in the rhododendrons is a memoir that intertwines the life of heather christle with the lives of both her mother and virginia woolf. using various gardens and buildings throughout england, christle traces a path between major events that are mirrored in the lives of all 3 women.

i loved the deep dive into the mother-daughter relationship that is at the heart of the book. christle grapples with the tumultuous relationship they had when she was a teen and the precarious task of writing about the details of their bond without ruining the patched-over contact that they have today. this aspect of the book had the most emotional impact for me, thinking about all the misunderstandings and things left unsaid in any relationship.

there’s a lot of autobiographical content about virginia woolf in the book. it’s presented in such a way that i don’t think you need to be fully familiar with her work, but you do need to have an interest in her. sometimes the connections between christle and woolf felt a bit far fetched, but overall i think it was an interesting exploration of the complicated feelings we can have towards problematic authors.

i felt really engaged with this book in the beginning, flying through the first third in one sitting. christle’s voice is clear and entertaining while being informative. however, as life got a bit busy for me i found it difficult to immerse myself in the later sections of the book. i think i would’ve benefited from a more condensed reading experience as i got lost with the different people and places each time i returned to the book.

3.5 stars ⭐️

I highly recommend this book - and have already told friends to look out for it when it comes out. It's a beautifully written and deeply moving exploration of trauma, motherhood/daughterhood, and place refracted elegantly through the life and writing of Virginia Woolf. I was completely immersed in this book and captivated by Christle's prose. I also appreciated it as an example of "pandemic literature" (set at the height of COVID) that speaks to the "pandemic's disorientation" without making it the primary subject.