Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Intriguing story from start to end.

Customer Rating:

What a fantastic book. I read it while on holiday in Cornwall so the Cornish theme was very real and I could imagine all the descriptions vividly. This was a great tale about a misplaced girl. It makes you think the whole time; "how would I have felt if I was that girl?", "who would lose their child?". It is not until two thirds of the way through that you start to make your own conclusions. But never knowing for sure what happened right until the end. It was very gripping and I could not put it down.

Very Very disappointing

Customer Rating:

I'm an avid reader and loved The House at Riverton so when The Forgotten Garden was published I bought it anticipating another great read. Oh dear. The plot leapt about from era to era with several apparently unrelated characters who had no link between them or the dates written about. I never got as far as the garden part but just gave up at Chapter 3 because it was impossible to get into. I passed the book on to a friend with more persistence than I have, and she got no further, so this confusing book has ended up on a charity shop shelf and I hope someone else gets more pleasure from it than we did. One star out of five is being generous.

Excellent fairy tales--shame about the historical inaccuracy, and clunky plot!

Customer Rating:

I had read-----and enjoyed---Kate Morton's first novel, as a light, romantic read, but I found 'The Forgotten Garden' deeply disappointing. I had the impression that this was an apprentice work, written before 'The House at Riverton' and rushed out by the publishers on the back of her first success----it begins as a romantic page turner and then---horror of horrors---there is a chapter ostensibly set in the London of 1900 which is riddled with irritating anachronisms. From here onwards, the novel---which could have been superb, descends into confused, clunky melodrama and glaring implausibilities. The triple time narrative is a distraction and really doesn't work. And yet---in the pastiche of the early twentieth century fairy tales---just 20 odd pages out of the total 600 plus of the whole book, the reader can perceive that Kate Morton is a sensitive, imaginative writer. With judicious editing and a careful redraft, this could have been a book to rival Daphne du Maurier at her best---sadly, it's not.

Brilliant	Customer Rating:
Superbly crafted. Superbly written. Fabulous story that hooks the reader at the start and never lets go. Best bit? It doesn't even fade towards the end.

Find the time to walk in this garden....

Customer Rating:

This is Kate Morton's second novel and I would be brave enough to say her best so far. A hefty 600 pages which will have you turning and turning so you can discover the secrets within. This is the story of Cassandra, Nell and Eliza whose lives are all related and interlinked. Their story is told over a century as you the reader weave together all the loose ends. Nell is 4, when she arrives by ship in Australia. No one is with her and there is no one waiting for her, all she holds is a white suitcase with a few personal treasures. Hugh, a worker at the dock takes her home and she becomes part of Hugh and Lil's (Hugh's wife) family as no one comes forward to claim her. On Nell's 21st birthday, she is told the truth of her arrival and her whole world shifts and the sisters who followed in the family mean nothing to her as they once did. Upon the death of Hugh, the white suitcase is returned to her and Nell uncovers the keys and books to her past and begins a journey to discover the truth. This all includes going back to the England to see if places evoke any memories. After buying Cliff Cottage (with its Forgotten Garden), set in the Blackhurst Manor Estate. Nell makes plans to live there and leave her `false' life in Australia behind. Upon Nell's return to Australia, her plans are dashed as Cassandra, her granddaughter arrives. Nell's daughter dumps Cassandra with her mother and leaves no thought for either of them, as she starts another new life somewhere else. (Something Nell was looking forward to doing). Nell's plans and adventures are merely filed away as she now has the task of bringing her granddaughter up. Cassandra discovers the white suitcase and another person becomes embroiled by the secrets within. Upon Nell's death Cassandra learns that she inherits Cliff Cottage, a surprise as she had no knowledge of its existence. Cassandra takes over from where Nell left of and discovers the mystery of Nell's mother, grandmother and heritage. Her journey takes her to England and Cornwall as she sees Cliff Cottage for the first time and begins to fall in love with the cottage, the area and Christian who heals Cassandra's own sad past. Eliza fills in the past story, the story before Cassandra and Nell, the events that lead to their existence and their story. Eliza has a hard start to life, her mother dies young and she tries to survive in the docks area of London but someone is out to bring her back to Blackhurst Manor and her roots. They succeed and Eliza begins another part of her life where she befriends and bewitches Rose, her cousin and creates fairytales to entertain her and also escape the past and the present time where she is resented by her aunt due to her so called `wild' behaviour. Kate Morton uses each chapter to tell the story of the characters, through this the time period shifts between 1900, 1909, 1913, 1975 and 2005. It is not the sort of book to dip in and out of you need to know exactly what year you are reading about so you know the story and the mysteries which are being revealed and solved. It is like three separate stories weaved into one book which actually fit together nicely. Kate Morton's characters are full of life and she successfully uses the minor characters as a function to show the main characters strengths and weakness. Some minor characters like Ruby, the daughter of Bill who helps Cassandra out initially, leave an impact on the reader. Juliet who now owns Blackhurst Manor in the present day, where Cliff Cottage stands has a romantic passionate interest in the past. Christian (having also met Nell when he was a child), helps Cassandra with the Forgotten Garden and sees the magic in it and also the fairytales in the book which hold the key to the mystery. The is a magical book which I could not put down, every page brings more and more to the book and it is the sort of story that stays with you long after you have read it. The cottage and the garden sound magical and by there existence they draw their own fairy tale. Look out for the quirky reference to Frances Hodgson Burnett and `The Secret Garden'. Kate Morton must be a great fan and wanted a reference to a book that may well have inspired and influenced her in this novel. Fantastic book cannot wait for the 3rd Kate Morton novel....