I don’t usually go for dystopian books, but The Garden totally caught me off guard. I picked it up because of the cover, barely skimmed the synopsis, and just dove in—which, honestly, made it even more of a ride.

It’s about two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, who have spent their entire lives in this old, crumbling house—but only in the kitchen and garden. They never go beyond the wall, just sticking to the routines their late mother left behind in her almanac. Something awful has happened to the world outside—there are massive storms, everything is covered in dust, and it’s just… not safe. But then a boy suddenly shows up in their garden, and everything starts to unravel.

The whole book has this eerie, claustrophobic vibe, and I could practically feel the dust in the air and hear the creaks of the house. It reminded me a little of Flowers in the Attic but with a dystopian twist. The relationship between the sisters is super complicated—sometimes sweet, sometimes frustrating, but always so interesting.

It does start out slow, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at first, but once I hit a certain point, I was in. And while I usually like clear answers, this one leaves a lot up in the air. Strangely enough, I didn’t mind. The mystery and weirdness of it all just worked.

It’s unsettling, kind of sad, and definitely unique. If you like slow, atmospheric books that make you think (and maybe frustrate you a little), I’d say give it a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam

The prose was lyrical but I didn’t understand the story. I kept waiting for an explanation as to what was happening.

The garden is all elderly sisters Evelyn and Lily remember. The time before the garden is lost to them, and the world outside is now a mystery. Their mother grew the garden when they were children and taught the girls how to tend to it and keep their family estate entirely self-sufficient. She also taught them that there was nothing but waste, ruin, and danger lie outside the walls. One day, a nameless boy appears in their garden, challenging everything they thought they knew about the world.

One thing I loved about this book was the absolutely jarring switch from cozy to spooky that we took. We began with cozy world building and tending to the garden and pivoted to hearing things, seeing things, and flinching at bumps in the night (ok the last part was maybe just me). I loved unraveling the mysteries of the past, the garden, the sisters, and the boy. I loved how creeped out I was. I also really appreciated the unique point of view this book took. In a typical post-apocalyptic story, we would be hearing from the boy. Hearing from the sisters was a fresh and fun take (I'm not elaborating more for spoilers sake)

The ending of this book stuck with me in ways that were both good and bad. I love that it made me think and I love the bits of closure that we got. I just wish we had more answers about the incident and the world and how society is functioning. I get that this is simply not the point of the book, but I am SO into what Newman has created with this novel. I want more!!

I recommend this for people who like post-apocalyptic media (looking at you, doomsday preppers) and beginner horror readers like myself!

Inter story of two elderly sisters living in an isolated house somewhere in the near future.
Having no contact with the outside world their lives are upended when a young boy
enters their world. With a growing sense of dread the story plays out to its surprise
conclusion.

This is a rare gem of a book, so eloquently written. I do not like dystopian fiction but this book - it's so lyrical it almost sings. The story is odd - two elderly women, Evelyn and Lily, sisters, live together and tend a garden for their sustenance. Their father left long ago, their mother has passed away and is buried in the garden, and for some reason the sisters limit their life to the kitchen. The house, it seems, is quite large. A boy appears and while they are frightened, Evelyn recognizes that he needs care and attention, and the addition of this boy changes the progression of their lives. As the story continues and their early lives are slowly revealed, we learn more of how this situation evolved. I think the ending, as in all dystopian futures it seems (how can it be otherwise?), is sad but the book is solid.

This ARC was provided by NetGalley and the publisher, the opinions expressed herein are strictly my own.

The story begins close to the end, as these two sisters have grown old together in a world that we'll see as they play out the story of their lives. Living in isolation with only each other as comapny, they feel safe from the outside world, yet unsure what will become of them should they look beyond the garden wall. Nick Newman builds the world around them as he slowly defines the sisters themselves. Then a third person joins them, bringing the sister's fears and hopes to an ending you'll not see around the corner.
This is an original plot with the sisters taking on the answers to the question so many have asked.....what would happen if........

The Garden is about two elderly sisters and their effort to survive some sort of climate disaster by cultivating and stewarding a garden their mother had left them at their childhood home. Their mundane everyday lives are disrupted when they discover they may not be alone on the property.

The Garden is labeled as sff. However, there are very few sff aspects to the story, which was a major disappointment. We found the first half to be quite engaging as we get to know more about the sisters, their situation, and their past. At times, it almost read like a cozy fantasy story (minus the fantasy)...almost. The slice of life bits were cozy. The latter half of the story became a bit jumbled and harder to suspend our disbelief to remain immersed in the story.

Enough with the negatives. The positives. The writing itself was pretty good. The story read more like literary fiction with a dash of horror towards the end. There were a lot of writing devices used throughout - the sisters were foils for each other, the use of mood, diction, flashbacks, foreshadowing, and in media res. The words read better than the story at times. Overall interesting exploration of the themes of generational trauma and adapting to change.

For more thoughts, check out our podcast episode: https://spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/77bbtKKp6Qb

2.5 Stars

I had really high hopes for this one, as I haven’t read a great dystopian thriller in a while. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. The premise was intriguing—two elderly sisters isolated in a mysterious garden, their lives disrupted by a strange boy—but the execution fell flat.

I wouldn’t classify this as a thriller or horror as many have. The tension felt dull, and the pacing dragged where it should have built momentum. There were so many missed opportunities to expand on the why behind the sisters’ existence and the world outside. Instead of revelations, I was left with more questions and little resolution.

The writing was atmospheric, and the setting had an eerie, dreamlike quality. But without clear answers or a gripping plot, it felt hollow. If you enjoy ambiguous, slow-burn literary fiction, you might get more out of this than I did. But if you’re looking for a compelling dystopian thriller, this one may disappoint.

Thank you, NetGalley & G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Garden by Nick Newman is a great dystopian tale.
The characters are solid and engaging.
A mysterious and thought-provoking story that kept me glued to my Kindle.

Post-apocalyptic stories have enjoyed a long popularity, likely in part due to a world that refuses to return to any semblance of "precedented times." I know I've thought about the possibility that everything goes to hell. How long could I last on just what I could grow and preserve on my own? (Answer: not long.) But these stories often center the first few years after an event. The Garden, the adult debut from Nick Newman, instead explores what happens when self-sustenance and isolation last for a lifetime.

Evelyn and Lily live small lives: Evelyn tends to the vegetables and bees, while Lily does the cooking, and the two elderly sisters ramble around the part of their childhood home they've confined themselves to since they were young. But amid Lily's continued practicing of the dance routine she's been working on for decades and Evelyn recites the one book they have for the nth time, Evelyn also starts noticing little oddities: a beehive out of place, a shadow she can't explain, food missing from the kitchen.

The culprit is a teenage boy who has slipped through a hole in the wall that has protected the garden and the house within since the world went to hell. Evelyn can't bear the thought of him starving and being hurt, while Lily wants to do away with him immediately. Both fear that his presence is only the first of the dangers that might finally come to their door. As the newness of the boy's presence wears off, Evelyn's fear only grows, while Lily seems to have lost hers—even of the things the sisters have been avoiding from the start. Suddenly, it's not just their safety at risk, it's their relationship, and their entire little world.

We get few details about the world or what happened to it, other than things are very, very bad. In flashbacks to the beginning of the end, there are glimpses of supply and provision shortages; the girls' mother and father argue about whether to stay or go from the estate, and whether to wall themselves in or leave in search of safer ground; a small group of looters arrive when it's just the girls and their mother in the house, demanding everything they have and more—or else. Evelyn is just a few years older than Lily, but it's enough to give her a fuller picture of what their mother was trying to shield them from while Lily's understanding is limited to vague threats of monsters beyond the garden's walls. And that discrepancy in how much each understands of the world outside affects how she perceives the new 

One of the most interesting aspects of The Garden is how overgrown the childhood relationship between the sisters has become over the years. They're both now old enough to know they should be watching for early signs of dementia in the other, but their dynamic has remained unchanged over their lifetimes, as if the lack of outside influences prevented them from growing up, too. Lilly still defers to Evelyn, even while complaining about how Evelyn is bossy and always in charge. They both defer to their mother, though she doesn't talk back much from her grave, and it's clear that even the garden has outgrown her guidance. Decades of love, history, resentment, and childlike obedience that should have expired a lifetime ago make for a potent stew for these sisters to sup.

In many ways, The Garden is as much about the testing, and mending, of that sisterly relationship as anything else. The apocalypse is merely a reason for their cloistering, and the reckoning they face with each other—and how and why they've spent their lives within these walls.

This book is like Grey Gardens but with sisters and set in a dystopian world. The sisters are just as strange and delightful as you want them to be, and yet there's so much heart and the author makes them so dimensional, you can't help but fall in love with them. I was able to relate to both women in such deep ways, it really touched me. With Evelyn, I felt connected to the caregiver and eldest sister--the one who has to listen and "be good" and put others first. With Lily, I saw the child-at-heart, artistic lunatic who's so much smarter and more intuitive than at first glance.

I will avoid any potential spoilers, so I'll just say that this book is about family, and the ending broke my heart in the best way possible. I loved it. Bring on the strange stories that will unexpectedly make you cry.

The Garden is a dystopian story of two sisters living in an old house with no communication to the outside world; they aren't even sure if there is any "world" out there anymore, as they won't even look over the wall of the garden. The setting is their childhood home, old and run down now, in an unknown time and an unnamed place. When they were younger their mother set up the large estate to be self-sustaining - they grow all their own food, get their water from a spring on the property, etc. The sisters, Evelyn and Lily, are old now and their parents are gone. Their Mother has died and they were told that their father left. The mother basically brainwashed them when they were children to believe all men are evil and nothing (at least nothing good) exists beyond the walls of their garden. So they live, day after day, year after year, tending their garden to just survive.
Then one day a stranger shows up, a young boy has breached their wall and come into their lives; they can no longer pretend that no one else exists, they now know their is a world out there with other people and other possibilities.
Bonds are tested, new bonds are formed, and survival is key as other find the garden and try to take them away.
It was an interesting story, a little slow at times, but I enjoyed it enough and wanted to keep reading to figure out what was going on and what was going to happen. Nothing spectacular, but definitely not bad. A solid average 3 stars.

This was so much better than I had anticipated. We follow two elderly sisters who are isolated in a dilapidated estate where they have sequestered themselves to the kitchen and the garden in a haunting dystopian future. I will say if you enjoy books like Pink Slime by Fernanda Trias, Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer or other weird environmental dystopian fiction then check this one out. The writing is fantastic as well as the pacing. I will say sometimes books like this can drag but fortunately this one held my attention and didn’t let me go until it was over. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. Thank you to the publisher and NetGally for the advice copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was a bit slow to start for me but once I got there I was so consumed by the story. The sisters relationship and the mystery of what was going on was so interesting. This is my kind of dystopia. So intriguing.

Two elderly sisters live an isolated life caring for the lush garden on their family property. But earth is not as we know it, life is harder, and survival is the key. But an unexpected visitor turns the routine life these sisters have upside down. Will their garden continue on, or will everything come undone around them?

This novel has a very literary fiction take on the science-fiction dystopian genre. The author writes with an incredibly detailed, descriptive way that clearly illustrates the main characters personalities and interventions, and these two old sisters are like cats and dogs together! While told from a single point of view from the oldest sister, flash backs are frequently featured to lead you to minor but important details as the story unfolds.

The story overall has a slow pace, and focuses heavily on the characters rather than the world or the circumstances in it. You are left with many unanswered questions regarding the dystopian nature of earth including what happened or when. The focus is less on the what and more on the how after, how this family and namely these two sisters survive, and how they manage life without anyone else around.

While this novel is not one I would read again, I can see fans of literary fiction, of Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, or other slow paced novels being quite the fan of this. I give this book 3 stars as I finished and I was intrigued, I just did not feel myself pulled in or in love to give it a 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam, and GP Putnam and Sons for the opportunity to read this ARC.

My thanks for the ARC goes to NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons. I'm voluntarily leaving a review, and all opinions are my own.

Genre: Psychological Horror, Literary Horror, Fantasy, Dystopian, Suspense, Dark Fantasy
Language: Salted with some language (mostly British)

THE GARDEN is eerie and twists with questions and mysteries, many of which are unanswerable but are hinted at and open for the readers' interpretation.

I think Piranesi or The Yellow Wallpaper are good comparable titles for this book.

There are basically five characters: the sisters, the memory of their parents, and the boy (who never gains a proper name.) After I started reading, I went back to the description because I was even questioning the age of the two main characters. Yes, they are elderly women. I kept wondering which sister was losing her mind like their mother . . . you'll have to decide on what you think.

What are we supposed to gain from this book? I think it points to a sense of community vs isolation and humanity vs monstrosity. It's thought provoking. This book isn't for everyone. I think you have to enjoy books that are obtuse and open for some interpretation. Now, I happened to enjoy it immensely. I also asked myself how the book would have changed if the boy was given a proper name. I pinpointed him as a symbol for innocence, childhood, a burden, a reliever of burdens, and a moral barometer, Again . . . you'll have to see what you think.

Happy (creepy) reading!

Sisters Evelyn and Lily have only eachother. When they were still young, something terrible happened outside the walls of their family estate and their mother decided it was safer to stay away from the rest of the world. It has been decades since the sisters have seen another human. When things begin to move and the garden wall that has kept them safe appears to be damaged, Evelyn isn’t sure if her mind is slipping or if something else lurks in the garden. When the sisters discover a frail and starving boy, everything they thought they knew about the outside world is called into question.

I knew I would love The Garden as soon as I started reading. It’s a bit of a quieter, slow-paced novel that’s part dystopian and almost part gothic in a way. The book I kept thinking about while reading this was We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, which is a favorite classic of mine. The relationship between Evelyn and Lily just felt so authentic and each of the sisters has such a unique personality, despite being trapped together for so long. In the Garden, we don’t really learn the extent of what has survived outside the garden walls and I liked the ambiguity of it. As the story progresses and you learn more from the flashbacks throughout it really makes you question what lives the sisters could have lived if they’d dared to venture out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam for a review copy.

This was a strange and unusual book. It had a dystopian feel to it, but given how much info was kept from the reader, it's hard to say whether it's truly dystopian or not. I might also classify it as a gothic mystery.
But the best way I can describe this is that it reads like an M. Night Shyamalan movie. I continually got vibes that reminded me of The Village movie (which I love). The difference is, this book never really answered the questions that built up as I continued reading, and there was no real "payoff" at the end.
It was a pretty quick read. The storyline flowed well, and I found it really hard to put down. However, part of the reason it was hard to put down was because I wanted to find out the truth behind the lives of the two sisters in this book. The timeline goes back and forth, giving the reader little snippets of their childhood (in the book it's implied that they are elderly, though we're never given an exact age for either of them), and I thought that as it continued and as I kept learning more about their childhood, that certain explanations would reveal themselves. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.
Another character was introduced partway through the story, also with a cryptic backstory. Once again, as little things would reveal themselves, I expected a further explanation of that character's backstory. Once again, it was never provided. There were certain scenes or things that were mentioned that made me feel as if I was supposed to infer what was meant by them, but it was never enough information for me to make any sort of conclusion.
When I got to the end and was still left with so many questions, I honestly felt a bit frustrated. Books that are left open-ended can be hit or miss for me. But when they are done well, I love them and actually appreciate the author's choice to leave them that way. But in the case of this book, there were questions mounting up as I continued reading, and I found it frustrating that none of them were answered. Fine if you want to leave the ending up to interpretation or to allow me to form my own opinion about what happened, but it really would've been nice to have answers to some of the questions that built up throughout the book. To be left confused about multiple things means there was no satisfaction or payoff at the end for me as a reader. It makes me wonder what the point was of the book I just read.
On the positive side, the book was very atmospheric and I liked the overall premise of it. I loved the mystery of it, the creepy factor, and even the plot. I just think too many things went unanswered. Why give me snippets to sort of explain aspects of the story, but also create so many new questions?
If this book had at least answered some of the questions that came up for me, I would absolutely have rated it higher. I really liked the writing and was totally sucked in to this book. I enjoyed the experience of reading it until I got to the end and realized none of my questions would be answered. I'm honestly surprised how many people are giving it 5-star reviews and are totally satisfied with what they've read. So perhaps several things did just go over my head - perhaps the answers were within its pages and I just didn't get it. It could just be a me thing.

I would say that if you are someone who enjoys or doesn't mind open-ended books, definitely read this one. On the other hand, if an open-ending frustrates you, this book will drive you mad.

Thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Garden was weird and interesting until it wasn't.

In an unnamed near future, Evelyn and Lily, two elderly sisters, live in a walled garden and sleep in the kitchen — just about the only part of the main house that isn't closed off. Isolated from the outside world, their lives head off in a new trajectory, forcing truths and untruths to the surface for examination and contemplation, when a boy is found trespassing on their property.

What started out with a delightfully slip-sliding familiarity (at first it felt part We Have Always Lived in the Castle and part Grey Gardens), slowly descended into only actually playing around with weirdness — teasing with flashbacks that proved unnecessary, never fully serving or bolstering the main story's progress. Either this endeavor should've been shorter or more (not longer, per se), because this felt either overcooked or under-seasoned.

This was a good mystery/ thriller. I love the descriptions of the place..it was a unique dystopian tale. A lot different than most of the dystopian tales I have read. I liked the sisters a lot. Will definitely recommend this one.