This book was unsure what he was trying to do and what genre it was.
It lacked a distinct storyline.
However it had beautiful writing.

An enjoyable and thought provoking read about a young couple’s move to the country. Not only are they adjusting to country life, but they are also getting to terms with Sam’s recovery from cancer, which has left them unable to have children, Dan’s almost obsessive unwillingness to adapt to change and their seeming inability to talk to each other about their feelings. Sam befriends Diana, a local eccentric who lives in a caravan at the edge of the woods and a bond forms between them. Both women have a dual identity - one which they use to present an image of themselves to the world, in Sam’s case through social media and another, which is the real them that they try to keep hidden and private. A book which presents a lot more than first meets the eye.

Heart wrenching story and some of it felt very familiar in respect of struggling to conceive and the heartache it can cause for all. Loved the concept of getting lost in the garden giving them a new focus. Real story of life and the ups and downs it can bring. Lovely story

A beautifully crafted book. Highs and lows, full of life, nature and the hope and promise of new life. Emotive, enlightening and heart wrenching. A book for the soul.

I read this for a blog tour.

A mediation on growth, fear, letting go of the past and nature, this novel features two women, Sam and Diana, both wrestling with letting go of who they were and embracing who they are now.

As well as their growth, there is literal growth as Sam turns her neat lawn into a wild flower meadow and Diana, who lives in the woods, records in her notebooks the growth of the woodland plants and her own planting.

Sam has had a difficult time dealing with cancer and the loss of her ability to have children, moving house to leave some things behind her, her husband Danny, who struggles with a number of phobias and fictional allergies, also needs to change and grow.

All three characters find that their proximity to nature alters them and helps them move forward.

I first met author Seni Glaister at a publishing event for HQ Stories. She was lovely to chat to, warm and interesting and I was intrigued to read what was then her latest novel, Mr Doubler Begins Again. It was such an enjoyable novel and I immediately fell in love with Seni’s writing and the characters she brings so gloriously to life. How thrilled was I then to have the opportunity to read her latest offering, Growing Season. But surely I couldn’t love it as much as Mr Doubler? Oh, but I do. It’s wonderful and merely confirms what I felt back then, that Seni knows how to capture the very essense of what it means to be human.

Sam and Danny have been through a tough time but they still have each other. Yet, as quite often happens, communication seems to have broken down between them and they both appear to be walking on eggshells around each. Sam is recovering after a serious illness, one that left her wombless but alive. The toughest part is the reaction of family, friends and colleagues who don’t quite know how to cope with the fact that she can no longer have children. Society does, after all, expect married couples to have children (and at least two!). Sam is angry at peoples expectations and the fact they are unable to see past her loss. She does not share her anger or her pain with Danny but through a blog under a pseudonym. Here she lets rip but is left feeling guilty and ashamed of the controversial opinons she share with her followers.

When they move to the country she plans to leave her blog behind her, trying desperately to repair what is broken inside without the need to write her anger for all to see. For the first time she has a garden of her own and she plans to attempt to soothe her battered soul by nuturing her garden. Yet soon after she arrives she discovers that the stigma associated with being unable to have children is never far away and she begins to turn back to her blog for a form of release.

Away from the city she begins to lose herself in country life but in a small village it seems even easier to stand out from the crowd. Sam finds solace walking in the woods and there meets Diane (reported to be a witch by small minded villagers). As she gets to know her she realises the two women have a great deal in common and they begin an unlikely friendship. But as Sam gets closer to finding her path to healing, her relationship with Danny seems to be drifting further away. Will they be able to find their way back to each other and the unknown future now ahead of them?

This was such an uplifting read. Seni has this wonderful ability to capture a character and bring them and their many complexities to life. She touches on everyday situations and highlights the ‘ordinary’, finding the magic that is there bubbling beneath the surface. During a time when many of us have had the time to pause and question how we spend our time, Seni has hit the nail right on the head. In a world that now feels strange and unprecedented, it is good to be reminded to stop and look around us, at our lives and the world we live in. There are metaphors aplenty within this tale. Seni is full of wisdom and through her characters I feel that she is encouraging us to live our very best of lives, right here and now.

Five stars from me and thoroughly recommended.

I thought this was a beautiful story following a married couple escaping the city, coming to terms with life saving surgery and dealing with the loss of a family member.

Whilst the descriptions of nature were lovely, this book wasn't about this alone. It was about also about fresh starts, friendship and self growth.

This is an incredibly slow read. As Sam and Danny’s story unfolds you learn of the trauma they’ve had to endure and as part of their recovery they’ve fled London and up-sticks to the countryside. They’re keeping secrets from each other. Sam also has to endure well-meaning (interfering) neighbours. They’re not coping. And then there’s the stories about a witch that lives in their neighbouring wood. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect with any of the characters in this story and there was nothing to pull me in.

This is a beautiful story. It follows Danny and Sam, a young married couple who have escaped the ratrace of the big city and have set up home in the countryside.

Sam has had life saving surgery and is coming to terms with how her life is going to be and Danny is dealing with the loss of his father and the trauma his wife had to go through.

Sam meets Diana who lives in the woods behind her house and the two become firm friends, with Diana showing Sam how she leads a more simpler life.

As Sam puts Diana's lessons into practice she finds ways to deal with her demons and talk to her husband about her troubles.

This book shows how two journeys end up as one in a beautifully written novel, with highs, lows and twists along the way.

'Our relationship with nature is precarious. It's a very delicate thing.'
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Thank you to HQStories and NetGalley for approving me to read the ARC of Growing Season by Seni Glaister, due out 20 August.
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I really enjoyed this book. Glaister's descriptions and depictions of nature are beautiful throughout. But the way she intertwines humanity with nature is particularly remarkable.
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'We try, as we grow, to unfurl in an orderly fashion. Some of us find it harder to express our inner beauty than others and for those people it's probably also a bit harder to recognise it when you see it.'
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Sam and Danny are complicated individuals, each with their own worries and burdens; at times they feel similar, and at times very different. I think this is a true reflection of most relationships between people.
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''Are you in danger of wanting him to experience the countryside through your eyes, not his? Beauty is subjective, you must allow him to find its allure for himself.''
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I particularly empathised with Sam through this story. Her response to not having children felt a little extreme in places of course, but as a woman myself who has chosen to not have children, I could empathise with her reactions to the societal response to this choice. People can be very judgemental at times if your world view doesn't match their own, but everyone can choose how they want to live life, in a way that is right for them.
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'what I'd really like, is the right to choose not to have children. And be respected for that choice.'
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Through her conversations with Diana, and her time spent in nature, Sam learns to view things differently, and to be more respectful in her own views of other people and their choices.
She is able to heal through growing and nurturing things that she can control, which extends to her relationships with Danny and her neighbours, as well as her garden.
Some of Danny's own revelations are very interesting and reflect the complexities of emotions and how we cope with them. Through their sharing of things previously unsaid, Sam and Danny see each other in a new light, and it really feels like they are moving into a new season of their lives together.
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'believe in the version you want to believe in. Like the version you want to like.'

I knew that I wanted to read this book since I saw it. The title and the cover of the book looked so inviting and promising: I am being truthful here- I loved every bit of it.

The story follows the 3 main characters: Sam, her husband Danny, and a new friend to be to Sam- Diana, the crazy which who lives in the woods. I fell in love with all these characters. I loved Sam for her strong soul and will to change and be truthful to herself and people around her. I loved Danny for his support and unconditional love to his wife. And Diana…oh my. Where do I even start? Diana must have been my favourite character of them all. I have to say, I will not look at woods the same because of her. I will no longer just stroll around admiring the scenery. No. There is more to it. The details- that is what makes nature magical. The little things that we don’t pay attention to.

I was so happy for Sam and Diana to meet and become such great pals who would sit in Diana’s caravan in the middle of woods and chat about life, nature, relationships, the small things. The small things that matter. Diana is a nature loving soul. You can not admire her. You certainly cannot forget her. Her extensive knowledge about plants is remarkable. No wonder why she has so many notebooks dedicated to plants! On top of that, she is a wise, middle-aged woman. Such a bright soul. What a delight it was to Sam to meet her. What a joy it was to me to follow this beautiful friendship.

This is a beautifully written book. Most definitely what I needed at the moment- something uplifting, joyful, fresh, full of life!

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the arc of this book.

4 stars a very enjoyable a great book, well written and amazing storyline recommend highly. not saying to much dont want to spoil it

The countryside is a dangerous place! There are screeching owls and scavenging foxes, fallen trees and unruly weeds - oh, and there might be a witch in the forest! As Sam and Danny, a young childfree London couple settle into their new home, Broome Cottage, both have very different expectations of their new life. Sam, who's come though major illness and can now not have children, wants to escape society's expectations of a young wife - but she can't outrun her own anger. Danny only wants to keep Sam safe - and the best way he knows to do that is by keeping tight control of his environment - though he would never dream of trying to control Sam.
As he goes off to work each day, Sam ventures into the woods surrounding their home and meets Diana, a middle-aged woman who has eschewed most of the comforts of life to live in a caravan and study the splendours of nature around her. Will Sam learn from her how to let go of the past and her anger and find fresh purpose in life? And will she be able to pass on her love of the beauty and freedom and strength of nature to Dan, who shudders at the sight of a dandelion?
Though the descriptive prose is beautiful - I'll never look at a tree as just a tree again - I have to say I didn't enjoy this as much as Seni Glaister's last book Mr Doubler Begins Again. Diana may be a free spirit in search of herself but I did not find her particularly endearing - I think it might have helped to have known some more of her back story earlier in the narrative. Sam is an interesting character - though she can be forthright to the point of rudeness, her tragic experience at least give her an excuse. But her navel-gazing does begin to grate after a while, For me, the book was saved by Danny - propelled by his love for Sam, and his fears of losing her and everything else he holds dear, he is an emotional wreck when we meet him, and it's the salvation and happiness of this complex but loving man that I felt most invested in.
This is a beautifully written book with three strong central characters, but I felt it needed a little less introspection and a little bit more of a plot to make it a truly compelling read.

I had read and enjoyed Seni Glaister's previous two novels a great deal. She writes that popular current genre of quirky, meaning-of-life, feelgood fiction - think Frederick Backman. It's a genre that I sometimes love and sometimes find very irritating, and Glaister's first books definitely fell into the 'loved' category. This latest novel is in the same vein. Sam and Danny, a young couple, have moved to the countryside to escape a busy London lifestyle. Sam has been rendered infertile by cancer treatment and the two have never really addressed this issue. Both become obsessed with their garden, in very different ways - Sam envisages a wildflower meadow, whilst Danny sees a pristine short lawn and well tamed environment. Meanwhile Sam befriends an eccentric woman who lives in the woods and becomes a willing disciple of her 'tread lightly' philosophy.

The setting gives less scope for originality and character interaction than her previous books, and this underlies it being less enjoyable. There are few characters, with a heavy focus on Sam, Danny and DIana the wild woman. Sam and Danny are pleasant enough, but not really interesting enough to merit so much page time and detailed character inspection. Even Diana, whose set up has promise, doesn't really live up to her intriguing possibilities. There's a lot of introspection, a lot of description of nature, and as such it is slow. It really needs some sort of exciting plot line - some sort of tension or threat - to give it some pace.

An important theme is Sam's infertility and the reaction of other people to it. Sam's reason for leaving her job and home is a sense of having been rejected by her former friends and colleagues due to no longer being able to join in with conversations about children. Her mother blames her for not providing grandchildren. And her new neighbours also immediately label her as 'barren'. This is an important and sensitive topic, which provided an opportunity for moving writing. I'm afraid it didn't in this case. The behaviour of the characters on this issue is not believable - it is ridiculously exaggerated and as such loses all credibility. I speak as a woman unable to have children myself so I know there is some truth here, but it is a much more subtle thing - and often I suspect as much in my own head. Certainly no one has ever visited my house to apologise to me for being 'barren' within an hour of meeting me. I can't see anyone, no matter how insensitive or socially incompetent, doing so.

This fundamental mishandling of one of the novels primary themes discredits the whole in my eyes, and in the absence of much else to bring conflict or interest into the story, I can't say I really enjoyed reading it. I'm afraid it was one of those books that I picked up more as a chore because I wanted to finish and read something better, than because I wanted to read it for its own value.

Certainly I would recommend Glaister's 'The Museum of Things Left Behind' and 'Mr Doubler Begins Again', and based on the quality of those I will probably read whatever she writes next. Most good authors have the odd book that falls flat. But I can't really recommend this one.