Review: The Last Garden in England

Julia Kelly's The Whispers of War was a favourite of 2020 so I was very much looking forward her 2021 release, The Last Garden of England. It did not let me down!

Here's the synopsis:

Present day: Emma Lovett, who has dedicated her career to breathing new life into long-neglected gardens, has just been given the opportunity of a lifetime: to restore the gardens of the famed Highbury House estate, designed in 1907 by her hero Venetia Smith. But as Emma dives deeper into the gardens’ past, she begins to uncover secrets that have long lain hidden.
1907: A talented artist with a growing reputation for her ambitious work, Venetia Smith has carved out a niche for herself as a garden designer to industrialists, solicitors, and bankers looking to show off their wealth with sumptuous country houses. When she is hired to design the gardens of Highbury House, she is determined to make them a triumph, but the gardens—and the people she meets—promise to change her life forever.
1944: When land girl Beth Pedley arrives at a farm on the outskirts of the village of Highbury, all she wants is to find a place she can call home. Cook Stella Adderton, on the other hand, is desperate to leave Highbury House to pursue her own dreams. And widow Diana Symonds, the mistress of the grand house, is anxiously trying to cling to her pre-war life now that her home has been requisitioned and transformed into a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. But when war threatens Highbury House’s treasured gardens, these three very different women are drawn together by a secret that will last for decades. 

As the description indicates, this novel stretches over three time periods. I really liked that we got a sweeping story with a magnificent garden at the centre of it. The world of gardens and how they were designed for those grand houses in England hadn't ever been something I had thought about and I found it really interesting. I liked reading as the garden was planned, seen in all it's glory, and then in decay as it was being brought back to life. That was how Kelly intended the story to be connected but it got a bit lost in the 1944 timeline. That's not to say I wasn't interested, as I absolutely was. I just think, at some points, it read like two different books that just happened to have the same garden. The 1907 and present day storylines, on the other hand, were woven together really well as it was the beginning and the end (plus a rebirth) of the garden. Emma was determined to figure out Venetia's original plan and I loved reading as she dug into the history of Highbury House's garden.

All the characters - and there were a lot of them - were engaging and I was intrigued at how they were all connected through the years. I cared about each woman and wanted only the best for them. I was worried when they found themselves in impossible situations and rooted for them to find their Happily Ever After, whatever that may have been. 

Kelly spent the most time on the 1944 timeline, which is not surprising as there were three characters featured in that section and given her history of writing WWII era novels. I've read novels about land girls and the big houses that were turned into hospitals (possibly even in the same novel before) but Kelly still managed to make it a fresh and interesting story that kept me turning the pages until the end.

The Last Garden in England isn't perfect but it is perfectly entertaining. I enjoyed every minute I spent reading Julia Kelly's latest novel and thought of it often when I wasn't reading it. This one is for the historical fiction fans who want to get lost in a whole other world - a world full of flowers and secrets.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*