Tuesday, April 5, 2011
A Review of The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
In reading The Forgotten Garden I was struck by the deft way in which the author weaves together different perspectives of characters living in different times and creates one whole tale.
At it's core, the story is about three generations of women: Eliza Makepeace, an orphaned girl living with wealthy relatives who don't care for her close to the turn of the 20th century, Nell, who is living in the 1970's, and Nell's granddaughter Cassandra, who is trying to solve the mystery of Nell's past and origins, living in 2005.
This is a very complicated story of family disfunction, love, abandonment and ultimately salvation for its three main characters.
There is a mystery at the heart of this story, one in which I will not describe in detail so as not to give away any of the plot, which is convoluted, complicated and very interesting.
Each of these three women tells her part of the story, living it during her time, and reveals pieces of the mystery as they go. There are other narrators as well: Eliza's cousin, Rose, whom she loves dearly; Adeline, Rose's mother, who hates Eliza ferociously, and several others who are brought in to add significant details.
The author deals out small parts of the mystery in a tantalizing fashion; she is able to keep the reader guessing through a good portion of the book, although she cleverly continues to reveal more and more, even right up to the very end of the story.
It is also interesting how the author treats the men in her story. The two main male characters, Linus Mountrachet, Rose's father, and William, Rose's husband, are both weak as people. Linus is certifiably insane, which no one seems to notice or care about. He wanders about, taking secret photographs (which is extremely odd, as this takes place in the early part of the 20th century) and pining over his lost "poupee", Georgianna, who was Eliza's mother. William is an artist whose love is for sketching. He is forced into portraiture of the elite by Adeline, his mother in law. He hates it with a passion, and spends most of his time trying to please the women in his life. There are several other male characters, and while they might be stronger men, they are also incidental to the story, with some minor exceptions.
I find it interesting that none of her three main female characters is married and each had only one child, whom they are not in any way close to (Cassandra is the exception, but again, I don't want to give away the plot, so I won't elaborate).
I found this story a bit slow to start, but after 30 or so pages, it was completely engaging and it's jumps through time were very well-done. It could have been dull in parts, and was not.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
At it's core, the story is about three generations of women: Eliza Makepeace, an orphaned girl living with wealthy relatives who don't care for her close to the turn of the 20th century, Nell, who is living in the 1970's, and Nell's granddaughter Cassandra, who is trying to solve the mystery of Nell's past and origins, living in 2005.
This is a very complicated story of family disfunction, love, abandonment and ultimately salvation for its three main characters.
There is a mystery at the heart of this story, one in which I will not describe in detail so as not to give away any of the plot, which is convoluted, complicated and very interesting.
Each of these three women tells her part of the story, living it during her time, and reveals pieces of the mystery as they go. There are other narrators as well: Eliza's cousin, Rose, whom she loves dearly; Adeline, Rose's mother, who hates Eliza ferociously, and several others who are brought in to add significant details.
The author deals out small parts of the mystery in a tantalizing fashion; she is able to keep the reader guessing through a good portion of the book, although she cleverly continues to reveal more and more, even right up to the very end of the story.
It is also interesting how the author treats the men in her story. The two main male characters, Linus Mountrachet, Rose's father, and William, Rose's husband, are both weak as people. Linus is certifiably insane, which no one seems to notice or care about. He wanders about, taking secret photographs (which is extremely odd, as this takes place in the early part of the 20th century) and pining over his lost "poupee", Georgianna, who was Eliza's mother. William is an artist whose love is for sketching. He is forced into portraiture of the elite by Adeline, his mother in law. He hates it with a passion, and spends most of his time trying to please the women in his life. There are several other male characters, and while they might be stronger men, they are also incidental to the story, with some minor exceptions.
I find it interesting that none of her three main female characters is married and each had only one child, whom they are not in any way close to (Cassandra is the exception, but again, I don't want to give away the plot, so I won't elaborate).
I found this story a bit slow to start, but after 30 or so pages, it was completely engaging and it's jumps through time were very well-done. It could have been dull in parts, and was not.
I would recommend this book to all readers.
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