Yes, it’s the last post in our Summer Reading Series for the year. I’ve got some great recommendations coming up as we head into autumn, so don’t worry! I thought we’d take one last stroll through the garden before we move on, though.
I don’t have much of a green thumb, but I can manage a little low-maintenance gardening (like a couple of flower boxes). The truth is, I’d usually rather read than work in the yard! I do, however, have a great admiration for gardeners both real and fictional. If you’re looking to savor a last taste of summer, these are great ones to check out.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt. Ok, so maybe I’m playing fast and loose with the garden theme, but if you never stopped to check this one out, you’re missing out. Slow, lazy Savannah, GA is the main character in this beautifully readable work of non-fiction. A true-crime story played out by a cast of delightful eccentrics, this is not one you’re likely to forget. And Berendt could make you feel the steamy heat of a Georgia summer in the dead of winter.
The Girl in the Garden, by Kamala Nair. As a young girl, protagonist Rakhee Singh travels with her mother from their Montana home to visit relatives in India for the summer. During that summer, Rakhee learns a family secret so haunting, it is years before she finally finds her way to confront the secret and the memories of that summer.
The French Gardener, by Sarah Montefiore. Who doesn’t fantasize about chucking the 9-5 grind and setting up house in the countryside, enjoying a simpler life? That’s just the fantasy that Londoner Miranda Claybourne sets out to make her reality. Unfortunately, reality isn’t quite so idyllic, as she deals with unruly children, managing her career and home, all of it largely alone while her husband stays in London for work. Charismatic Frenchman Jean-Paul shows up to restore the country house’s gardens to their former glory, and proves just the help Miranda needs to sort things out. If you think you’ve already got the ending figured out, think again—the plot on this one twists and turns like creeper vine!
Slugfest, by Rosemary Harris. The most recent in Harris’s “A Dirty Business” mystery series ( start with Pushing Up Daisies), takes amateur sleuth and gardening professional Paula Holliday from Springfield, CT to Manhattan for the Big Apple Flower Show. When an overnight worker at the show turns up dead, Holliday is on the case. Quirky characters and a great take on the city, this is sure to please mystery readers with even the blackest thumbs.
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