The Garden of Lost and Found: The gripping tale of the power of family love

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The story opens in 1918 with Liddy Horner as she discovers her renowned artist husband Sir Edward ‘Ned’ Horner burning his best-known painting in an apparent moment of madness. Days later, Ned has died of a fever and Liddy is left alone with a baby. Moving forward in time to 2014, we meet Liddy’s great granddaughter Juliet, an expert in Victorian art, who’s at a crossroads in her life. She’s been pushed out of her job at an auction house, she has a fractured relationship with her husband, and she’s lost the ability to connect with her three children. So when she’s mysteriously sent the key to the dilapidated Nightingale House – Liddy and Ned’s beloved home – she sees it as not only an escape from her crumbling marriage, but a new start for her children too. I’m a huge fan of Harriet Evans and having reviewed her last few books here on the blog am delighted to be taking part in the blog tour for the new release, The Garden of Lost and Found – and to be winding up the tour on its final day. My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the tour invitation and to Headline for the review copy. At university I read Classical Studies, which is a great way of finding out that the world doesn't change much and people make the same mistakes but it's interesting to look at why. I was at Bristol, and i loved the city, making new friends, being a new person. The novel follows the generations of a family from 1880-1918 and then in present day. The bonds between a granddaughter and a grandmother are strong, surviving the grave.

This is another novel with many twists and turns along the way as the story unfolds, and is told from various perspectives. Some of our group preferred the modern story, some the older one, but we all agreed that the novel had a good and gripping plot and was well written, although we felt that an actual family tree, rather than just a list of the children, would have been helpful. This book met very mixed reactions from our group. Many felt it as too busy with too many characters who were not properly realised. I've been totally absorbed by Harriet Evans's recent family sagas, especially The Butterfly Summer and The Wildflowers, so I found The Garden of Lost and Found to be a real disappointment, despite its beautiful cover. The novel switches between two intertwined timelines; in the present day, Juliet, working at an art dealer's, loses her job at the same time that her marriage falls apart. Unexpectedly inheriting her family's ancestral home, where the Edwardian painter Ned Horner produced his most famous work, offers her a lifeline - but what family secrets will she uncover? In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, two sisters, Liddy and Mary, suffer in an oppressive household, until Liddy's marriage to the painter, Ned Horner, offers them a way out. But why will Ned ultimately burn his most significant painting, 'The Garden of Lost and Found'?The Garden of Lost and Found shines light on the different issues different generations face, intertwined with historical fiction and art, handled in such a beautifully delicate way. Overall, I found this book very enjoyable, lovely and gripping to read. It was exactly what I needed from this audiobook, praise to Harriet Evans. 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. I loved the rich detail of this story – the vivid descriptions of the house and gardens, the well developed characters, the trials and tribulations they faced, it was captivating. There must have been quite a lot of research which has gone into this book and it shows in the detail with various historical references. One thing I especially enjoyed were scenes involving the dolls house, which was made for Liddy and is a replica of Nightingale House. I’ve always been fascinated by dolls house and the detailed miniatures for them.

I was blissfully carried away by this intelligent (she’s as good as the great Rosamunde Pilcher), classy and superbly executed family saga’ Saga This was my first Harriet Evans book, recommended to me as an audiobook after my mum loved it, so I thought I’d give it a go. I don’t usually reach for historical fiction, but this crossed into the modern world too, sharing the story between Juliet in present-day and Liddy in the early 1900s. It is all centred around a painting by Liddy’s husband, The Garden of the Lost and Found, that is said to have been destroyed. Liddy is also the great grandmother of our present-day protagonist Juliet. So there’s a family link, and also a love of art as Juliet works for art galleries. 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.

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Some of the characters were felt to be merely tokens e.g Ev, he was mentioned and lot but when he finally appeared it felt he was there as the token mixed race character rather than for any other reason. Matt was also felt to be poorly realised and we as readers were not meant to feel anything positive towards him.

We can see how much work and dedication that must have gone in to this book. This book has alot of sadness and the author expresses emotion well. We felt anger at how certain characters were treated and empathy for the sadness experienced by the characters.

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Our childhood influences the adults we become. Childhood nightmares and curses follow a character down the years. A major theme throughout the novel is that of the ideal family and the ideal home, as depicted in the painting. Do such things actually exist? Do we only appreciate them when they might be, or are, lost? How have the challenges and attitudes to family life changed over the past 100 years? All these prompted rich discussion at our meeting. I haven't finished the book yet but so far it has been a really good read. I have enjoyed reading about the different generations and the old house and gardens. It is a really good story'