I love classics and gardens, and this book appealed greatly to me.

It’s laid out beautifully, with multiple photographs of each garden, clean text, and in the back of the book - garden visiting information 😍, along with selected reading suggestions.

While you might be tempted at first glance to just go through the beautiful photos, you’ll eventually want to read the accompanying text to each garden and home, and likely learn a lot.

If you’re a fan of classic authors and beautiful gardens, you’ll want to add this one to your bookshelf. It also serves as a great source of inspiration, if on a smaller scale for many readers.



Thank you to Frances Lincoln and NetGalley for the DRC!

My two great loves in this world are books and gardening, so I was more than a little excited to read The Writer's Garden. I have read many books and seen many photos of the places covered in this book, so I appreciated seeing new photos of these gardens instead of the same old stock photos I've been clipping/saving from magazines/Pinterest for years. Many of these gardens are open to the public, and I've definitely discovered some new ones to add to my travel bucket list.

The Writer's Garden is a fantastic collection of garden hideaways of 30 prolific authors. Each author's garden is highlighted with beautiful pictures and some information about their life, the garden itself, and a little about their work.

My favorite gardens are the ones from Agatha Christie and Antonio Fogazzaro. Edward James' garden is the most unique. It's no surprise that, with gardens like these, the authors were inspired by the nature outside their front door!

This would be an awesome book for your coffee table. ❤️

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this eARC in exchange for my honest review on the book!

Bibliophiles and gardeners, here is a perfect book for you (and me). Visit the gardens of a number of writers, enjoy what you see, and learn about the importance of each writer’s garden.

The photos throughout are just gorgeous. In addition, the text is quite informative. For example, learn in the very first entry about why Louisa May Alcott’s father bought a particular property and what was grown there. I like that each entry has a section on the writer themself.

There is so much to see here, so this book will provide enjoyment for many hours. J have so many favorites that it is so difficult to pick a few. That said, I especially enjoyed Louis May Alcott’s Orchard House; Jane Austen in Kent and Hampshire, Frances Hodgson Burnett at Great Maythem Hall, Agatha Christie at Greenway, Thomas Hardy on Dorset and, Beatrix Potter at Hill Top.

I would love to own the hard copy of this title and to visit some of these gardens in person. As the author points out, we are so lucky that they have been preserved, even as they evolve.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this title. All opinions are my own.

Almost any fan of 19th or 20th century literature will find something to enjoy in this volume that takes a look at our favorite writers in context of the spaces they chose to inhabit. Liberally sprinkled with beautiful photos and full of biographical details and updates on the current state of the properties, this book will quite possibly inspire a bucket list of must-visit destinations. I'm keenly interested in literary tourism myself, and this was enjoyable armchair traveling. I skimmed over the authors I was less interested in and slowed down for the ones I like. I suspect this will be the way most people will interact with this book.

Gardening may run in my family, but so far I’ve managed to kill every plant I brought home. Still, something in me yearns to have a beautiful garden for inspiration, relaxation, and play. Until then, I’ll have to live vicariously through some of the world’s greatest authors.

The Writer’s Garden is a beautiful and comprehensive book supplying stunning photographs with insight into how gardens (and by extension, gardening) inspired, motivated, or calmed some of the great literary minds. I told my husband this book has ruined me because now I’m not only dissatisfied with our own yard, but I want to travel and see each of these famous gardens, thereby extending our travel wish list. He didn’t seem to mind, and happily began discussing Ernest Hemingway’s home in Key West.

Along with Hemingway, Bennett includes an amazing list of authors including Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Roald Dhl, Rudyard Kipling, and Beatrix Potter, to name a few. Each chapter is devoted to one author, providing a brief autobiography, and then a deep plunge into their love affair with their gardens and how it was influential in their life, both personally and professionally. I was pleasantly surprised at how thorough each chapter was. For example, I had no idea Henry David Thoreau helped Louisa May Alcott’s father in the renovations of his grounds, how Ernest Hemingway spent $20,000 on his salt-water swimming pool, or how Edward James integrated sculptures into his garden after a devastating storm destroyed thousands of his orchids.

The Writer’s Garden is my ideal coffee table read. I loved reading this book right before bed, losing myself in the gardens and stories of iconic authors, and pondering how I might be able to turn my little plot of land into a touch of Eden.

If you are interested in famous writers from Beatrix Potter to Emile Zola and then want to add in a bit of architecture and lots of gardening, then this book is for you.

It is a lovely combination of writing and photographs that take you right into the gardens and down the paths of exploration.

Jackie Bennett has done a fantastic job of explaining how the gardens came into the writers’ possessions and then how they continued to cultivate the land. She also brings us right up to the 21st century and tells us how the gardens have been preserved and which you are able to ramble around in.

All in all, a lovely coffee table book.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion and NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

Lovely book with great pictures of famous writers' gardens. The reader gets a peak into the lives of these authors, the families and places they were born into, lives, marriages, divorces, places they lived at, and books they wrote. They all had gardens as a part of their lives. It is even possible to visit many of these beautiful gardens. Love the photos!

A very easy read which should appeal to readers, and gardeners alike. This lovely book takes you right into the gardens of a selection of authors and offers insight on where they found peace to explore their works, and respite when not writing. The book offers many interesting facts on both the flora & the author.

For those writers I knew of, it was quite lovely to imagine how their writing was inspired by the locations shared in the book, the beautiful accompanying photos really helped with this.

A charming coffee table book for green fingered readers.

SUCH a great concept and such a pleasant coffee table book. I appreciated how many female authors were featured. I also, as a Southerner, appreciated seeing photos of Rowan Oak.

This was such a beautiful book. I LOVED the quotes from other writers. Some I have read before, others I have not.
This was just so beautiful.
Now I want to find a garden to sit in and re read this.

A casual, fulfilling read! If you love books and gardens, the cottagecore aesthetic, and the idea of frolicking in a wildflower field with a journal in hand, you will love this book!

Anyone could see why a writer would flourish in these locations, they’re simply stunning. Richard Hanson does a phenomenal job at documenting these places and Jackie Bennett is masterful with her words. I really felt like I was there, sitting in the seats on Antonio Fogazzaro’s Lake Logano balcony. Walter Scott’s literal castle in Abbotsford would have been the perfect place to document the first romance novels.

It’s enriching, fun, and I will be buying a physical copy!

Thank you Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review!

An absolutely beautiful book about how home and the garden play such an important role in how writers view themselves as people, writers, and family members. The writers' connection to their garden manifests itself in the way they view home and family. Writer Jackie Bennett and photographer Richard Hanson put the authors and their gardens/homes into perspective as she shows how the authors' relationship to gardens and topiary art allows readers to get a deeper understanding of the writers' work. As well as the history of the gardens, Bennett also provides mini bios of each author.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.- Marcus Tullius Cicero

There's something about a garden, reading, and writers which always go together. As I write this review, I am slowly starting some new seeds which sit on my windowsill, but along with the practical, I'm growing impractical which really isn't impractical after all, since plants of all types such as milkweed, sunflowers, daylilies, and more serve a purpose for both the eye, the birds, and the bees.

The commissioned photos help capture a fragment of what must have made the writer's garden both a place of respite and inspiration for such authors as Jane Austen and a reminder from Cicero, of the richness which is gained from having both books and plants together. Especially in the modern world, with most of the green replaced by concrete, cultivating an indoor, or balcony garden, helps reconnect the five senses, and as the book shows, provides inspiration and in many cases, comfort in ways that only Nature can provide for readers, writers, and the everyday person.

Filled with mini-essays, the visual of the photos are stunning and draws the reader to imagine their favorite author using the time to either get necessities for a meal, or in the cases of what is shown, an eye candy for the mind, and soul to rest, and perhaps find a break from writer's block.

The book would make an amazing display for the coffee table and a gift to both the lover of gardens and books. Perhaps a reminder to a writer who finds themselves working through writer's block, a spot of inspiration to move forward.

In an age of digital scrolling and instant photos, The Writer's Garden is a welcome respite for writing inspiration, and a reminder of how reconnecting with nature can be good for the soul.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion for the ARC via NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Writers Garden in exchange for an honest review and needed inspiration.

Stunning! This book is so wonderful in showing us where our beloved writers created their work. I especially love the section on Hemingway in Key West as a huge fan and a Florida resident!

What a fantastic and wide-ranging book. Showcasing gardens for from around the world, not only Europe, with a visual feast of photography. The book also offers a narrative about the writers and authors who lived in the properties and gardens. Having visited quite a few of these gardens it was a pleasure to revisit them today, and a pleasure to look at others I didn't know of.

This is a beautiful book of gardens of famous authors. I love that it uses commissioned photography and didn’t rely on stock images. The photos highlight the gardens and descriptions include information about the property and how long the author lived and what they wrote while there. There is a emphasis on England and American authors but others make the list as well. I also appreciate knowing that many of the places are open to the public. I’ve been to a few of the locations. Authors include: Beatrix Potter, George Sand, Edith Wharton, Louisa May Alcott, Ernest Hemingway, Leo Tolstoy, Roald Dahl, and many more. This seems to be a reprint from a book originally published in 2014. I’m not sure if has been changed or updated from the earlier edition.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion for the ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving a voluntary review.

This is a book of lovely full-page photographic images or multiple pics per page of gardens and homes of just under 30 authors, including Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Henry James, Jack London and more. Most of the gardens are apparently open to the public, so for lovers of books and gardens/gardening, this could add a nice layer to future travel plans. The author researched the authors and their homes/gardens, and includes much written historical context, which was very interesting. There is a nice index in the back to look up many historically relevant facts or names. I think this book would make a wonderful gift to fellow readers in your life. I'm thinking of getting it for some book club friends! 5-stars.

I see that this book was previously published in 2014, so this must be a new print, which is great news. Pub date 9/26/23. 240 pages.

Thank you, Quarto Publishing Group, and NetGalley, for providing an eARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

#netgalley @netgalley #thewritersgarden

'The Writer's Garden' is a beautiful collection of commissioned photography and archival images of homes and gardens that inspired famous novelists and poets. Each section contains photographs, blurbs about the life of the writers, insight into how their gardens and wild spaces inspired them and their writing, and archival information about what has happened to those spaces and their upkeep in present day. A great gift for fellow writers, gardeners, interior designers and nature-lovers in your life.
Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful book combining two of my favourite things, literature and gardening!
The photos are stunning filled with deep natural hues and lush landscapes. I loved getting a peak into the authors' hidden landscapes and secret worlds, but I would have liked to see a more diverse group of authors featured. In general, this book would make a great gift for a fellow reader/gardener and I plan to add a physical copy to my collection.