The Forgotten Garden ~ a book review

 

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton revolves around Nell, a woman in her late 60's who is living in Australia and runs an antique shop...and trying to discover who she truly is.

Nell had been put on a ship in London at the age of four by The Authoress, told to stay put and not tell anyone who she was, with the promise from the Authoress that she would return shortly...only the Authoress didn't return before the ship embarked on its journey to Australia.  

When the ship was at dock and everyone else had disembarked, Nell sat on the wharf with her child's white suitcase, which held a few clothes and a book of fairy tales, because she didn't know what else to do.  The dockmaster, Hugh, talked with her and ended up taking her home that night.  He and his wife Lil raised Nell as their own.  It wasn't until Nell turned 21 that Hugh tells her that she isn't who she thinks she is.

Nell wants to know her true identity and returns to England to try and find out.  She's also curious about the woman, The Authoress, who had put her on the ship promising to return and yet never does.  

While Nell is in England, she does come across some leads and purchases a cottage that is on the Estate of a prominent family in that community...the prominent family that, in time, would be found out to be a part of Nell's family.

Nell does not accomplish the full knowledge of who she is before her death, but her granddaughter Cassandra pursues the matter further and the mystery is solved at the very end.  

It took me a bit to get thoroughly invested in the book because there is a time lapse that goes back and forth from 1913 to 2005, and several generations of family.  Once I got straightened out in my mind what characters fit in what time frame, I really enjoyed the read.  The book is 549 pages long...it was somewhere around page 100 or so, that, for me, it turned into a page turner of a read!