The Daughter's Garden is the second book in the Goswell Quartet by Kate Hewitt. The book was previously released under the author's other name Katharine Swartz. This book could easily be read as a standalone one, but as some characters from the previous book are mentioned, it is nice to know their story in its entirety having read the previous book first.

This story, like the first, is set in two different times and involves two different families. In 1918 Eleanor is a young woman grieving for her brother who was killed in battle just before the war ended. She wants to turn an overgrown garden, like a secret garden, into a memorial area for her brother. A place where people can visit and enjoy the calm, and maybe reminisce.

Nearly 100 years later another woman, Marin, lives in the same house. She too has lost somebody and finds herself wanting to do something with that very same overgrown garden. In doing so she starts to question who lived there before and sets about finding out.

If I am honest, I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first in the series. I think that Marin's story, although interesting and emotional, didn't captivate me as much as the modern-era family from the first book. That's not to say that I disliked the story at all, in fact, I loved Eleanor's story. If anything, hers ended far too quickly. I could have read all of the details of things that happened during the years that were instead summed up by being written similarly to an epilogue.

One thing that both books I have read in this series so far share is how descriptive they are. It is so easy to imagine yourself in these women's lives, sharing their grief and their happy moments. Of course, you will also find yourself in that secret garden loving every minute of it just as the characters of the story do. At the end of the book, there is a taster of the third book in the series. Already I am intrigued and am very much looking forward to reading it. I have discovered through this author and this series that I am a fan of dual-timeline stories.

England, 1918: As war ends Eleanor still feels broken as she lost her beloved brother, just days before the Armistice was signed. Spending her time in the neglected garden behind their house, she fears her heart will never recover. Then her father hires Jack a gruff yorkshireman to help restore the garden to its former glory, as they spend time together, even though she knows her family will never accept someone of Jack’s class, Eleanor starts to wonder if – like the butterflies around them – there is any way for her to learn to soar again.
Present Day: Marin is not prepared for finding herself the guardian of her fifteen-year-old half-sister Rebecca, after her father and his second wife are killed in a tragic accident. The sisters are practically strangers, and Rebecca’s grief makes her seem even more distant. Marin too is in need of a fresh start, so when Rebecca begs her to let them move to the picturesque village of Goswell on the Cumbrian coast, Marin impulsively agrees. But it is only when they find a locked door to a secret garden, and a photograph of a girl with a butterfly landing on her hand, that the sisters start to realise they have a mystery to solve, one about war, about secrets, and about a love that could never be.
The second book in the quartet & once again it’s a dual timeline. A well written interesting read which was a little slow in places but the characters were very well portrayed & I kept reading as I needed to find out more about them. I did love how the author meshed past & present. I really liked both Eleanor & Marin & the more I read the more I became invested in the book.
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Reading the books in sequence helps and I was fortunate that Netgalley sent me the four.

Eleanor and Katherine are the daughters of a well to do family. George and Anna are conservative
parents but not hidebound, but they do expect staying within the boundaries of expected polite
behaviour of the times. WWI is ending and the family is awaiting joyously the return of their son
from the Front and his best friend James, who is Katherine's fiancee as well.

Joy turns to grief when the dreaded telegram arrives that Walter has died. Each family member
deals with it in the manner they know best. This is the catalyst of the story. The story while
outlining the life that follows for each member, focuses primarily on Eleanor. How her attempts
to come to terms with her brothers death, her animosity towards those who have survived, her
ambivalent feelings towards her sister who has thrown herself into charitable works, her
solace in turning the extensive gardens into a memorial for her brother and her falling in love
with the gardener, someone whom her parents will never come to accept.

The story is descriptive of the turbulent times England was thrown into post WWI - nothing
was the same and it took ages to get back to a semblance of normality. It highlighted distinct
class divisions which began to be eroded at that time. It also showed resilience of the
human spirit to survive, grit one's teeth and go on. most importantly that Love can conquer
all.

A great follow up to the first in this series. Eleanor finds love in 1918 and locks her secret garden away. one hundred years later Marin moves into the house and finds the locked garden and starts a search for who built it. A great story.

This is the second book in the Goswell Quartet but its a stand alone book with just a very brief reference to book one. Another good story told over dual timelines. On to book 3 now!

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Kate Hewitt's delightful dual timeline tale THE DAUGHTER'S GARDEN.

“She wondered who would open this gate one day in the future. Another girl, another gardener? Would they fill it with flowers, even butterflies? She almost smiled to think of the garden being redeemed and loved again”.

West Cumberland, 1918: The Great War may be over but it has left many scars and many a family broken in its wake. It was meant to be over by Christmas in 1914 they said, but four long years later and nearly 900,000 lives lost, peace finally came to the world once again. But not for Eleanor Sanderson, the vicar's daughter and their family. Their son Walter, whom they were expecting home at any moment, became one of those casualties falling just days before the Armistice was signed. It hardly seemed fair.

But as soon as the telegram boy delivered the envelope with a look of sorrow on his face, Eleanor's mother had taken to her bed and she was left to break the news to her Grandmama in the adjoining Bower House, her father who was visiting parishioners and her sister Katherine who had spent the day in Carlisle sorting donations. Eleanor just wanted to fall in a crumpled heap but her grandmama said she needed to be strong for her family...because she was the strongest of them all.

The loss of her brother left Eleanor feeling bereft and without purpose...that is, until she found a new purpose. To create a garden memorial in Walter's memory. And with the help of gardener Jack Taylor, Eleanor did just that, utilising the walled garden that had once served as a herb garden. And in the midst of it...a beautiful butterfly house.

But it seems, tragedy is never far away as the Spanish flu sweeps the world in the wake of the war, and Eleanor suddenly falls ill at a garden fete. Will she be strong enough to overcome the influenza and find peace again?

Goswell, present day: After her father and his wife are killed in a car accident, Marin returns from Boston to undertake the care of her 15 year old half sister Rebecca. As a break from their the mundaneness of their normal routine, the sisters take a trip north and find themselves in sleepy Goswell and falling in love with the unusual but charming Bower House. In a flash of impulsivity, they make a decision to uproot their lives in Hampshire and move to the sleepy little village.

It is chance for a fresh start for the both of them as they set to making Bower House their own. Leaving most of their modern furnishings in their Hampshire house which they have rented out, Marin and Rebecca set to purchasing old fashioned furnishings for their new home. They meet their neighbours in the Vicarage, the Hattons, who had moved from America 18 months before and Rebecca and their daughter Natalie soon become friends.

But it is the exploration of the gardens one day that saw the sisters come across a fastened gate with a rusted latch to a walled garden, that gave them new purpose. Rebecca was eager to discover what lay beyond the gate...a secret garden of sorts...while Marin was less enthused. And it wasn't until she saw the hurt on Rebecca's face at her dismissal of it just being a garden full of brambles, that Marin realised what this idea really meant to her sister.

And soon Marin finds herself delving into the lost garden beyond the walls and rusted latch, and with the help of landscape gardener Joss, finds new meaning and purpose whilst searching its history and the woman in a photo who had once sought meaning and purpose within the very same walls.

THE DAUGHTER'S GARDEN is the second in the Goswell Quartet series and is a pure delight to read. I think I enjoyed it more than the first one as I think the characters were more likeable too. I loved the fact that those who featured in the previous book are also mentioned in part in this one too, which goes some way to linking the stories despite them being separate from each other. Such as the neighbours in the Vicarage who were front and centre in the first book and the Sandersons who are the focus this time around were merely mentioned in the first also. I love how Hewitt ties them all together and I hope she continues to do so through the remaining two books.

A gentle story with a steady pace, THE DAUGHTER'S GARDEN is about grief and loss and the overcoming of it. In both timelines, the main characters - Eleanor as well as Marin and Rebecca - have lost someone and while they feel very differently about their losses, they both need to find a purpose to give their lives meaning once again. I love how both women's stories, a hundred years apart, intersect with one another despite not being in the slightest way related. What does bind them is the lost garden of Bower House.

I love dual timelines and Kate Hewitt blends the present with the past beautifully. Both stories play out beautifully with an unexpected ending. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Goswell and I fear I will miss it once I have finished the final book.

Overall, a pure delight to read. Perfect for fans of dual timelines.

I would like to thank #KateHewitt, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDaughtersGarden in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

I’m so glad this isn’t the end of this series! Once again I’ve fallen in love with the characters! I couldn’t wait to see what happened to them! Loved it! You can certainly read this book as a standalone, but why in the world would you?!?

The Daughter’s Garden continues on in The Goswell Quartet series.
Told in duel timeline of past and present the author brings us a story of love, grief and forgiveness. There is so much going on within the story that you can’t stop reading.
I enjoyed the appearance of some of the characters from book 1 of the series.
So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed The Goswell Quartet and highly recommend this series.
Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

While I found "The Daughter's Garden" a likable story filled with some historical tidbits and very clean love stories, I didn't find it as nearly enjoyable as book one in the "Goswell series".

Told from dual storylines, I found the present time storyline slightly boring and a struggle to get through, but the past storyline had me fully immersed and I couldn't wait to get back to one of these chapters. This particular book also felt too much like a carbon copy of the previous novel (newcomer to town driven to learn the story of past occupants). While there were noticeable changes, the bones in the present storyline seemed too familiar to the first book. I loved the fact the scars of war, seen and unseen, were shown, without being overly graphic, while still being true to the horrors survivors live with when they come back.

Overall, I would recommend this and am excited to read the third book in this lovely series.

A huge thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley for the chance to review this book before it comes out on November 17, 2022.

In present day, Marin Ellis and her fifteen-year-old half-sister Rebecca, leave the city after the death of Rebecca's parents. They move to the quiet country village of Goswell, West Cumberland and purchase the Bower House which sits beside the local Church. Thirty-seven year-old Marin has until recently lived in Boston and does not have a close relationship with her sister. This is a time and a chance for them to make a life together. From one of the upstairs rooms, Marin discovers a closed garden behind a high stone wall and, as she finds, behind a locked door. Once entry has been gained into the garden, they discover a mysterious building within and venture forward to find out what it may have been.
In 1919, the current Vicar Sanderson, his wife Anne and their two daughters Katherine and Eleanor, live in the Vicarage on the other side of the Church. They are grieving the loss of their son and brother Walter who was killed days before the Armistice in 1918. The younger daugher, Eleanor, persuades her father to allow her to create a garden within the closed walls near the Bower House which is the home of her Grandmother. War veteran Jack has been working on the Vicarage garden and Eleanor convinces her father to allow him to help her resurrect the closed garden.
I very much enjoyed the stories of both time periods and they are told in alternate chapters.
This is the second book in the Goswell series and I look forward to reading the next two stories.
Thank you NetGalley for my copy. I love this series and highly recommend it to other readers.

The Daughter’s Garden is a story that follows two women Eleanor who loses her beloved brother days before WW1 ends. Eleanor finds herself lost with grief. Deciding to take on a project in the hope of finding peace it leads her down a path of dishonourable love, and Marin who is not prepared for finding herself the guardian of her fifteen-year-old half-sister Rebecca, after her father and his second wife are killed in a tragic accident. With a fresh start needed they move to Goswell on the Cumbrian coast where they follow clues to solve the mystery of the garden behind the locked door.

The Daughter's Garden is a beautiful well written story about family, love, forgiveness and healing.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my heart! I love this series so much. Hewitt again does an excellent job with the shifting of timelines and yet connecting them together. In this one, you could really feel the parallels with the theme of rebuilding after tragedy. I thought the thematic theme was stronger than even book 1, which did a fabulous job as well. I will say I was slightly more invested in Eleanor's (historical) story than Marin's (modern), but both were well paced, had well developed characterization and kept my interest. Can't wait to read the next in the series!
Thanks #NetGalley and #Bookouture.for the ARC.

The Goswell Quartet Book two, 'The Daughter's Garden', is the second novel in a series of four. It was first published on 14th May 2015 as ‘The Lost Garden’ by Katharine Swartz, the pseudonym used by Kate Hewitt at that time. The two narrators in this story are ladies who have similarities in their stories. The historical thread is set in post-World-War 1, in Goswell, Cumbria where the Sanderson family live in the Vicarage tucked away on the hill near the small town on the east coast. The modern story is set about a hundred years later and is about two step-sisters who are new to the town and live beside the church and the nearby Vicarage in a house called The Bower House, built by the Vicar for his mother Elizabeth.
The Sanderson family are rocked when the telegram arrives to tell them that their precious son Walter had died just before Armistice Day. He had been such a lovely son and brother to Katherine and teenager Eleanor: musical, always cheery and also kind. He had gone to serve his country with his friend James, Katherine’s fiancé. James was back at home but he is not the man who he used to be, full of fun and who Katherine still loves. He came home a diminished and mostly a silent man. Eleanor misses Walter dreadfully and comes up with the idea to make a special garden for him, in the neglected walled garden, where they could remember brighter days in peace. Her father hired a young gardener called Jack Taylor from Yorkshire and when the garden is almost finished it is fragrant, beautiful and so very special.
Marin and teenager Rebecca Ellis arrive in Goswell from Hampshire. Their joint Father and his second wife, Rebecca’s mother, have been killed is a terrible accident. Marin flew back from Boston USA, to look after her step-sister, and she and Rebecca were now on holiday. Rebecca sees the Bower House and is charmed by it. They decide to buy it and make new beginnings near the seaside. Marin is considerably older than Rebecca who is still a schoolgirl. They rub along together, both traumatised and grieving. Marin had been sent to boarding school when her mother passed away and she always felt shunned and unwanted. She had lived a lonely life and was determined that Rebecca should feel loved and by happy. By now the walled garden was immersed with brambles, but Marin really wanted to give it a makeover. She employed a gardener called Joss Fowler and together they started to restore the garden. She was fully taken up with finding out about the history of the walled garden, and as the renovations are ongoing she was determined to find out about a ruined shed in her garden and also the pipes that appeared from under the mountain of wild brambles. Marin and Rebecca join the locals in the history society, united together at last by their investigations about the walled garden and their home.
I enjoyed reading this novel and the beautiful storytelling. The characterisations were very good and I was easily able to visualise each of the characters and have empathy for what they were going through. Both threads in this story deal with the grief of loss, tragedy, turbulent relationships and secrecy. I enjoyed both threads equally, and I liked the fact that the two gardeners had an important role in the each story. The historical thread was dominated by war, secrecy, loss, recovery, shameful secrets discovered and forgiveness. The modern thread was about grief, a mystery about the contents of the lost garden, and a fledgling romance, secrecy and familial relationships. When the two stories unite the novel felt richer and entire. I loved how the story ended as well.
I received a complimentary copy of this poignant novel from publisher Bookouture, through my membership of NetGalley. I was very pleased to have my copy to read and review. These are my own honest opinions without any outside influences. It’s a 4.5* review from me.

I really enjoyed THE DAUGHTER’S GARDEN by KATE HEWITT. It is a beautiully written dual timeline novel in which the characters, both in 1919 and in the present, are very real in the way they deal with loss and life changes. This author has a way of drawing her readers into the characters’ emotions.
At the end of WW1 we come across Eleanor Sanderson who, together with her parents and her sister Katherine, is mourning the loss of her brother Walter who was killed just before Armistice. She is longing for things to go back to what they were like before the war. Of course this is impossible as Jack Taylor, the gardener, reminds her when he says “We were all children once, Miss,” he said quietly. “The war has made men and women of us, for better or worse.” Jack seems to be the only person who understands her, and in order to cheer her up he builds a butterfly house in the walled garden her father, the vicar, has encouraged her to get involved in. There is an almost palpable sadness as people try to cope with the devastation left behind by the war, particularly in the case of the soldiers who have returned and are no longer the same young men they used to be.
I like the symbolism of the butterflies which speak of beauty and moments of pleasure in the midst of sadness.
In the present, Marin Ellis and her fifteen year old half sister, Rebecca, move to Cumbria and buy the Bower House which is attached to the now very overgrown walled garden, Marin has great sadness due to the fact that she never felt loved by her father after her mother died when she was eight. She only meets Rebecca at the funeral when she becomes her guardian. They are “a funny little family that had come together not by choice”. There is also a handsome gardener in this timeline who becomes involved in the walled garden, and who helps Marin research the old photograph of the woman with the butterfly….
There are secrets in both time periods, as well as guilt and agonising pain. There is also forgiveness, hope and love. I found the stories inspirational with a subtle Christian message. I highly recommend The Daughter’s Garden as a great read.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Bookouture. The opinions in this review are completely my own.

I am currently enjoying this series of 4 books by Kate Hewitt and having read and enjoyed the first in the series I was excited to read the second book and I wasn't disappointed.

A dual-timeline story that follows the Eleanor in England in 1918, after the war ends and the people are trying to get back to normal. Then 100 years later it follows the story of Marin who becomes the sole carer of her younger sister after the tragic accident which kills her father and his wife.

The two stories collide when the secret door in the garden is found along with a photo of a young girl.

This is a wonderful story and is well written and easy to follow the two stories and understand how they come together. It is a book that draws you into and takes you on the journey of not one but two women, their lives, their stories, their secrets.

And now I am looking forward to the 3rd book in this series.

NetGalley #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads #romance
@bookoture
The Daughter's Garden (The Goswell Quartet Book 2)

The second book in the series. I will say after reading the 1st book this was quite predictable. Again we are going through two ladies pov. I enjoyed the incorporate of characters from the previous book. It's about sad secrets, the possibility of forgiveness, and the healing that might result from a fresh start. Extremely enjoyable. Both have outstanding tale telling, but this work reflects deeply on the loss experienced during wartime. Not only for troops having to accept violence, but also for their families and friends who must deal with loss and the change in character for the man in military. That was a moving theme.

This novel was really well written, I enjoyed it greatly the whole journey the main character went through. Her emotions felt so very really and one could feel great empathy for her and her connected character. I look forward to seeing what else Kate Hewitt produces.

I preferred the second instalment to this Goswell quartet than the first. Both have good quality story telling, but this book reflects powerfully on the loss that is felt in wartime. Not just for soldiers struggling to come to terms with violence but their surrounding family and friends who have to deal with loss and the change in character for the man in uniform. That was a poignant theme.

Again a well written novel with vivid descriptions of the countryside which I found compelling. I enjoyed meeting the main characters again from book 1 of the series. Even though, the plot led to a predictable development and conclusion, I enjoyed reading it, and I am looking forward to reading book 3!
I received a complimentary copy of this novel from NetGalley, and I am leaving voluntarily an honest review.

This novel was really good. I definitely felt the emotions of the main character and felt for her. It was definitely a good quick read for me.