The Last Garden in England

Trigger warnings: war, death of a family member, miscarriage

Five women are connected through time by the garden at Highbury House.

In 1907, garden designer Venetia Smith begins work on the gardens at Highbury House. Her design for the garden mirrors the stages in life, moving from the children's garden to the lover's garden to the winter garden that reflects death and grief.

During World War II, Lady Diana Symonds is the mistress of Highbury House. Her husband died in the war and the house has been requisitioned as a hospital for wounded soldiers. Beth Pedley is an orphan who volunteers for the war effort as a land girl, coming to Highbury to plant crops to feed the troops. She becomes friends with Highbury cook Stella Adderton. Stella is trying to get out of Highbury, but her ambitions and savings take a hit; her sister drops off nephew Bobby because he'll be safer in the country but leaves her no money to care for him.

Each of the WWII women is in a different stage of life -- Mrs. Symonds is a widow, Beth is just beginning to find her way in the world, and Stella has motherhood thrust upon her when she'd rather be alone. The three women's stories weave together and create the most interesting part of the novel.

Fast forward to 2021, where Emma Lovett is hired to restore the overgrown gardens to their former glory. Emma's love for Venetia Smith's designs makes her the perfect person to head the project, and Emma also hopes that she will discover why Venetia moved to America after working at Highbury. While searching for more detailed drawings of the gardens, she discovers secrets about Venetia and the WWII residents of Highbury.

Having multiple narrators for the audiobook helps keep all the characters straight, but it's still a feat at the beginning of the novel when you're introduced to so many women at once. It would have been an impossible task with only one narrator.

Recommended for fans of historical women's fiction.

Julia Kelly writes historical women's fiction and writes other genres as Julia Blake. She lived in several American cities before moving to London.

Publisher: Gallery Books (print); Simon & Schuster Audio

Narrators: Shiromi Arserio, Marisa Calin, Danielle Cohen, Katherine Littrell, Siobhan Waring

Running Time: 10 hours, 46 minutes

Length: 368 pages

Release Date: January 12, 2021

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I also received a digital audio recording of this title from the publisher through Libro.fm as a librarian review copy. I read the latter edition.