The Garden follows two elderly sisters who are cut off from the world. They spend their days tending to their garden and living in the kitchen of their family home. All that matters to them is the here and now, their daily tasks, and each other. One day, a boy appears on the property and after so many years of solitude, the sisters are simultaneously frightened and intrigued.

While I can imagine some readers would be frustrated by the ambiguity of the setting, I feel it allows the reader to truly immerse themselves in the fear our main characters face throughout the story. Evelyn and Lily are so confused, and possibly misinformed, about the nature of the outside world, and not knowing time and place as a reader prevents us from being able to comfortably root ourselves in the narrative, creating an immersive story in which readers are just as bereft as our main characters. 

Highlights:
- dystopian
- vivid imagery
- grief and loss
- family conflict
- character-driven

‘The Garden’ is a haunting dystopian story about two elderly sisters who live in the kitchen of their family’s abandoned mansion and are diligently tending to their garden by meticulously following their late mother’s handwritten almanac. The garden is surrounded by a wall, and the sisters don’t know what, and even if, there is something or somebody beyond it. The rest of the house is boarded up, and they are not allowed to access it but don’t really know why. ‘’It’s full of men’s things’ their mother had told them before she died.
They are quite an eccentric pair, very different in character but are also perfect for each other. Lily is the mischievous one, an adventurous dreamer and artist at heart, while Evelyn is the obedient, dutiful and serious sister who always goes by the rules. Day after day, they go about their chores in perfect harmony but they both also keep their secrets from each other. The unexpected arrival of a stranger changes their routine and ultimately their lives.
The writing is stunning and so atmospheric. I loved the short chapters and was hooked from the very beginning. Short flashbacks describe the sisters’ childhood and what had happened to them and their world what must have been a very long time ago. Make no mistake, even though the book title and first few chapters are rather idyllic, this really is a dark, sad and psychological story with some gruesome scenes. I really liked and enjoyed reading it. I had mixed feelings toward each sister but was intrigued by the dynamics and development of their characters.
Ultimately the garden is a metaphor for their lives and world as they knew it, something they are desperately trying to hold onto at all cost.
I’d like to thank Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam/G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Mr Nick Newman for the opportunity to read the advance copy. I truly enjoyed it, and the above is my honest review and own opinion. The book will be published on 2/18/2025. I will be looking for more from this author.

I don’t know why or where or how or when. The thing about this plot is it will keep you reading to find out what happened but you may or may not get the answers you seek. A dystopian ish setting with two sisters surviving on their garden when an unwanted visitor turns things upside down.

This was a really interesting read.. the best way I can think to describe it is “dark cottagecore”. I somehow really wanted to visit this enchanting garden and crumbling estate, while at the same time I was filled with a sense of dread on what the girls endured. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

The Garden was a different type of dystopian book. This unique story is about two sisters who live their entire lives alone, after some cataclysmic event, holed up in one room in their house, and tending to their garden. When a boy shows up at their home, it throws a wrench in their entire belief system and existence.

There isn’t much action in this book, it delves more into the mental and emotional effects on the sisters after the event. I found the sisters to be very juvenile, never fully growing up since they were on their own for so long. This made for such a sad and haunting tale. The narrative was beautifully told, and the world building of the garden and home done nicely. Overall, this dystopian book, while uneventful and with little action, was a great a read and really tugs at the heartstrings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Putnam Books for the advanced copy of this book.

When I started this, I wasn’t sure of the sisters age nor in what period they lived. Nick Newman has written an atmospheric and gothic story that is thought provoking and tragic. Evelyn and Lily live in one room of what was once an English manor house. A cataclysmic event took place which isolated them and instilled a fear of outside intruders.

Surrounded by a walled garden the sisters have lived in the house all their lives. Their father left years before; their strong willed mother who stayed wrote an Almanac of instructions on the care of the bees and plants in the garden. Evelyn pays close attention to the instructions left regarding the garden which is their source of food. She is content with their solitary but Lily is curious about what lies beyond the walls.

Their world is upended when they find a young boy hiding in their house. His presence causes friction, jealousy and mistrust between the sisters. Who is he and from where did he come. The sisters react in different ways which threaten their existence.

The ending was tragic and left me bereft. The life they led comes to an abrupt end. A good story which is well written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld Books for the advance review copy.

Thank you Netgalley for this early arc of The Garden. I really enjoyed this one and I would highly recommend reading it. I rated this book a 4.5 stars.

I finished reading The Garden by Nick Newman. It took a few days to read this book. I read it through to the end because I was curious to know not only how it ended, but how that might explain the beginning. This dystopian tale was lost on me. I really had no idea what to make of it except to think it was gruesome. The story tells of two "old" women living alone in a mansion sized home, but only utilizing the kitchen and therefore closing off the remainder of the house. By closing up all the floors and all the rooms, they close themselves off to civilization. Therefore becoming very uncivilized. I leave the rest of the story here.

A haunting dystopian of two elderly sisters living alone and off of their garden. We don’t know what happened but there is a post apocalyptic feel. We get flashbacks of when they were younger girls with their mama and papa leading up to where they are today. They are alone behind their wall until a boy gets in. Who is he? What else is out there? And where did he come from?
I left the book feeling more confused and wanting more. But I feel that could just part of this thought provoking story.
A slow burn, atmospheric, beautifully written, dystopian novel.

I was so intrigued by the description of this book and I confess, it was so hard to put down... but after finishing it I am left with a very uneasy feelings about the book. I believe this is exactly what the author intended though... so well done, Mr. Newman!

There are three main characters in this book... Evelyn and Lily - two elderly spinster sisters and "The Boy" whose name we never learn. Evelyn and Lily live in the home they have lived in all their lives... a walled estate at a time that is never revealed. Mysterious... yes, perfectly so. Evelyn and Lily have secluded themselves not only to the walled estate, but they live in one room... having "walled off the remainder of the house.

Just when I wondered where the story was going, The Boy shows up after the sisters discover a breach in their wall.

There is lots of talk about monsters and men... with twists that I did not see coming and I am left wondering who exactly was the monster.

I highly recommend this fast-paced story!

I would like to thank Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons for the digital copy of this book It will be published February 18, 2025.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC!

What a bizarre, magical book. The first thing I noticed about this book was the cover - just stunning!
The writing kept me on the edge of my seat, even when there were moments that I didn't fully understand. Newman created such a unique apocalyptic world, and a remarkable amount of depth with such a sparse amount of characters.
Immediately after I finished, I thought I was kind of disappointed that not all of my questions were answered. But the longer I've been sitting with it, the more and more I appreciate that Newman included only what he did. It's absolutely enough. And I know I'll be thinking about this book for a long time to come.

This dystopian story was captivating for the 1st half, but somewhere about 3/4 of the way through it kinda fizzled. I had to know how it ended. However, that was a complete disappointment. There are too many loose ends & unexplained things. I would have appreciated if there were more that had been fleshed out about the occurances outside the wall along with the characters that popped in towards the end. Maybe if there is a 2nd book that ties into this one.... by itself though it felt unfinished & lacking.

This is my unbiased, honest review. Thank you to NetGalley & G. P. Putnam's Sons for an ARC.

This novel presents a unique take on the post-apocalyptic genre, focusing on the intimate relationship between two sisters who are literally all each other have left after some unknown disaster wipes out the world. And their garden, a fragile oasis, is all that remains of a life once lived. The story is a thought-provoking exploration of the psychological effects of trauma and isolation. The women's behavior, though seemingly eccentric, is skillfully revealed to be a symptom of a far more complex and sinister reality.

The narrative's slow burn and deliberate withholding of information regarding the disaster may test some readers' patience. However, this ambiguity also encourages an active reading experience, as the reader is compelled to infer and speculate about the sisters' past. While this approach may not appeal to all readers, it undoubtedly adds a layer of complexity to the narrative. I'll give it 3.5 stars... Would I recommend it? Yeah, if you're in the mood for something different.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an early ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A very unsettling read. Creepy and out of time. Satisfying ending which is rare these days. Not for the faint of heart in the current state of the world I suppose.

Two elderly sisters live in a walled off compound in a walled off home, once grand, but now reduced to a single room for reasons unknown. Where? We never know. They have been alone since the death or their mother, after her father's disappearance. The isolation is self-imposed, after some sort of apocalyptic event. Within the compound is an Eden-esque garden that sustains them. Each day of each passing year, they toil according to the instructions painstakingly recorded by their mother to care for the garden. The sisters do not live in perfect harmony - one being the free child, and the other the nurturing parent. Their equilibrium is upset when another stranger enters their world.

The cover is beautiful, the title simple - I just had to request a review copy from NetGalley, thank you! I stayed up past my bedtime to finish it on more than one night. The basic plot, a stranger disrupting the equilibrium of an environment, is hardly unique, but this is not cliched. The present time story is interrupted by memories, now fading, of their childhood and the early stages of the "after" life. I felt for Evelyn and Lily, but identified more with Evelyn as the sister cum parent. It was interesting how undeveloped the details of the apocalyptic event were, we only know what the sisters know, which is very little.

The book could have ended around the tragic plot point, but it did not. I'm grateful for the author's choice in this, I prefer to avoid that pain in the hollow of my chest at the end of some books.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. It felt like a dreamlike story, a haunting dystopian tale, with a little bit of horror thrown in. It brought forth so many questions and left me with so many more by the end.

The story follows two elderly sisters living together on their family estate, tending their garden surviving day-to-day with only their memories and each other to keep them company. The story is told from the present as well as flashbacks into the past, where everything slowly starts to unfold. One day, a mysterious young boy find his way into their Garden leaving them to question everything they knew. At what lengths will someone go to survive when their world is turned upside down?

I enjoyed the story even though it was slow in places. The ending however, left me wanting more.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 Stars...This book is a very slow burn and is for readers who enjoy minimalisticly haunting storytelling. There's not a lot of action in this story, and a lot of information is never given, such as the year, location, ages, and names. It's all very vague. Some people dig that sort of thing.

I do not.

I kept reading in hopes of finding out a little more about what happened to the world outside Lily and Evelyn's garden, but we're never told. The day-to-day upkeep of the garden and the slow revelation of what happened to the family just wasn't enough to keep me super interested.

Overall, while this wasn't for me, I do think there are a lot of readers out there who will enjoy this. Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC.

I’m sorry, but this book just wasn’t for me. I was extremely bored and thought it was very strange. Just not my cup of tea.

For years, sisters Lily and Evelyn have only known the confines of their garden home. After a dust storm buried everything, the sisters and their mother surrounded themselves behind walls where they lived an isolated life, growing their own garden, and surviving on their own. To them, the outside world is gone. Decades later, when Evelyn starts to notice everyday items not where she left them and food missing from their pantry, she starts questioning if they really are alone.



This was a very strange book. Told in present day as well as in the past when the sisters were preteens, we slowly get a glimpse of what happened. I say “glimpse” because this is one of those books that does not fully reveal what happened before or after the storm. We are not told much about what happened to all the other people, or why these violent dust storms keep happening. The past is very murky, with the limited view from Evelyn as she experiences things from the lens of a child. We can only guess what is going on. Despite the vague explanations, I did enjoy this story. It allows readers to formulate their own opinions. While this was not an action packed story, it was engaging and dropped little nuggets of surprise as we learn how the sisters have survived so long in isolation.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for providing this book, with my honest review below.

The Garden has an intriguing premise that leads to an even more intriguing story. Set in England after an unknown disaster - perhaps the slow poisoning of climate change or a more deliberate one - that brings debilitating dust storms and previously destroyed the land with heat, not many people seem to be around everyone. The exception for the reader is sisters Lily and Evelyn, who seem to have grown to an old age unthinkingly on auto pilot in the day to day tasks of survival. Both sisters hold a host of secrets from each other, and when a young boy ends up in their garden and home those secrets begin to creep out - but what do they mean, and will the boy be another secret that nourishes the garden and their livelihood, or the destruction of it?

Much of the novel is a mystery as to what occurred and what’s happening outside of the garden’s walls, since the women are terrified to leave and reference their dead mother as if she’s a vengeful more than nourishing god in their world, she who instilled the fear of the outside and devotion to their land in them. Surely their odd behavior and Evelyn’s fractured memories of her family at the turn of the disaster carry some significance to why the women have isolated themselves, but to understand why and just what depths these women have descended a reader must fully cocoon themselves in this world which is eerie and not a little scary.

While there isn’t a full resolution, the last few chapters bring twists and realizations that ramp up the tension of what was read before even more. A guarantee - you will be thinking about this long after you’re done reading.