Emma's Review: The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans

Reviewed by Emma Crowley

Nightingale House, 1919. Liddy Horner discovers her husband, the world-famous artist Sir Edward Horner, burning his best-known painting The Garden of Lost and Found days before his sudden death.

Nightingale House was the Horner family's beloved home - a gem of design created to inspire happiness - and it was here Ned painted TheGarden of Lost and Found, capturing his children on a perfect day, playing in the rambling Eden he and Liddy made for them.

One magical moment. Before it all came tumbling down...

When Ned and Liddy's great-granddaughter Juliet is sent the key to Nightingale House, she opens the door onto a forgotten world. The house holds its mysteries close but she is in search of answers. For who would choose to destroy what they love most? Whether Ned's masterpiece - or, in Juliet's case, her own children's happiness.

Something shattered this corner of paradise. But what?

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Many thanks to Headline via NetGalley for my copy of The Garden of Lost and Found to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.

Harriet Evans' new book The Garden of Lost and Found is an epic read at over 500 pages. It is a dual timeline story with two distinct narratives but the characters are connected through family and a painting that held many spellbound when it was first painted and exhibited to the world. The painting entitled The Garden of Lost and Found is a key feature in this book almost like a character in itself and it forms the backbone to this story around which everything else flows. The book starts off very very slowly and really does take some time to find its direction. Persistence is the key here, once you make it through the first half of the book things really do start to become much more clearer and I was glad I kept going with it. For there were times I felt like stopping and leaving it and I have never felt this way about this authors books before. But once I reached the halfway mark things really did take it off and I felt the second half more than made up for the first and I became much more engrossed in the overall story as things became apparent and endless twists and turns arose which kept me intrigued.

Family dynamics, motherhood and the way we are raised form the major themes of this book. The contrast between our two main female characters are many yet there are similarities to be found too. The brief prologue is interesting and really does set the scene for what is to unfold over many pages. Famous artist Ned Horner has just burned his most prominent work which held such special significance for his wife given she has endured such loss and hardship. She is torn in two, how could her husband do this as it is the last remaining link to her children? It is a graceful, magnificent and special moment captured at Nightingale House - two children playing in the garden while their mother sits indoors writing at a desk. What drove Ned to do this?

In the present day art historian Juliet Horner, the great granddaughter of Ned and Liddy, sees a sketch of the original painting come up for sale. But what intrigues her even more is when she receives a letter with a key. She is now the owner of Nightingale House which she finds surprising considering the last few years of estrangement from her grandmother Stella. What secrets are enshrined in the house and can Juliet be the one to uncover them? Is the time right for her to move or is it fate considering the sad state of her marriage to Matt and the discovery she will soon make? Juliet feels that things are all wrong and that she has messed up and that her family is spiralling out of control. A leap of faith is made, one which will test her and throw up many surprises and difficulties. She knows unless she takes this step and embraces the opportunity presented to her than her children will continue to suffer. A break with the chain is needed and I was ever so glad when she left Matt and brought the children Bea, Isla and Sandy to Nightingale House.

I thought there would have been a lot of digging in the past by Juliet in order to discover what actually did happen to the painting considering she had such a feeling of unfinished business when it came to the house. Instead for the majority of the book, the focus turned more on her relationship with her children and how she could break down the barriers especially with Bea. Bea was a wonderfully written character such thought went into creating her and her frustrations, hesitations and her traumas were dealt with so well. She was confused, hurt and exploring her way in the world and it was brilliant to have a young character with such complex issues.

If only Juliet could see beyond her own personal problems and reach out to her daughter but at times I thinks he was too caught up in her own world to see what was going on around her. Now was the time for her to fix her faults and become the woman who she wanted to be instead for someone who was lost. She needed to engage with her children and understand them better and then maybe other things would fall into place. As one line in the book said 'The future is yet unwritten. The past is burnt and gone'. I hoped Juliet would heed this advice and whilst doing so also delve a little bit into the past because some of the answers there might very well help her in the future. Juliet, to me, proved to be a frustrating character who always needed a shoulder to cry on and I didn't think she was always strong and able to get up and get motivated and change her fortunes and her family relationships and dynamics herself but maybe she was too constrained by her recent past and coming to Nightingale House would hopefully free her from the shackles she had become encased in.

In order to gain a deeper insight into Lydia and how a major life changing event came to feature in the prologue we are taken back to May 1891. Lydia lives with her sister Mary, brother Pertwee and their father. They lost their mother to small pox and now a family nanny has taken over the role of bringing them up. Lydia is a free spirit yet all the siblings are haunted by the loss of their mother. It doesn't help that things in the family home are not the way they should be. What follows are harsh and harrowing scenes and at times they were very difficult to read. I couldn't understand how certain things were allowed to happen. It all just seemed so evil and cruel. Lydia was resilient but deeply affected by her experiences and going against convention and order as we follow her over several years her life changes when she meets and is able to marry struggling artist Ned Horner.

We follow the pair over many years and it allows the reader to make comparisons and connections with Juliet in the present day. There is an awful lot that unfolds with Lydia and the timespan in which we follow her journey is quite long. She is brought to nothing time and time again and her marriage is complicated and life has many challenges, disappointments and heartbreak in store for her. But as I have mentioned I always questioned what was the big connection to the present day? Would there be shocking reveals and twists and turns? There were but it, as the story, was so slow in getting going I did think was a lot of the first half relevant and could it have been condensed down a bit?

The Garden of Lost and Found is a real character driven story and the author really takes the time to present detailed descriptions of the characters, their thoughts, motivations and feelings. Don't expect surprises and thrills with every turn of the page that's saved more for the last quarter or so. In fact right up until the last two pages there was even more being revealed which I thought was just too rushed given the length of the book and how long it had taken us to reach the point of discovery. The tying up of loose ends seemed abrupt and it was as if the author had forgotten one or two things she wanted to mention and felt the need to get them in right up until the last paragraph.

The Garden of Lost and Found is a very good book and you will be rewarded for your patience but in my opinion it is just too long and needed to be shortened. There seemed to be endless pages of narrative before the point was actually made where a paragraph or two would have sufficed. I thought things became bogged down in the first half and I found it challenging to see where the story was trying to go. Don't get me wrong, I love dual timeline stories especially ones which delve into the past and I like this new direction Harriet Evans is going in which is very different to her earlier books but here although there was something magical, alluring and captivating about the overall story and its themes it wasn't always quite pulled off given its length. The Garden of Lost and Found is a compelling book but its one which needs all of your attention. I was glad I continued on with it as the discoveries that followed more than made up for the first half.