This book is in line with my current penchant for reading historical novels that have an element of family history and a mystery to solve. It was originally published in Australia in 2008 and was the author's second novel, the first being The House at Riverton .
This ambitious book has a complex storyline spanning at least three time periods and is about three generations of women linked to the wealthy Mountrachet family of Cornwall. Chronologically the story begins with a brother and sister, Linus and Georgiana Mountrachet, in the early 1900s and ends in 2005 with Cassandra, grand-daughter of the mysterious Nell, whose origins have been covered over by time.
The writer weaves her stories from three different time periods. In 1913 a four year old girl is found abandoned on an Australian harbourside after making the perilous journey from England. The harbour master takes her home and she is to become the first of a family of daughters that the man and his wife will have together - he names her Nell.
In 1975 Nell is an old lady having lived and married in Australia with a daughter and grand-daughter - but she decides to make that return trip to England to find the truth about her history. She has hazy memories of The Authoress who left her on the boat all those years ago and discovers that The Authoress' name was Eliza Makepeace, author of a book of fairy tales that is one of the young Nell's few possessions and who mysteriously disappeared in 1913.
In 2005 Nell's grand-daughter, Cassandra, is suprised to be left a Cornish cottage in Nell's will and she also makes a journey to England to unravel the mystery of Nell's origins and her own heritage.
Cassandra's search in 2005 parallels that made by Nell in 1975 and she uncovers more information including some already found by Nell. She meets people that remember Nell and eventually finds descendants of servants who worked at Blackhurst Manor, home of the Mountrachet family, who contribute the final thread of the mystery.
The garden of the title belongs to the cottage on the Estate which was purchased by Nell and inherited by Cassandra. Years previously Eliza Makepeace had lived there and Nell discovers that she was the daughter of Georgiana Mountrachet who had scandalously eloped with a sailor and had been living in poverty in London. Upon the death of her mother followed by that of her twin brother Eliza is found by a private detective and taken to Blackhurst Manor.
The garden and the maze which leads to it contribute two of the main themes of the story together with the tell tale red hair born by several members of the family. Other themes are the nature of twin-ship and sibling connections, the parallels between the fairy tales and real life, the Victorian code which involved blocking out that which was not to be seen and the ties of blood that prove stronger than anything else.
Recommended as a page turner that you will not be able to put down, once you have got to grips with the different generations and relationships.
