If you are a fan of the uncanny valley feeling, this is absolutely a book to pick up. Information is delivered at just about the perfect rate to keep the reader interested and the flashbacks are done very well. I know it would ruin some of the mystery of this novel, but I would absolutely read a less mysterious book set in the same world that actually explains what happened to the world or explores how others survived. As it stands, the relationship between Evelyn and Lily is so interesting and explores well the different responses two people can have to the same trauma. I've seen this book branded as horror, and I guess it is in certain ways, but it wasn't "don't read it at night" scary, it was "this is what could happen to someone's mind even without the speculative fiction setting" scary. This entire book existed in an odd liminal space in my brain and while I often felt like I wanted more to grasp on to, the story would not have been the same if it were written any other way.

Thank you to Netgalley and Putnam for my eARC to review.

This was a very interesting take on a dystopian tale. The story follows two elderly sisters as they navigate their simple life in what’s left of their parents’ home decades after some world-changing event. The chapters bounce from their present day (which is never made clear of the “when”) and memories since their childhood that they’ve held onto. As the story unfolds, we learn more about how their family and society coped in the years after the disaster in order to prioritize survival. I found the tale captivating because of how the author presented it, unraveling the history of the sisters over time. Overall, I enjoyed this story, and it really made me think about what could come of our world and how people may handle the new life they’re presented with differently from others. I was gifted an ARC of this book by NetGalley and the publisher and all reviews and thoughts are my own.

The Garden by Nick Newman is a weird and enticing dystopian novel set around these two old sisters living in their own version of paradise. I enjoyed reading about their rituals, strange behaviors, and the overpowering influence of their Mother. However, even with the flashbacks and breadcrumbs of information, I was ended the book feeling more confused than anything else. However, this could have been what the author intended. The prose was beautiful and I found myself reading more and more simply due to how well it was written, even if I needed more at the end.

A dystopian novels unlike the others. Two women who were raised to believe that the world has essentially ended save for what was in their garden. It shows the effect of undying and unconditional devotion and how those effects can be everlasting.

Two elderly sisters have lived for decades inside a walled-off garden. Evelyn and Lily haven’t been outside the walls since childhood and can barely remember what their lives were like before their solitary existence. They spend each day working, making sure that trees and plants are producing food for them to continue existing. They regularly consult an old almanac their mother left for them. They follow all the warnings and instructions their mother gave them before she died.

They don’t know anymore what exists beyond the wall. They know only it is scary and unlivable.

One day they find a boy hiding in their home, and it upends their lives. Evelyn and Lily react differently to him at different times, and their relationships with him radically change their relationship with each other. Even as they somewhat come to a new normal with him, they don’t stop worrying and wondering what will happen next. Where did he come from, and will others come after him? What does he want?

As each day brings more disquiet and disruption, the sisters have to face memories and some hard truths. And they will have to decide not just how to deal with the boy, but how they will move forward.

I kept thinking as I read The Garden that there would be some kind of grand reveal at the end, that a great mystery would be solved. But this is more a story about a closed system and how two humans who have lived in this controlled system for their entire lives deal with the change. It is an examination of human nature, a tale of survival, a peek into family dynamics through what often seems a dusty window. It can be a bit unsettling, and it doesn’t adhere to expectations. I’m still not entirely sure what I think about it, but it gives some good material for me to chew on.

haunting, beautiful, and immersive.
go in blind and allow the story to take you away!

thank you netgalley and author nick newman for giving me a chance to read!

This was a crazy book! Sort of speculative fiction but not really. Very character driven and oh what characters. I loved the portrayal of the main characters (sisters) and their very regimented existence. They seemed to be missing so much of life due to their lack of curiosity, plodding through their daily chores to survive but not much in the way of thriving. Along comes a boy and their world (and the reader's) is turned upside down. The memories that come flooding back shake up the routines and the sisters and the reader finally sees more of the the world in which they live. It was fascinating. I realize I'm making the book sound like it is anthropological study, but it really is an impressive piece of fiction that I highly recommend.

Dystopian fiction is not my jam, but hearing good things, I gave #thegarden by Nick Newman a go. It was enjoyable, mysterious and compelling. I will admit I might've given up, had it not been for the desire to find out how Evelyn and Lily came to live in a kitchen.

What I liked:
Some truly chilling moments, i.e. when "the boy" is discovered. I wasn't sure what he was at first. I appreciated how he quickly came between the two sisters and how fragile their psyches were, how feral, if we didn't realize it already.

What I did not like:
I wanted more! I needed to know how, why and when. We did get one answer but I needed so much more. For this reason, even though I appreciated the ending, I can only give 3 stars.

P.S. Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.

I absolutely loved this book. I love a book with only a few characters in one place. The building of the world, and the relationships emerging to us like a flower with what is going on. And I love them I always go into them a bit hesitant because when done wrong it is a mess but when done right it is glorious. And my dear friends, The Garden is done right. From the beginning you begin to see these characters and see that something is going on with them. It slowly unravels and it is done so beautifully and hauntingly mesmerizing . I read a NetGally copy of this and loved it so much.

In The Garden by Nick Newman, the author has created an atmospheric and dynamic story that delves into dark truths and a dystopian world. With a world that is disrupted, Evelyn and Lily must confront their changed world and the boy that has forced that conflict.
One of the aspects I enjoyed the most is the conflict between Evelyn and Lily, especially as Evelyn reflects on their past and how their world changed as the world became a post apocalyptic world. Nothing is ever revealed about the causes of the world being disrupted but that only makes the story more hypnotic and compelling. The atmosphere of the garden and the dynamic between the two sisters is what drives the narrative, until secrets are revealed and a choice between love or survival must be faced.
If you love atmospheric and dynamic stories, this is a richly compelling novel with complex characters that is about love and survival. It is wonderful but also tragic at times but the ending is gorgeous.

This was too slow and dull for me. It was quick to read but very uninteresting because there were so many unanswered questions and mundane details that could’ve been left out.

I'm not sure what I just read. There was no plot, this felt abysmally pointless. It started slow and I still decided to give it a chance but the mundane happenings of two old sisters wasn't doing it for me. I sped through the last 30% of the book. It ended as it began, meh. Thanks #NetGalley for the arc.

This one was weird.
I still don’t know what happened to make two elderly (I think?) women isolate on their little oasis. I wanted to know more about what was in the house, more about what happened outside, and more about their mother and her mental woes.
I kept reading in hopes I would get some of these answers, but really didn’t find them.

C/2.5 ⭐️

Two elderly sisters, Evelyn & Lily, live alone in an isolated home with a big garden. They have not left the walls of their home & as far as they know nothing else exist outside them. Until a young boy goes into their garden & changes their reality. I really enjoyed the story, but found it so heartbreaking. I loved the dynamics between the two sisters & seeing them face the changes in their lives.

An interesting take on a dystopian novel. Wasn’t quite sure what was happening half the time and kept going back and forth on whether our narrator was reliable or not. I did enjoy having the characters be older women. A decent change of pace in a horror/dystopian.

I enjoyed this dystopian fairy tale of two elderly sisters tending to a garden by themselves and the boy who arrives who turns their world apart. Newman tells a great tale, slowly peeling back this onion of a story with a few twists that bring the book to a satisfying conclusion.

Oh man! This book! I think by now you know that I'm a sucker for post apocalyptic, dystopian novels and the isolation angle is always a fun one!

Two elderly sisters rely on each other for their daily survival. Evelyn steadfastly follows Mama's almanac, a book which guides the girls through each season and how to tend to their garden to ensure they have enough food to live off of. Lily, the younger, is more whimsical, preferring to practice her dance routines or paint out in the gazebo, and cooks what Evelyn forages.

The house they live in is the very same one they grew up in, and was initially put to use as a group commune when things in the outside world first started going bad. Though, as things worsened, everyone packed up and headed out, leaving the sisters alone with Mama and Papa. Papa also eventually disappeared and that left the three. Mama, now crazed and in an effort to protect the girls, sealed the kitchen off from the rest of the house, claiming the rooms were all poisoned and filled with dangerous "man" things, and forbid them from exploring beyond the garden because there was nothing left outside their little haven but a barren wasteland.

After Mama's passing, the girls did the only thing they knew to do, which was maintain her strict rules to ensure their own safety. That is, until they discover a young boy who has broken through their garden wall claiming he is running from "others" and, you guessed it, this encounter shatters their entire world, flipping everything they were taught to believe right onto its head.

The Garden is wonderfully reminiscent of other post apocalyptic and isolation novels I've read (books like The Road, California, Whether Violent or Natural, The Water Cure, What Mother Won't Tell Me, These Silent Woods, all come to mind) where the characters appear to unravel almost as beautifully as their outside worlds do and where creative parenting plays a large role in just how fucked up the kids have become.

It's a deliciously slow burn with a couple of sick little twists thrown in towards the latter part of the book and it's an understatement to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it!

@putnambooks | #gifted Do you like beautifully bizarre books? If so, I’ve got a fantastic book for you: 🥀𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗘𝗡🌻 by Nick Newman. I didn’t know what to expect going into this one. I knew it was about two elderly sisters living in a secluded, walled off home surrounded by a large garden. I also knew that into their lives comes a teenage boy who both frightens and intrigues them. What I didn’t know is what a strange mash-up this story is. It’s definitely dystopian, slightly sci-fi, maybe a tad horror, quite literary, has mystery elements, and also a bit of a historical fiction vibe.⁣
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I realize that sounds like a crazy combination, but it worked 𝐒𝐎 well! From the very start I was fascinated by sisters Lily and Evelyn, who’d been living in the same country home for almost their entire lives, but why? They were still following their mother’s rules and directives decades after she’d died, but why? They feared the outside world, but why? The idea of a boy being on their property brought both terror and hope, but why? Rest assured everything was eventually revealed and the journey proved to be absolutely unforgettable.⁣
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𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯 is definitely one of the most original books I’ve ever read and I loved every moment of the reading experience. I don’t think this book will be for every reader, but for those who like something daring and a little out there, this is a book you 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 to read. Comparisons are difficult because this book is so unique, but it did remind me a bit of 𝘜𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 by Claire Fuller, another book I loved. When I initially finished 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯, I wasn’t quite sure where to rate it, but as time has gone on, I can’t get this story out of my head and that’s always a very good sign for me! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

The garden by Newman is a unique blend of dystopian/gothic fairy tale. Evelyn and lily are two elderly sisters who have lived alone, isolated from the world behind the walls of their garden. Evelyn and Lily have isolated themselves since an incident occurred as children and their mother kept them safe in the garden, Their safety is breached though when a child arrives in the garden—where did he come from and how did he enter the walls? His arrival starts to cause an unraveling of Evelyn and lilys sense of safety and details of their past and the garden slowly start to come to light as the world begins to break through the walls…

This is a unique read that has a sense of looming dread and claustrophobia throughout the tale. I enjoyed the unexpected dystopian elements that elevate it beyond a typical gothic story. This is a fast read and the tension builds through the pacing. An interesting and different read that will please readers of speculative fiction!

Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Two elderly sisters live within the confines of a walled garden, having forgotten what their lives were like before the garden, and not remembering what exists outside the walls. They tend the garden and the bees, keeping to their routines that have been written down in their mother's very-used almanac. Practical Evelyn seems to run the daily chores, but something seems a little off and childlike about Lily, who spends her time dressing up in her mother's decaying outfits and practicing dance in the gazebo. When the sisters discover signs that someone may have broken into their sanctuary, their lives and relationship to one another slowly changes. Slowly, the sisters begin to remember the past in snippets, as the outside world eventually comes crashing in to the garden.

Overall this book kept me engrossed, as I wanted to learn more about the mysterious circumstances of Evelyn and Lily. And of course, once the boy is discovered and their isolation and safety are threatened, I was on tenterhooks waiting to see what would be revealed. There were one or two elements that I was not expecting. My only gripe is that the ending seemed a little rushed after the languid opening and middle parts of the book. I suppose it makes sense that the beginning of the book was slowly revealed, just as Evelyn's memories were cloudy and hazy. Be that as it may, the ending was satisfactory, and made me want to go back and finish my read of Jo Walton's [book:My Real Children|18490637].

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an opportunity to read this book!