The Heirloom Garden - Viola Shipman

Written by Viola Shipman
Read by Nan McNamara, Lauren Ezzo
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Harlequin Audio
Release date: April 28, 2020
Duration: 11:27:29

In her inimitable style, Viola Shipman explores the unlikely relationship between two very different women brought together by the pain of war, but bonded by hope, purpose…and flowers

1944…Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to illness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind the towering fence surrounding her home, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to a garden filled with the heirloom starts that keep the memories of her loved ones alive.

2003…When Abby Peterson moves next door with her family—a husband traumatized by his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—Iris is reluctantly yet inevitably drawn into her boisterous neighbor’s life, where, united by loss and a love of flowers, she and Abby tentatively unearth their secrets, and help each other discover how much life they have yet to live.

When the fence dividing the neighbors’ property comes down in a storm, it is a pivotal turning point in all of their lives.

An abundance of floral prose (“The daisies remind you to be happy… And the roses… oh, the roses!—they prove that beauty is always present even amongst the thorns”) is offset by poignant descriptions of the characters’ inner struggles. Shipman’s tale successfully captures these women’s resilience and their hopeful desire for new beginnings.

The likable women and the engaging information on flowers will appeal to readers of Rhys Bowen’s The Victory Garden (2019) and fans of Mary Alice Monroe and Lorna Landvik…. Booklist, 2020, American Library Association