setting during the war is most interesting. I found
the novel good reading with lots of surprises.
In March 1941, Virginia Woolf filled her pockets with
stones and drowned herself in England’s River Ouse. Her
body was found three weeks later. What seemed like a
tragic ending at the time was, in fact, just the beginning
of a mystery. . . .
Six decades after Virginia Woolf’s
death, landscape designer Jo Bellamy has come to
Sissinghurst Castle for two reasons: to study the
celebrated White Garden created by Woolf’s lover Vita
Sackville-West and to recover from the terrible wound of
her grandfather’s unexplained suicide. In the shadow of
one of England’s most famous castles, Jo makes a shocking
find: Woolf’s last diary, its first entry dated the day
after she allegedly killed herself.If authenticated, Jo’s
discovery could shatter everything historians believe
about Woolf’s final hours. But when the Woolf diary is
suddenly stolen, Jo’s quest to uncover the truth will lead
her on a perilous journey into the tumultuous inner life
of a literary icon whose connection to the White Garden
ultimately proved devastating. Rich with historical
detail, The White Garden is an enthralling novel of
literary suspense that explores the many ways the past
haunts the present–and the dark secrets that lurk beneath
the surface of the most carefully tended garden.
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy