I really loved this one, and I have a feeling it’s going to take me a while to work out why. Firstly, it’s a very smooth, easy read, quite pacy, and I sunk into it easily. It feels somewhat like a children’s book in that respect - and yet it deals with very adult content, in difficult ways. But despite lacking the neatness of children’s books, it nevertheless retains the sense of the magic and mystery. For once, it turned off the part of my brain that is analysing the writing, and I lost myself in the story. It’s been a very, very long time since a book has managed that, and it’s been even longer since it was one where I had no comment on the written style itself.
I can see why this is being compared to the Night Circus, but I feel that gives the wrong idea of what to expect from it. Erin Morgenstern’s written style is much more flourishing than this, which I would honestly describe more as unobtrusive. I don’t mean that in a negative way at all, I just want people to go into it expecting the Victorian setting and the magical realism that glimmers in spectacle and crowds. It shouldn’t be compared on any other level, because it is entirely it’s own creature.
I genuinely loved it, and I think one of the reasons for that is that it isn’t a story about romantic love - it’s a story about regret, about motherhood, and making peace with the life you have led. Beatrice and Rosa are such interesting characters, and they bring something to this genre that I personally have felt has been lacking for a long time; a story about love and friendship that doesn’t take a backseat to romance. It’s a glittering, sparkling spectacle of a book, about what makes people human and how we deal with that, and it’s also an adventure. A joyously cosy read that takes us all over this magical world, shows us the best of it, and yet doesn’t shy away from the worst of life. (TWs include addiction, gaslighting, abuse, death (including death of a child), and many, many more). But none of that felt gratuitous, or overwrought, or like the author is trying to fit the plot into an expected pattern or create drama for the sake of it.
We were given a hope for the best ending at the very beginning, and yet already knew it would not be possible. But the ending we did get was thoughtfully brought, much more real and believable and genuine than anything that it might easily have been forced into, both requiring growth and allowing space for further growth of the characters, which is always the most internet satisfying for me as a reason. It’s also a difficult feat to pull off in fantasy, and I applaud the author for managing it.
Perhaps that’s why it feels like a children’s book to me. Because it is, ultimately, about hope, and forgiveness, and being your best self. And that is not something that we see in adult fiction often enough. Perhaps that, too, is why I loved it so very much.

Beatrice is 8 years old when she sadly loses her mum. On the night of her mother's passing Beatrice is invited to a magical wonderful garden, called the winter garden.

Through out her childhood and adolescence Beatrice learns that no one believes her time at the winter garden was real.
On the day of her wedding to a man her father approves of. Beatrice decides to disregard what is expected of her and pursue her passion of finding the winter garden.

This was my first historical fantasy book and boy I was not disappointed! Alexandra touches on mental health and repression on woman in Victorian times. There were times when it was difficult to read. I had my hand covering my mouth for most of the time but it was 100% worth it!

There is a character in this book that honestly makes my blood boil! I'm never one to really feel like this about a character. But oh man, he's a character that I'd bop on sight!

I really loved The Winter Garden. I’d read a couple of Alex Bell’s YA/Middle Grade books, so I knew I liked her writing, but this was on a whole other scale. It’s one of those books that slowly unfurls its plots and characters in such a way that you get sucked in immediately. The Winter Garden itself is truly magical, and I shared Beatrice’s wonder as she discovered it as an 8 year old whose mother had just died. It also made perfect sense to me that once she had the opportunity to go searching for it as an adult, she would do so. Who wouldn’t want to revisit such a magical place, especially if you’re constantly being judged for being different in your usual world?

Beatrice as an adult, Victorian woman is such a great character. She bucks so many Victorian trends – she won’t marry, she wants to live independently, she loves science and she wants to explore the world – but in other ways she’s still so bound by society’s rules. She can’t stop herself from treating James, who was her only friend as a child, as a servant because he’s of a lower class than she is, and she is abominably rude to him multiple times as a result. She judges her friend Rosa for being American, new money and searching for a marriage which will bring her a title, without realising how that will bring Rosa a security she’s never had before – and one Beatrice has never needed. It’s fair to say that Beatrice is not necessarily always a nice person. But it’s still a joy to watch her find herself, firstly on her wedding day, then in her travels and finally as she designs her garden.

All the way through those adventures though, many of which we learn about through letters, there was a part of me that desperately wanted Beatrice to come home and rescue Rosa, who is trapped in the most terrible of marriages. Even as Rosa chases the thing she wants more than almost anything else, I was silently screaming not him! Don’t pick him! (Trying to review this book without spoilers is HARD.) It’s really difficult to see the cheerful, vibrant Rosa we first meet on Beatrice’s wedding day start changing into someone else, someone who yearns for escape. She never completely loses herself, and she comes up with the perfect way to keep her husband away from her, but she’s never that carefree young woman we first saw. The character development throughout the book is spot on, and I also liked the way it looked at mental health and the way women were so often dismissed as hysterical.

There is a plot, but it’s almost secondary to the characters, which I have to be honest, I always love in a book. We follow both these women’s stories until the fateful invitations to design a garden arrive. I loved this part of the book, maybe more than the rest, because both Beatrice and Rosa have their own reasons for wanting to win that wish and it was really hard to know who to root for sometimes. And the gardens they design are magnificent. It’s never really mentioned how magic must be at the heart of so much of their gardens, even by the visitors to them, and yet it’s also made clear at the very beginning of the book that no-one believes Beatrice’s stories of the Winter Garden because they’re so fantastical. I absolutely want to actually visit all three gardens though, and ride the golden horse on the carousel and maybe even eat a plum of regret.

The Winter Garden is honestly a book that will stay with me for a long time. It’s truly magical, and while I’ve seen a lot of places say it’s like The Night Circus, I will go one step further and say it’s better. I really, properly, loved it, and Beatrice, and Rosa and James. It doesn’t scream and shout for attention, but manages to grab it anyway, and it’s perfect for reading in the dead of winter, wrapped up warm in front of a fire. I highly recommend that you get yourself a copy!

Where to begin? I absolutely loved everything in this book: from the whimsical setting to the extraordinary plot and the interesting characters. I was completely absorbed from the beginning, and I simply couldn't put it down. I can highly recommend this!

It took me a while to get used to the fantastical elements in this book. I also needed more background to the characters themselves.
Beatrice has a tough life, her speech impediment leads to her undergoing a horrific procedure then her Mother Dies when she is still a child.. Her Father is distant and unforgiving, so she almost drifts into an unwanted marriage with a Duke. Fortunately she comes to her senses and refuses the marriage. Instead she travels around the world studying plants and fungi with her childhood friend and employee James.
The other main protagonist is Rosa an American who has her heart set on marrying a Duke, she ensnares Eustace, Beatrice's former finance but in marrying him finds him to be cruel and heartless.
The story revolves around The fabled winter garden, which Beatrice has seen and longs to recreate, using magic and skill, Rosa wants the same thing using magic and clockwork creations.
Interesting but a little to magical and involved for my tastes.

5 stars for the winter garden
I absolutely loved this and immediately ordered a physical copy. The winter Gardens is a truly magical book that is about so much more than you think going into it and I became completely swept up in this rich and quite powerful story until I couldn’t put it down. Both the main characters are strong women forging their way in a male dominated society, a Victorian period in time in which it was not an easy place for women and certainly not strong women. Its about the limitations placed on women, Victorian attitudes,grief,finding your own inner voice, you have magical fantastical elements and Victorian pleasure Gardens, carousels, frost fairs and mechanical animals and its just pure magic. The descriptions of the flowers, the gardens, of the animals are really vivid and enchanting and all the clockwork animals sound amazing. I loved the way everything was described so that I felt that I was inside the book, like a beautiful movie playing inside my head in an amazing world which is vividly described. The pleasure gardens in particularly are described in such exquisite detail conjuring up gorgeous images of the surroundings and truly transporting you.The book has it’s own unique atmosphere which shifts from a beautiful fairytale to something both dark and sinister and back again. This book is dreamy and wondrous and completely captured my imagination, and with the magic inside the pages it would make the perfect wintery read.
The Winter Garden is a beautiful and magical book which has been exquisitely written.
All views and opinions discussed here are my own.Many thanks to the author, the publishers and Net Galley for being kind enough to grant my request for this eARCand for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

#The winter garden #by alexandra Bell
#netgalley #randomhouseuk

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I spent a lot of my time reading this wondering what I was reading! It was a bit of a mish-mash between The Secret Garden and The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale. I think I’ve decided it’s a wintry gothic historical fantasy.

The premise is enchanting; a magical pleasure garden owned by the spider queen that opens on the thirteenth strike of the clock and invites only those who need solace, comfort and reminding of the beauty in the world. The execution felt a little confusing at times; the perspective shifted unexpectedly as did the tone and the structure was a little jumpy but this book has icy claws that keep you reading.

Beatrice and Rosa are scintillating characters; women of science and discovery who seek independence. Who doesn’t love women scandalising Victorian society because they won’t conform to social norms? They are friends who respect each other, their priorities and their decisions until they are pitted against one another. They become cold and ruthless as they compete for a wish that will be granted by the spider queen to the creator of the best pleasure garden. The wish will be to change an event in their past.

The narrative shifts focus, from Beatrice’s perspective as a young girl growing up to her friend Rosa’s perspective on adult life with an abusive husband felt a little jarring for me. I was expecting to follow Beatrice’s childhood friend, gardener and later orchid-hunter James. I almost wish this had been a duology as it felt like Beatrice’s life was suddenly truncated to allow for Rosa’s story to take centre stage. I liked both perspectives but I did feel a bit lost when we swapped tracks.

The Winter Garden is full of mesmerising descriptions, unique characters, magic and mechanics. It is also a cold, harsh and dark exploration of the female existence in the Victorian era. A strange, lonely tale of clockwork rooks, plums that taste of regret and a fateful carousel. It kind of dares you to read it so why don’t you?

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Winter Garden is an adult fantasy, set in the early 19th century and tells the tale between two friends, Rose and Beatrice, and how their lives drastically change.
The plot is sugar-coated with childlike wonder but laced with deep, and heartwrenching grief, reminding the readers that everything always comes with a price, especially magic.

The Winter Garden was such an interesting book about human nature and the lengths humans go to get what they want. It captivated me from the first page and left me wanting for more and I soon found myself racing through to find out what would happen.

5/5 as I will be thinking about The Winter Garden for a long while to come.

Beatrice Sitwell is eight when her mother dies and in a house filled with silence and sadness, she takes comfort in a magical world which comes to her when the clock strikes thirteen. Entering the magical winter garden brings Beatrice solace, but, as she gets older, a deep yearning to revisit the garden consumes her but the opportunity is only ever presented to those in great need.

The adult Beatrice is a solitary figure but she is blessed to have friends who feature strongly in the story especially Rosa Warren, an American, who has aspirations of becoming part of the British aristocracy. However, marriage doesn't make Rosa happy, and her own frightening journey takes her into some dark places in her search for the perfect life. Beatrice and Rosa interweave and twirl together, sometimes they are friends, whilst other times they are frosty towards each other, but each for their own reasons are drawn towards the magic of the elusive Winter Garden of their, rather special, imaginations.

The Victorian fascination for pleasure gardens is brought to life in this magical story filled with soulful automatons, fantastical creatures and otherworldly delights but look closer and the story is about grief and sadness, the Victorian fascination for death and the social and moral restrictions placed upon women at that time. Beatrice and Rosa, both are women of their time, one bound by all the restrictions placed upon her because she dares to be a female adventurer in a male dominated world, and the other abused, demeaned and neglected under the disguise of marriage and motherhood.

Beautifully written, with the most sumptuous imagery, the story fills the senses and creates a wishful yearning to see all of the magical beauty of The Winter Garden laid out before you, but, remember all that glitters in the story is not gold, so be careful what you wish for...

"Dozens of ice roses wound around the posts of her bed, each petal as clear and cold as glass, their thorns like crystal, their stems sparkling in a layer of frost as fine as lace."

I have just finished reading The Winter Garden and I am still crying from the emotional ending! I don't usually cry over books, but I'm three tissues in and still weeping over this magnificent and thoroughly moving novel. I haven't cried at book like this since I was 12 and Aslan and Beth March both died in the same reading month!

I'm not going to lie - it was the cover which drew me in. I planned to save it for the winter months, but it has been tempting me for a few weeks with promises of winter magic, so I decided I could no longer wait. From page one I felt like I was floating on a dandelion clock, into a gorgeous world that gives Narnia a run for its money. Instead of Aslan, there is a tiger made from starlight and a whole host of wonderful, magical creatures.

It's not all frothy delights though and this is very much an adult novel which addresses some deep issues, but it does so in such an enchanting way that you are still drawn in, despite the heavy topics it covers.

The Winter Garden is a frosted fairytale spun from sorrow, grief and regret, with all the tantalizing hope of second chances and wishes galore. It explores life in all its light and shade, acknowledging that sorrow is essential if we are to feel joy. The author is a sympathetic writer, showing empathy for her characters, as she somehow manages to spin difficult issues into a wintry web of magic, enchantment, delight and pure escapism.

Here you will find snow white frogs who act as messengers, enchanted tea-cups and orchids that bloom from grief. Add in a spectacular icicle carousel, a few fairies and a Spider Queen who isn't nearly so scary as she sounds - I have arachnophobia and I still loved her! - and you have a novel that balances the sorrows of the characters with a wonderful frothy world of ice, snow and magic.

I was smiling as I read the descriptive passages of the gardens, then weeping at the last, before being uplifted at the end. It's a masterpiece of emotional writing, but it carries all the charm of a children's fairytale. The Winter Garden feels like a safe space. I really hope that it gets turned into a film at some stage because this world is just so visually lovely that it deserves to be seen as well as read, providing film makers can do it justice. It is one of the most imaginative novels I have read this year. I enjoyed every page of this book and I shall certainly be looking out for future books by this author. It's the perfect novel to read if winter can't come quick enough for you! Enjoy.

BB Marie x

AD: This book was sent to me by the publisher for review purposes. It is available now.

The Winter Garden is the magical new book from Alex Bell and the story follows Beatrice, who receives an invitation to a magical garden on the night her mother dies. She spends seven days exploring this strange and beautiful place, but when she returns no one believes it was real. When eighteen years later Beatrice is arranged to marry an English Duke, someone her father very much approved on. Beatrice cannot face the idea of being married to him and cancels the wedding, heading off in search of the mysterious garden. When Beatrice and her friend Rosa receive invitations to compete in a competition to create the most brilliant pleasure gardens, they discover the prize is a wish from the last of the Winter Garden’s magic.

The Winter Garden is my second time reading a book from Alex Bell. I read Music and Malice in Hurricane Town on a whim and completely loved it, so I have been really intrigued to pick up more from this author. I sat down to read The Winter Garden one night and ending up sitting there many hours later. Bell completely sucks you in with her beautiful writing style and I was completely captivated by the vivid descriptions of the gardens. The story was so easy to get swept up in and while it was on the chunkier side, I completely raced through this fast-paced story. I loved the Victorian setting of the book and the story is definitely one I still think about long after turning the last page.

The Winter Garden is a brilliant, engrossing read, one I think fans of The Night Circus will completely adore. If you love stories with that fairytale-like feel to them I think this is definitely a must-read. I really liked both Beatrice and Rosa as the main characters and I loved the way they were both strong-willed and determined to succeed. It was so compelling to read about them creating their garden and undo the mistakes they have made. There is quite a lot of character growth within the story and it does focus quite a lot on the theme of regret. The Winter Garden is a captivating and moving tale and if you’re looking for a magical, wintery story to keep you entertained over the Autumn, this is definitely one to order now.

3.5 stars
There is just such a beautiful melancholy to this book. It isn’t quite the magical adventure that the blurb promises but instead is set in such a fabulous magical world while exploring grief and depression in a sensitive and gorgeous way. We really explore the ups and downs of love, marriage, friendship, motherhood and the societal expectations of the time. Explored through two perspectives of friends that found themselves flung into competition.

I really liked the individual stories of each of the perspectives but I do feel we got a little short changed when it came to Beatrice’s adventures, the focus seemed to be more on Rosa. To the point where this felt like Rosa was the main character and Beatrice became quite overlooked, despite her being our introduction to the Winter Garden itself. I felt more connected to Beatrice and did not have much sympathy for Rosa so felt a little disconnected that the character I enjoyed slowly edged out of the story and was no longer the main focus.

The magic of the world is fantastic and having studied botany myself I loved how much botany was explored and the magic of all the plants and gardens. I loved how different the approaches to the pleasure gardens were between the two perspectives and how they applied magic in such individual ways. The descriptions of the various gardens has a real night circus vibe to it. I just wanted to spend the majority of the book exploring all the different types of magic. While magic was a large part of this world I still feel it never really fully got time to shine, the story focusing more on Rosa and her personal journey. I wanted to spend far much more time in each garden than we actually got.

Another reservation I have as a childless women I do not feel this book was aimed at me. Despite one of the main characters choosing to be childless and the platitudes at the end towards that decision it did feel a bit of an afterthought and that this book is more focused on motherhood and the joy’s and grief of motherhood. While it was a beautiful exploration of grief, from the blurb I was expecting more of a magical adventure about over coming societal expectations and none of that was truly delivered. I liked the story I was presented over all but it disappointed expectations a little.

However, the writing is gorgeous and filled with gorgeous descriptions and emotion that truly made even the dark subject matter covered have a beautiful quality to them. The writing made this an enjoyable read from start to finish.

Huge thanks to Del Rey UK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

CW: domestic abuse, child death

This was every bit as magical as I was hoping for with gothic elements intertwined, which starts as a glimpse of a shadow in the corner of your eye and grows into a suffocating darkness. Yet, the magic still manages to shine through.

We begin the novel when Beatrice is a child and after experiencing the trauma of losing her mother she receives an invitation to the mysterious Winter Garden. As much as it hurt to read, I did like the reaction Beatrice had to her dying mother as it felt so believable for a child character which I really appreciated and felt that it set up her character well. We see her as she grows into a young woman struggling to find her space in society because of her sex as well as her stammer. I thought it was great to see how she would try to be strong and have her independence as a woman but Bell shows how it isn’t as easy or simple as travelling alone.

As well as Beatrice we also have a second protagonist in Rosa, her closest friend who moved from America who has very different goals and dreams to Beatrice but they are still very similar in a lot of ways. Although Rosa is introduced as the second protagonist, she didn’t feel like a secondary protagonist in any way. I loved the contrast that she presented to Beatrice. Rosa was so sure of how she wanted to live her life however, it soon becomes apparent that she has prioritised status for happiness when she always thought that the two would be synonymous. It was through our time with Rosa that we got to see how truly dark this world can be, that for Victorian women the danger was not their ambitions or their independence (which we see through Beatrice) but their own husbands and expectations as a wife.

This sudden change in tone when Rosa confronts Eustace for the first time was incredibly jarring and brings the reader back to the stark reality of the Victorian times and out of the magical pursuit of the Winter Garden. I loved how the two were combined and balanced throughout the novel. There was a lot of casual magic and fantasy scattered throughout the novel with Beatrice travelling far and wide to auction houses to get a glimpse of the Winter Garden she visited as a child as well as Rosa’s fantastical clockwork creatures who could take on life of their own. Yet, none of this felt out of place in the dark and oppressive Victorian England setting, especially because some of the magic itself isn’t as harmless as what you first expect. This recurring theme of duality throughout the novel was fascinating to me and handled wonderfully by Bell and I know the phrase “life needs dark leaves in the wreath” will follow me for a long time to come.

Overall, I adored this novel with all its magic, mysteries and shocking twists that left me immensely satisfied and in awe by the end (which is also possibly one of my favourite endings I’ve read this year). Although it was the initial fantasy and wonder that drew me into this novel, at its heart it is a story of the struggle faced by Victorian women in society and the complex relationships between mother and daughter which was enchanting to read.

“You’ll never find it in one place for long. It goes where it is needed, appearing from nothing and vanishing just as quickly.”

Who wouldn’t want to visit the Winter Garden? “A place of wonder and magic”, full of impossible flowers, mushrooms that dance, strange birds, fairies, and trees that whisper secrets. The Winter Garden belongs to the Spider Queen and it appears to people during their darkest and bleakest moments. It first appeared to Beatrice Sitwell when she was eight years old and, since then, she’s been obsessed with finding it again. Her friend Rosa is also looking for the Winter Garden to wish back the thing that she loves most in the world.

Beatrice and Rosa are best friend and yet, they couldn’t be more different. Daughter of Lord Sitwell and owner of Half Moon House, Beatrice is expected to marry well and become the obedient wife of a man who will take everything she owns. However, against society’s expectations and much to her aunt’s dismay, Beatrice wants to be independent, free to travel around the world and discover strange and magical plants and animals. On the other hand, Rosa is an American heiress. She dreams to marry an Englishman and acquire a title and a family while she builds incredible clockwork. Both women realize their dreams, but their friendship is tested when they are invited to take part in a competition to create a magnificent garden that will win one of them a wish.

I really enjoyed The Winter Garden and I liked the characters of Beatrice and Rosa. The author describes an accurate Victorian England in which women are expected to marry and take care of their husband, without having any ambition or independence. However, Beatrice and Rosa are different. Beatrice shocks society be traveling around the world (or also on the streets of London) alone and without a chaperone (which was unheard of!). And, when she is refused entrance to a renowned scientific society to present her unique findings because of her gender, she doesn’t give up. Rosa is forced to turn her fortune to her husband at their wedding, but she cleverly manages to keep control of their relationship and to defend herself when necessary.

The Winter Garden is a fantastic, entertaining, and engrossing novel full of magical elements and emotional and compelling storylines and it’s out now, so don’t miss it!

I'm always ready to fall for a book which evokes that crisp, glittering aesthetic of sparkle, sugar and steaming breath on a frozen day - something that connects in my mind with The Night Circus or The Toymakers - so when earlier this year I noticed The Winter Garden coming up I knew I needed to read it.

This story takes us back to the early 19th century when, in the Prologue, Beatrice Sitwell is living through the very worst day of her life.

Forced to cope with terrible loss, and not understanding what's happening, Beatrice falls short - in the eyes of her father, and herself - in a way that will haunt her life. She flees into the woods and gardens around her house and is comforted by James Sheppard, the gardener's son (by far the nicest person in this book, I have to say) and also by the appearance of the legendary Winter Garden, which comes to those who need it most. For eight days Beatrice visits the garden by night, when the clocks chime thirteen. Then, it leaves her.

A couple of decades later we meet Beatrice again, now grown up, and her friend Rosa Warren, an heiress from the Unites States, out to marry a member of the aristocracy. The relationship between the two women - I would say "friendship" but it's much more complicated than that - will form the emotional heart of this book as both, believing themselves (with good cause) to have suffered, vie for the favour of the Garden and eventually, come into conflict over the offer of a wish underwritten by the last of its magic.

Bell introduces the Garden and explains what it is right at the start of the book, rather than leading us up to the concept and having characters puzzle over its existence, and that gives a clue to the nature of the world she describes because while it's not exactly one where magic is loose, neither is it the 19th century as we understand it. The fact of the garden is a particular wonder but it's not exactly unique. It's soon clear for example that the orchid hunting in which the adult James takes part - alongside many less scrupulous adventurers - isn't just for rare and beautiful blooms, but for plants with all sorts of wondrous powers. The butterfly orchid, for example, can carry messages to the dead. And Rosa's family, the Warrens, are manufacturers of amazing clockwork creations which rival or surpass the living creatures they're based on, certainly treading the borders of magic if not actually crossing them.

Alongside this, though, the social conditions of the actual Victorian period persist, something the book makes especially clear in its focus on the position of women. This is subordinate - we see Rosa's husband treat her very harshly, threatening at one point to have her committed to an asylum, and Beatrice isn't allowed to submit her botanical discoveries to the Linnaen Society. We also see class as an issue. Beatrice, generally likeable, has a failing here, rebuking the adult, prosperous James who as the son of a gardener ought to show deference to her, someone born with a title. We don't though see the much of the effects of poverty, and although it's noted that Rosa's family own a plantation in Georgia and there are a couple of mentions of slavery, that really isn't something that the book addresses. The focus is, as I've said, on the place of women and outside that, this isn't hard history, it's fantasy and Bell is I think using the fantastical idea of the Winter Garden to explore the ways in which women who have suffered, and who have lost, may go about regaining self-respect, love, a place in the world and autonomy.

The Winter Garden really grapples with this, alongside the mistakes and regrets to which any life is prones (there is a whole new type of plum that Beatrice creates that tastes of regret). A closely related theme is might-have-beens. A lot of the magic that the women creates addresses these: saving people from mistakes they might make in future, seeking to know alternate lives they might have lived, reversing bad decisions. In Beatrice's case there is that awful day I mentioned earlier, for Rosa, a choice she made later in life. That's where the conflict arises - with only one wish available, which of the two will get a chance to put right what went wrong?

It's made clear that the quest to reshape the past may have unexpected consequences, and that there are choices and sacrifices to be made. And, as well, that even the desire to make amends can lead to hateful behaviour. These are characters with whose plight one may sympathies, but who are still making mistakes and yet to learn the lesson that while the past (perhaps) can't be altered the future, and future choices, still can. But that means some really awful things happen!

In all, don't let the crystal notes of the Garden, and the scent of sugared fancies and hot chocolate lead you astray with this one. Beneath the sparkling surface, The Winter Garden is a book that deals with the hard edges of life: with friendship, companionship, regrets, learning to be better. Rosa, James and, especially, Beatrice, are lumpy, believable characters who have fascinating stories to tell, even though they are far from being perfect people, and you should definitely buy this book and let them speak to you.

I was surprised at how much I loved this beautiful story. An adult fantasy that’s emotional, whimsical and truly magical! I was mesmerised by the story and really connected to the characters, especially Beatrice and the way she saw the world around her.
The writing is absolutely beautiful - captivating me from the very first chapter to the last. And I must admit I cried! Not many books can make me cry easily but this book touched on all my emotions.

This is an enthralling feminist historical fiction fused with whimsical prose and magical
Premise. There are some Night Circus vibes here - so if you’re a fan, then this gorgeous book is definitely for you!

** Some very important messages were brought to light about identity, regret and the dangers of holding onto a difficult past. There are some triggers, the writer touches on mental health isssues, misogyny and the oppression women faced in Victorian society and at times it’s difficult and shocking to read, but it’s all done so skilfully and with a lot of thought and care.

Overall, a powerful, thought- provoking and yet truly entertaining story about love, loss, honesty and identity.

An absolute joy to read. Thank you @delreyuk @netgalley for my Arc.

The Winter Garden captures that childhood wonderment and emotional pathos of the best fairy tales. It weaves the extraordinary sparks of light and hope into a moving and beautiful meditation on grief, motherhood and the lives that could have been.

Bell’s depiction of the magical competition was stunning to read. The magic is so entrancing, vivid and imaginative, giving it this visually spectacular feel that is so easy to picture. I loved how imaginative and unique their magical feats seemed, while they also always had so much heart poured into them. Through their use of magic, both protagonists explore their own individual regrets, dreams and desires. This human connection to these stunning feats gives them this extra emotional depth that really helps you connect with them. You end up dreaming of what you would create and how you would interact with these wonders.

I also loved Bell’s exploration of past regrets and how one action could have changed everything. Interwoven with the competition is this really impactful exploration of family, motherhood and abuse. It provides some dark moments, particularly with certain interactions that show what could have been. Family is ultimately what drives both protagonists, either to protect the ones they love or to finally fix a mistake from all those years ago. There’s a palpable sense of grief for what could have been that permeates the entire book, with Bell allowing us little snippets of these more blissful lives. In the present day of the competition, both women are fiercely determined to break free of the manipulation and control they’ve been subject to their entire lives. Bell also explores the intersection of the patriarchy and class, with a huge fixation of their marital status being tied up with notions of status and wealth. One protagonist has their own status and money, which allows them significantly more freedom than the other, who is tarred by the brush of new money and the resulting societal expectations to ‘marry up’.

The Winter Garden utterly cast a spell on me. It was everything I could’ve dreamed of and so much more, combining childhood awe, spectacular feats and a deeply emotional layer that pulled at my heartstrings.