Hassie and Margot are sisters who spend their inheritance on house in Hope Wenlock close to the Welsh border. Hassle is an illustrator and Margot works in finance in London. The book is written from Hassie’s point of view while
She reminisces on her relationship with Margo and a previous lover.
I’ve read and enjoyed several Salley Vickers books but found this one disappointing. It’s slow pace and off plot narrative did not keep me interested.

This was a heart-warming story told with compassion and tenderness. It isn't a thriller, it's fair to say, but her characters are rich and well-realised.

I love Sally Gardener's writing and I really enjoyed this book. Silent, subtle and beautifully written.
Loved the story and characters. It was a delight.

I had high hopes for this book nut have to say it just didn't do it for me.

To start with, the characters just aren't well developed and to a point annoying, the story didn't flow well for me and it just ended. I felt like I had missed something and I just didn't enjoy reading it at all!

Sad as I like Salley Vickers and some of her other books are quite good.

I loved the Librarian by Salley Vickers and liked this story. I was attracted by the idea of the garden and found the story compelling and interesting.
I wish I could live in a cottage like the sister and I would be more than happy if I could tend a garden like the one described in the book.
The relationship between Hassie and Margot is quite realistic and I think that the author did an excellent job in describing how tense it can be.
It's slow burn story, a gentle paced novel that reminded me of some classic British novel.
The last pages left me wondering.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

You can burn things you don't want in the garden, or you can leave them to wilt over weeks. This book, unfortunately, seemed more of the slow wilt. Hass and Margot, two middle-aged sisters, have a fractious relationship, but have clubbed together with their inheritances and bought a large cottage in an olde-timey English village. Through Hass's eyes, as she's the more regular resident, we see how they differ – in decor, in willingness to befriend the locals, and in so much else. We also have to see how snippy Margot is, and a lot in flashback about the relationship with a married man Hass is seemingly on the run from, and a lot else besides. So you're halfway into this book and still are doubting the title is the most relevant one.

The problem with this book is not just its leisurely growth into its own story – taking its time to find a theme to bring to the table. The book is one of those alienatingly middle-brow, middle-class, middle-England ones. Margot is unlikeable with her cattiness and her above-everyoneness, and Hass is not much better, quibbling with every action and decision her sister makes, both past and present; being overly gossipy about her parents and what they were like before they lost them. She loves a reference to poetry, quotes "Twelfth Night" to us, has an expectation about certain magazines she's probably never read, and despite claims of poverty (due to her only work being illustrating a kids' fiction franchise which she of course hates) diligently overspends because it's for the locals.

And that leisurely growth is forever stunted – even a power out, or blown fuse, or whatever it is that afflicts the house before it's shipshape, is just mentioned and then ignored. But then, when the same applies to the greater things, those that might have actually provided a plot, you see all that is wrong about this mish-mash. The decorating, as dull as it was? Incomplete, forgotten, ignored. Likewise with the garden. Ditto with the history of the house Hass gets wrapped up in. No, there is some semblance of a story as regards Hass settling down, and some indication of a kind of fairy legacy regarding the building and its environs, but nothing that ever gels into the form of a decent story.

Like I say, wilting, when it needed a spark. One and a half stars.

I was really enjoying this book - formulating the review in my mind 'an enjoyable, rural retreat heals broken heart' when the ending suddenly strode into the read. I honestly thought my Kindle had missed a few segments out, or had done that irritating thing when it skips five pages and you are in the middle of something you don't understand.

So I will review this book in two parts.

The first 99% - a calming, beautifully written, and paced tale of two sisters who retreat to the country after the death of their father. The garden, the house and the gardener all help to heal rifts and broken hearts. Just the soothing balm I needed after the last two years.

The final 1% - What??

A lovely, gentle read with beautifully descriptive passages that made me want to go and find old, scented roses, honeysuckle and lilac so that I could experience the enchantment that Hassie describes.

The scratchy relationship between Hassie and her sister Margot is gradually healed as the seasons pass and their old house and neglected garden are brought back to their former glory. Murat, the refugee who helps with the renovations has a major part in the story without featuring much at all in the narrative which touches on the redemptive powers of pagan rituals, Christian saints and nature.

The cast of characters includes Robert, Hassie's married lover who breaks her heart, her elderly and acerbic neighbour Phyllis, a vicar without a faith and a very unappealing child but the real story is about nature and time's healing power.

Having enjoyed other Salley Vickers books, I found this one disappointing. It’s the story of Hassie Days (whose real name is Halcyon Days, which irritated me throughout – but that’s by-the-bye) and her sister Margot who buy an old Jacobean house in a typical English village (where everyone is, of course, slightly out of the ordinary – where are the villages of normal boring folk?) where Hassie hopes to mend her broken heart. She throws herself into restoring the garden with the help of an Albanian refugee who just happens to have ended up in the village and turns out to be remarkably capable of any job that needs doing (thus a stereotypical refugee) and forging friendships with the odd-ball villagers. It can’t be a coincidence that Vickers refers to Lolly Willowes at some point, so I was expecting some witchery, but sadly it never came to much. So, it’s a book about restoration, regeneration, solace in nature and nature’s healing power and unlikely friendships, and it’s all pretty harmless and charming in a bland sort of way, but overall I found it pretty trite and banal.

I’ve been intrigued by Salley Vickers’ books for a while. I’ve had a copy of The Librarian for a couple of years and shamefully haven’t got round to picking it up yet. But I was very excited to be approved for her new release The Gardener.

Hassie and Margot Days are sisters who have recently bought a house in Hope Wenlock on the Welsh borders. For the first time in years, they’ll be living together following their father’s death and neither is sure how things will work out. While Margot is still keeping up with London society, Hassie makes it her business to become involved in local life, including hiring Murat, an Albanian who is relatively new to the area, to look after the garden. But the hire raises tensions in the village.

Hassie’s full name is Halcyon, which isn’t a word I’ve heard used as a first name before. However, when she reveals that it’s from a Greek myth, I saw the charm in it and it seemed to fit Hassie very well. In some ways, she resembles a beautiful, small bird taking flight from her past and settling in a new garden.

We get quite a detailed picture of the dynamics that the sisters grew up with. Hassie was very much their father’s favourite and Margot, their mother’s. Hassie seems to harbour a lot of resentment towards her mother and I can imagine the pain that she feels, knowing that a parent doesn’t like her. Living with a domineering or narcissistic parent is a hard way to grow up and it’s inevitable that it would have left its mark.

Hassie and Margot’s relationship made me smile. They’re middle-aged women but they converse and bicker like children. They are very different personalities and tend to clash on most things. However, I could tell that there was a lot of love between them. Vickers is clearly excellent at writing sibling relationships and I had no doubt that they were real sisters.

Hass befriends an old lady called Phyllis Foot, who is full of stories and advice. I loved sitting in on their chats and absorbing everything that Phyllis had to say. There appeared to be very little that Phyllis didn’t know about Hope Wenlock and its inhabitants. She felt very real to me and I was willing Hass to listen to everything that she had to say.

'I've set some aside for you. They're a heavenly flower with a delicious scent but rampant colonizers. Hitler had nothing on them.'

She also brings a lot of the humour to the book. I laughed out loud at the above line and it confirmed her authenticity for me. I know these eccentric old women who dwell in these tiny rural towns and they’re some of the most interesting, enjoyable characters you’re likely to meet.

Hass is fleeing a love affair that has broken beyond repair. We get glimpses of her past and watch this relationship develop and we’re privy to the circumstances surrounding it. Although I loved reading these parts and definitely picked up on the romantic nature of it, I wasn’t invested in it and wanted more for Hass. She is clearly in a lot of pain from it ending though and I was willing her to realise that there was so much more to life and love.

Overall, The Gardener is a very observant, authentic depiction of English village life. There is a lot of prejudice, a lot of distrust and fixed opinions but there is also a charm, plenty of individuality and blissful solitude. While this is definitely set in recent times, due to references to Brexit and Theresa May, there is something about it that felt nostalgic. With these references to current affairs removed, the book could easily be set anytime between the 1950s and 2020 and I loved that enigmatic, timeless vibe. I’m excited to read more of Vickers’ work and see if I enjoy them as much.

Yes, this book about a garden and its restoration at the hands of a woman smarting from the breakdown of a relationship and the death of her Father. But, it is so much more than that as it explores the relationship between two sisters, the place of an immigrant in a small village community and how love and friendship can have great restorative powers. I love Sally Vickers’ writing and her last book, Grandmothers was a triumph. If anything, The Gardener is even better, with its beautiful writing, connection with nature, and exploration of what makes us all human - that love, friendship, nurturing and growing can all heal and make us complete.

I like reading about far-flung places and past centuries but this, set in the modern day just an hour away from where I live, provides a different kind of enjoyment. I could visit the places mentioned and may well do so. The narrator, Hass, is easy to like. She has talent but doesn’t seem to have made the most of it. Shattered by a broken love affair and mourning her father, she is wondering how good an idea it was to go along with her sister Margot’s plan to buy a house in the country together.
In contrast to the other book by Sally Vickers I’ve read, Miss Garnet’s Angel, The Gardener is decidedly un-urban, a love letter to the countryside. Hass makes an effort to get to know people in the nearby village and throws herself into reviving the large garden that surrounds the house. I don’t have a sister but the relationship between Hass and Margot strikes me as realistic; inconsistent and changing but strong in its shared history. I thought for a long while that the title had missed the mark; now I see how appropriate it is: referring not to one gardener, but several.

The Gardener tells the story of two sisters , Hassie and Margot, moving to a house in the country and the gradual restoration of the garden ; interwoven within a broader brush is the relationship between the two sisters and the childhood that lead to animosity and divisions. With the arrival of Murat to help rebuild the garden and Hassie’s friendships with villagers , the story focuses upon the regeneration of characters and relationships against the backdrop of the emerging beauty of an abandoned garden. Told with a delicate and insightful touch through the eyes of Hassie, Salley Vickers again shows how she can capture the subtleties of everyday life in a deeper profound manner and build up our empathy to the lives of the characters we encounter. A charming novel with a sense of the other worldly at times.

This book is an absolute delight.

Hassie Days is at a loss following the end of a long affair and the death of her father whom she cared for when her sister Margot suggests that they buy a house together. The house is large, old and has an overgrown garden which becomes Hassie's domain. She is left alone for much of the time whilst Margot works in London and comes to know a small number of villagers including a widowed vicar, an elderly lady and a young East European man.

It would be easy to describe this novel so as to make it sound quite ordinary - it is about the redemptive power of nature, finding friendship and loyalty with very different people, reflections on love and relationships. But the delicacy and subtlety of the writing lifts it above the quotidian and makes it something special. I loved it.

An enchanting tale of the restoration of a garden and a soul. Hass (Halcyon) has purchased a Jacobean manor house with her sister, Margot. Two sisters, never very close, have pooled their inheritance from their father and purchased this crumbling manor near the Welsh borders in Shropshire. Hass and Margot, chalk and cheese, Hass dark, Margot light. Margot adored, Hass ignored was how it felt growing up in Margot’s orbit.
Through fate, Hass meets Robert, a charismatic artist. They have a passionate long relationship that is only able to be maintained on the sly, as Robert is married and has no intention of leaving his wife. When they are together Hass finally feels adored. The inevitable happens and they are caught out. Three years later and Hass is still grieving.
Settling in the country Hass feels a connection to her father through the birds in the garden and the countryside. Through new friends in the village, she learns the history of the area, and more specifically their new home, Knight’s Fee. Hass explores the region’s significance with the early saints and pagan gods.
Most importantly she develops a better understanding and appreciation for herself and of her sister.
Descriptively written with warmth, laughter and understanding, a beautiful story. The characters and setting very evocative and lasting. Highly recommend.
Many thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this advance copy. It was a pleasure.