I love books of any genre that feature strong women fighting the gender roles and/or expectations of their time. Julia Kelly’s five voices more than satisfied my desire. In 1907 England, Venetia Smith is an up and coming garden designer who is a bit past what was then considered marriageable age. Her task is to design a garden for the estate. In 1944 Land Girl Beth, Cook Stella, and estate owner Diana Symonds each love the garden for their own reasons. The estate has become a hospital for wounded soldiers. In the present, Emma is tasked with restoring the gardens to their original splendor. As the stories move back and forth through time, I found myself staying up later and later. I was consumed. I will be happy to recommend this book to my friends who are historical fiction fans.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this historical fiction set during three time lines about five women involving the gardens at Highbury. I loved how their stories intertwined and the impact the gardens had on their lives. I was in tears during one section involving a young boy and how the gardens helped him and a grieving woman. The story is beautifully written, and I was engrossed from start to finish. This author is a great storyteller.

I really got caught up in this story...or stories, actually. There are three storylines in three different time periods, but all in the same setting: a garden in England. I was thrilled to be able to read an advance copy of the book and would love to read more by this author. She did a great job of telling the stories of women in 1907, 1944, and 2021. How different yet similar their lives were! I admit I was a bit confused in the beginning of the book and had to jot down the names of the characters with a note as to which year each belonged. It got easier to keep everyone straight as the book progressed, but I definitely had to pay attention!

Historical fiction fans will find much to enjoy in Julia Kelly's "Last Garden of England," starting with the novel garden-themed link between the characters. The book features five women from three time periods: pre-World War 1, World War 2, and contemporary. While world events certainly play a role in bringing the characters together, particularly in the WW2 era, this book is unlike other books focusing on the same periods. It's not a war that is the driver of the action for the most part, but an extraordinary English garden that all the characters love. Kelly masterfully describes the beauty of the gardens and surrounding areas without overwhelming the reader with too much detail.

In 1907, a young woman who is a landscape artist is hired to design gardens at a prominent English estate. Creating this garden is the artist's (Venetia's) dream, but she is faced with challenges women of the time experienced that threaten to derail her dream.

In WW2, several women find themselves at an English estate that has been requisitioned for the war effort. While there, the gardens created in 1907 by the artist Venetia are the source of comfort and despair. This time period has elements of a upstairs/downstairs theme as it focuses on the wealthy woman who owns the estate as well as the poor women who are assigned to work there.

In the contemporary time period, a landscaper is hired to bring back the former glory of the gardens after decades of neglect, a challenge requiring her to search for answers as to what the original artist intended.

Despite the three timelines and five points of view, Kelly draws the reader in with minimal confusion as to the era/storyline. Nevertheless, this enjoyable book might have been even stronger if a few characters, such as Beth and her roommate, were eliminated as their storylines were not fully developed.

Just a lovely story with three generations of family, living within the beautiful gardens created by a famed horticulturalist in the early 1900’s. This era focuses on the creation of the mansion grounds and the individual garden rooms, that reflected the owners personality, with plants and flowers that created a theme.
The family in the early 40’s were immersed in a World war, and the mansion has bee requisitioned as a hospital for servicemen recovering from the trauma of the war. The gardens provide comfort and solace, while the main lawn is dug up to provide food to supplement dwindling rationed food. In the ensuing years post war, the gardens were minimally maintained and left in array.
Which brings us to 2021, the current owners in the process of restoring the mansion and the grounds, hiring a young garden designer, starting out her own business, and intent on researching the original gardens, and her plans to recreate the beautiful landscape.
Julia Kelly is a talented storyteller and did created a picture in my mind of these gardens, those that lived and worked them. Interesting characters that told the story well. Keeping the many characters of three different eras and their connection, was tricky, but in the end, well done and enjoyable.
My thanks to #NetGalley, #GalleyBooks and #JuliaKelly for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Last Garden in England by Julia Kelly is a wonderful story set in England spanning more than 100 years. The story begins with Emma, in the 21st century, hired to restore the grandeur of the gardens at Highbury House. The gardens had been designed in 1907 by Venetia Smith, a renowned garden designer. The generations living in the house offer an interesting tale of secrets spanning decades. During World War II, the house is requisitioned as a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. The women intimately involved in the house during the War include Diana, mistress of the house and widowed wife of the original owners’ grandson; Stella, her cook of many years; and Beth, a land girl working on the farm next to Highbury House. The book interweaves each woman’s story, their connection to each other and the importance the garden brings to each of their lives. It is a fascinating story brought together over time by a very special garden.

This is a book I can see myself rereading every year or two. It’s a beautiful travel through several women’s lives, who all have the same garden in common, throughout the ages.

Each woman goes through a breakthrough, a revelation, a coming-into-her-own, and I cheered for them each time.

It was heartbreaking in parts. There were a few scenes where the weight of them came though the pages and I felt it in my heart. That’s a skill that isn’t super common, in my humble opinion, and very appreciated.

I love stories that feature gardens as themes and The Last Garden in England is so good. Strong characters, compassionate characters, unexpected moments, progressive men and women, and growth for the main characters.

I received a copy through NetGalley. These thoughts are my unbiased thoughts. I am looking forward to adding a hard copy to my collection and already know several people who will love to receive this book as a gift.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3524027174?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

I loved this multiple timeline, multi-POV historical fiction novel!

There were several elements in this story that made it such a fun read for me. I’m not a gardener, but I loved the discussion of the different gardens and plants. I also really enjoyed reading about the women in this story in relation to the garden. However, I think the mystery elements were my favorite. As a story unfolds, little elements are revealed, including the original garden design, the people and their relationships.

Venetia lays out the gardens at the grand house as separate ‘rooms’ in a very particular pattern.
This story is laid out in the same way, with each detail tied together to make the whole of the story just spectacular. I am leaving out the details because I do not want to rob you of the joy of discovering these little tidbits for yourself as they as the story unfolds

The most complex chapters were the 1944 chapters because they involved three main characters within that timeline. At first I was a little confused keeping them all straight, but was quickly engrossed in their stories. Their timeline became my favorite and really added depth to the novel.

I recommend this book to historical fiction fans as well as gardening enthusiasts. 5/5

4.5/5!

I took away half a star for a slow start, but, overall, this book should definitely be on the TBR list of any historical fiction lover.

Beautiful tale of three women during different time periods all interconnected through friends and family. Keep a pen and pad handy to write down all of the characters!

An amazing tale set during World War II filled with historical detail that brings the story alive. Julia Kelly weaves a remarkable tale that takes the reader on an amazing journey.

This is an entertaining, well-written book centering around a designer garden at one of the great homes in England called Highbury House. The story begins in early 2021, when garden designer Emma Lovell is hired to restore a series of gardens and borders originally designed by the horticulturist Venetia Smith in 1907. A good bit of the narrative revolves around the researching of historic files and papers concerning the garden design in the attic of the 2021 home owner, Sydney Wilcox. Other drawings and letters also surface through other characters in the story. Part of the story covers Venetia’s story in 1907 and part the World War II era, when part of Highbury House was requisitioned by the British Government for a military hospital.

While I certainly enjoyed the narrative including life events, society of each time period and the search for accurate historical garden plans, I found the triple-timeline a bit overly complex. There were times when I found the sequences difficult to follow, struggled to remember characters from the particular time period, and thought there were too many peripheral characters. In addition, in places I found the descriptions of flowering plants and bushes excessive for the average reader.

My rating is actually a 3 1/2, and my thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of #The Last Garden in England.

The Last Garden in England had all the elements of a great read: wonderfully complex characters, fascinating plot, love, friendship, heartbreak, war, and a touch of mystery. All of these components come to life over three distinct periods in time, revolving around gardens rich in symbolism and beauty. I loved it! Well done, Julia Kelly.

Thank you to NetGalley, author, and publisher for the opportunity to read this advance copy. The opinions in this review are entirely my own.

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Talented landscape designer Venetia Smith has cared out a niche for herslef in 1907. Few if any women are hired for landscape design. but Venetia is hired to make the gardens at Highbury House a showplace. Fast forward to current day where Emma Lovett is hired to resurrect Venetia's gardens, but there are few sketches or plans to show her where to start.

During World War II the house was requisitioned as a military hospital, but there was not time to worry about gardens. Fortunately one of the land girls made sketches of the gardens and much to the delight of 21st century landscape designer Emma, they show some details of Venetia's garden plans. As Emma digs deeper she discovers secrets long hidden. A lovely and charming book.

I love books that pair historical fiction with a contemporary perspective. So the second I started reading this book, I knew I would love it. In 2021, Emma works to restore the gardens at Highbury House to their former glory. Venetia Smith planned and built the gardens in 1907. And the house served as a military hospital in 1944 when Beth served as a Land Girl, Stella as the cook of Highbury House, and Diana Symonds was its owner.

The description of the winter garden of dogwoods and hellebores made me so happy, as I planted those early this year to create my own winter garden. I similarly loved the description of digging in the soil and the joy it brings. As a budding gardener, I treasured so many of the descriptions in this book.

The plot wasn't action packed, yet I found it a very fast read that I couldn't put down. I was entirely wrapped up in each woman's story, and I dearly wanted to know what would happen to them, and to the garden that twined them together.

Thank you for the ARC.

This is a fantastic read! I’m not a gardener but still found the lives of the four, really five, women depicted here fascinating. Even though there were 3 different time frames, I was never lost and shifted easily from 1908 to 1944 to 2008 and from Venetia to Beth to Emily with detours to Stella and Diane. All were fully realized people who had separate dreams for their futures and faced their tribulations as best they could. I hate to say too much about the plots as an adventure awaits the reader who buys this book!

This story happens on 3 alternating timelines with a garden connecting three women over time. In the first timeline, we meet Venetia Smith in 1907/1908 as she's planning and planting a garden for the Melcourt family at Highbury. In 1944, Diane Symonds is now the lady of the house and finds solace in her garden as her home is requisitioned for the war effort. In present day, Emma is hired on by the new owners of Highbury to restore the gardens to their original glory, which is a huge honor due to Venetia's rise to fame in the gardening world.

It's an interesting take, connecting women across such a vast time period with a garden. I found it enjoyable because it's a different take on WWII historical fiction, but I do think 3 different time periods was a bit much. There were a lot of characters in each whose names I couldn't be bothered to remember, and that's the only reason why this isn't a 5 star read. I think with a little more editing and focus, this book would easily be that for me!

Overall, this book was really great. As an unexpected bonus, I learned a lot about gardens!

Holy cow, I loved loved this book, The Last Garden in England written by Julia Kelly is a real treasure. The historical garden the story centers around is a character in itself. There are three timelines - 1907 by the original female garden designer - 1944 by the family and servants occupying the home during the war - and finally 2021 by the female garden designer hired to restore the garden to its past glory. I fell so in love with all the characters, I wished more than once I could climb into the book and be friends with all of them. I have to admit I’m not much of a romance reader so when the plot was leaning toward romances in every timeline, I was a bit worried. Surprisingly the romances only added to the story and left you with a feeling of happiness and joy after a couple heartbreaking tragedies. This book has a publication date of March 3, 2021 and I urge everyone to run out and buy this book. It’s just lovely!,
PS I was so excited about the book, I forgot to thank Gallery Books and NetGalley for this great read,,

Reading the Afterword by the author gave me an understanding of her goal in writing this book. Unfortunately, I do not feel that she achieved her goal. I felt as if I were reading a romance novel where all the resolutions were predictable. I did not enjoy this read.

3.5 but rounding up. Interesting story revolving around three women at different points in the 20th century: early 1900s, WWII, and the present. The gardens of a country estate weave through all three stories, along with love, tragedy, birth, death and professional ambition. I found it rather predictable and had some difficulty keeping focused. It is not up to the high standard of Kate Morton's novels--which I generally find totally immersing, but some may find this novel captivating, especially those interested in gardening with the vivid descriptions of the design of the various gardens. I received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest and candid review.

The Last Garden in England brings to life present day Emma (a gardener who breathes new life into long neglected gardens, 1907 Venetia (a famous gardener hired to design the gardens at Highbury House) and 1944 Beth (a land girl and talented sketch artist looking for a permanent place to call home), Diana (widowed owner of Highbury House) & Stella (a cook at Highbury House with dreams of traveling the world). The women of these different generations are all connected (and make the biggest decisions of their lives) by the gardens at Highbury House in England.

I adored The Last Garden in England. Cute love stories, imagining (and promptly Googling) all of the beautiful plants, easy to like characters all juxtaposed with some heavy topics like death, heartbreak and the toll of war.

This has been my absolute favorite advanced readers copy of the year. I now need to read more books by Julia Kelly. The book has a lot of Downton Abbey vibes (Highbury House is used as a convalescent hospital just like in the series). For fans of that series don't hesitate to pick up this book!