This was not at all what I expected in a good way. It gave me some "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" vibes not because the stories are similar, but because "The Garden" has the same kind of eerie strangeness where you don't know exactly what, but you know there's something off with the characters and how they live.

This is post-apocalyptic, creepy, and mysterious, and the horror elements are subtle but very effective. In the end, I didn't get all the answers I wanted and I don't think I was given enough information to speculate effectively, but it was immersive. It's the kind of book that will have you thinking about the answers you didn't get for a good while.

Overall, this is quite a unique story and while it feels slow, you can't stop reading because you just want to know more and understand not only the characters better, but also what happened beyond the walls of their land. Even though I don't think the payoff of all the buildup was as effective as I had hoped, I enjoyed the strange journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for an early copy of The Garden by Nick Newman.

The Garden is a dystopian tale set somewhere in the future. The author alludes to climate change but does not discuss it in detail.

Evelyn and Lily are two elderly sisters taking care of the garden of their family's manor house and living in just the kitchen as the rest of the house was closed off by their Mother before she died. They are self-sufficient and have closed themselves off from the outside, strictly following their Mother's instructions written in a handmade almanac.

The sisters have opposing personalities with Evelyn, the elder sister, taking on the Mother's role, and Lily the role of the unruly younger sibling. This is for an undetermined number of years before a boy shows up in the garden, quietly challenging the sisters' relationship and their understanding of the outside world. What was their Mother trying to protect them from?

I enjoyed this and it was a different slant on most other dystopian novels I have read, and it was interesting to have the viewpoint of older characters in that situation.

Highly recommended!

4-4.5 stars
With thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the arc.
I enjoyed this book immensely and actually ended up reading it in one sitting. Who would have thought a story about two elderly sisters tending a garden in an overheated and dust-storm prone dystopian world could be so gripping?
The writing is excellent - the world of the sisters is expertly depicted as both boringly mundane and eerily gothic at the same time. Some reviewers have commented on the lack of action in the first 70% of the book, but I felt that this gave the author the chance to really show the development of the relationship dynamics between the sisters and, ultimately, the boy who intrudes into their isolating existence. This is one of those books that stays with you long after the story has ended.
Highly recommended.

This is a really interesting read, the concept is that two sisters are living alone in a world that has been destroyed. There are dust storms, the threat of the unknown and they are getting older. They are struggling because they are completely self-sufficient with what they grow in the garden that their mother started.

The sisters have been living in the kitchen of an old, rather large house. They do have some memories of their childhood when things were "normal". They have a journal that their mother painstakingly compiled with when to plant, sow, harvest and care for the plants they would need in the garden. Over the years though, this journal has become out of date, things are changing.

This is a story of the two women, how they see themselves and how they see the world beyond the garden walls. While it does sound like a wonderful life, living in a kitchen and having the bounty of a garden just outside the door, it is not quite right. Their mother was a big influence in their lives when she was alive, but she did have an opinion that skewed the way the sisters think.

They have never gone beyond the garden walls, never ventured into the house. It is not until a young boy is discovered in the garden that they get to hear anything of what has happened outside. His arrival, while good for the sisters, also sees an unbalancing as such. An odd number, but also someone who has not had the same upbringing as themselves and this leads them to ask questions of what they have been told.

I do like the set of this story and the way the author has kept it enclosed, while there is information about the sisters, the garden and then the boy, there is not much else to know about before. This is not an issue for me as the story is focused on the women and their lives so it does work well. This makes the story more character-led and it is a slower pace which suits the age of the women as well. I think the author has got the balance right for this book, it is a quieter dystopian book that focuses on their solitude, attitudes and opinions as they go around with their everyday tasks.

I really enjoyed this one, it was an interesting concept and it made a nice change not to have battles, but that being said though, there are some darker moments. Ideal for fans who like dystopian and character-led novels and one I would be happy to recommend.

The Garden is a dystopian, ‘end of the world’ novel about the relationship between two sisters, Evelyn and Lilly. They live in a kitchen, boarded off from the rest of their house and spend their days tending their garden. It’s the only life they really know. Despite their age they’re both rather childlike, naive and have little experience or knowledge of the world they live in, that is until they stumble upon the boy.

The book is slow paced but suits the story perfectly. It’s thought provoking, leaving you with more questions than answers, it reminds me of ‘I Who Have Never Known Men’. It’s filled with melancholy, wonder and fear of the ‘unknown’ but it’s also beautiful, at times serene and creepy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers, Random House UK for this wonderful ARC.

4/5

The Garden is a dystopian post -apocalyptic story set in a time that feels historical and futuristic at the same time. Two elderly sisters, Lily and Evie, live an isolated life in an isolated location, keeping themselves safe in the grounds of their family home, behind a wall. They only live in the kitchen, barricading the rest of the house off for safety.

The sisters are busy every day, living their lives according to an almanac that their mother wrote, giving advice about when to plant, about gathering crops, keeping the bees and chickens well nourished, and so much more. Its clear that the seasonal structure that their mother wrote about is a thing of the past, plants are growing and sprouting at unexpected times and the sisters aren't sure whether to believe what they see happening around them, or to follow the rules given. Their mother is deified by the pair of them, they often talk about her in awe-struck voices or use her as a way of settling disagreements between them.

The sisters don't directly reference the environmental disaster that has clearly happened but they talk about storms lasting months, of heat rising across the world, water being rationed and tragedy everywhere. They never meet any other humans; they have vague memories of some other people in their past, but it is just the two of them in this suffocating and unchanging life. One day, a young man breaches the wall and enters the garden. They are terrified and bemused by him, what is he, where does he come from, and what does he represent? His arrival shakes up the household and changes both sisters' outlooks on life.

The story is deeply written and even though its relatively short, it is intense and can't be rushed. It sets many questions for the reader as the story develops, and doesn't offer easy answers.

First, I’d like to thank NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for allowing me to read this book as an ARC. I did enjoy this book and would love to rate it higher, but I feel like I was left with more questions than answers. This was a unique story about two elderly sisters living in a dystopian/post-apocalyptic world, which was refreshing. The setting and the story were great and really made it easy to follow. The story started slow and didn’t really pick up until 70%ish of the way through, which made it feel like it was dragging. Once it started picking up I had a hard time putting it down! Personally, I wish there was more action throughout the book to help it move along. I loved the writing and the plot, just personally cannot give it more than 3 stars for those reasons.

We don’t know where the garden is. We don’t know why the people live in the kitchen and not in the house. We don’t know why they never leave. In flashbacks, we learn about Evelyn and Lily’s childhood. We know the events must be a long time ago because they are old women now. We don’t understand their fear when they realise someone else is in the garden. Little by little, their lives open up to us and we can piece together what has happened. I was impatient to know the answers.

This is an original story that leads us along a very bizarre path of events and suppositions. I found it compelling, moving and intriguing. The realisation of what has happened to these two women isn’t a huge shock in the end and it doesn’t answer all of our questions, the answers to some of which we’re left to surmise ourselves. I’ll be thinking about some of them for a while yet.

I’m not quite sure what this was exactly. Nothing happened plot wise, but also everything happened. Lily and Evelyn have spent their entire lives in their kitchen and garden, with only memories of the rest of the house. They do the same tasks everyday, sleep in the same clothes and eat the same food. Everything is perfectly ordinary. Except for the fact that they don’t know what lies beyond the walls of their garden, nor do they remember the last time they saw or spoke to anyone else apart from each other. Until a boy appears.

I enjoyed the slow, rhythmic pacing of this book. Told through two timelines, secrets were slowly revealed and the sisters have to question everything they thought they knew. The ending was a tad confusing but overall I enjoyed the eerie atmosphere and unknown fears. I also really enjoyed how different the sisters were, I found myself sympathetic and annoyed with them both at different times. An original and entertaining read.

Part Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, part Lord of the Flies, part Shirley Jackson : all itself

Nick Newman’s distinctly creepy, quirky, mountingly tense post apocalyptic Gothic Garden of Eden novel is definitely weird, and remarkably wonderful.

There is a LOT of resonating to other books, other authors, going on here, but none of it feels like a contrived conceit, and the various layers – I can include Margaret Atwood and even ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’. Edward Albee’s play, turned into a movie, and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden in with the layering detailed above into this. Probably there are hints and resonances I’ve missed as well.

Briefly, set in a couple of time-lines which seamlessly twine with each other, we meet the two central characters, Evelyn and Lily as quite ancient sisters, living in what is some kind of isolated, decaying mansion. There are no other humans, nor any companion animals, other than some seemingly also elderly hens and a cockerel, who give the sisters eggs, and some beehives yielding honey. Most of the mansion is out of bounds, with locked and boarded up barriers preventing entry. The sisters live in the huge kitchen. And the mansion itself is surrounded by a huge and crumbling wall. Some other kind of ‘magical’ barrier has been made and maintained, by burying various objects on the garden side of the wall. There seems to be some kind of double purpose to these barriers, both to keep whatever danger is outside the wall from getting in, but also to deter the sisters from leaving.

Some major event happened in the past, which seems linked to climate change, some history of utterly violent storms

The second timeline is that of the sisters’ childhood. At that time, they lived with their parents. At one time, there were guests who visited. The relationship between the parents was clearly fraught. We really only get the flickering memories which, particularly, Evelyn has, of ‘before’ rather than a linear description of events, so we have here the wonderful unreliable narrator. At some point, various cataclysmic events happen. Nothing is definitely stated, but at some point the siege mentality within the house began, put into place by ‘Mama’. Who of course must have died long ago now, as the sisters are themselves old and becoming frail.

So brilliantly atmospheric, with satisfying detail of the practicalities of living in this curious, isolated Garden-of-Eden but also ‘Secret Garden’ as the sisters have the well thumbed book, clearly from their childhood, and read the crumbling pages to each other. There is also a curious hand written almanac of how to care for the house and garden and maintain the inner and outer wall. Mama’s instruction book.

The sisters have clearly lived this way for decades, and have a complex relationship with each other, both secretive, protective, and with flashes of rivalry and resentment. There is love, and also spite and irritability.

Into this, there comes a mysterious invader, a young boy aged somewhere between 12-14. Dirty, undernourished, terrified but also some kind of survivor from some other place. He brings both a terror and a warning about whatever ‘outside’ might be, both threatening the sisters’ established secure insecurities, but also, possibly offering both help to their elderly frailty, and the possibility of him being both exploited, and exploiter.

There is a kind of Shirley Jacksonish dark humour here, as well as her mounting Gothic horror.

Brilliant, spooky, disturbing. Also – strong kudos to the cover designer, for such a beautiful. alluring cover which is both magical and unsettling

-Rating & Tropes-
5*/5
-Cottagecore
-Unique Story
-Apocalyptic

-Quick description-
The Garden is set in a time and place that we don’t know of, what we do know is that there has been some sort of world devastating event, that they seem to have been shielded from.

The two sisters spend most of their days tending the garden and cooking we get flashbacks to their past we see them as children living in their house with their parents having company over, but then it stops and it seems to just be the four of them and they not longer go to school or have people over to help with the garden.

When “the boy” turns up seemingly out of no where the story thickens and we get a chance to see how the rest of the world has been for the many long years the two sisters have been tucked away in their garden sanctuary.


-Characters-

-Evelyn-
The older of the siblings, she’s one to follow her mother’s rules and she has almost took on the role of mum to her younger sister Lily.

-Lily-
The younger of the two she is almost still child like in wanting to play dress up and hide and seek despite the fact that they are both old now.

-Thoughts-
The Garden is about sibling bonds and a child like innocence that the sisters have never lost. It’s full of humour and sadness. It had me thinking about the sisters long after I put the book down, it was reminiscent to a dark fairytale almost in the fact that I was always on edge about what could potentially happen. Highly enjoyable book and something completely new to me that I would recommend. It’s a short easy read and you’re guaranteed to fall in love with the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC and a huge thank you to Nick Newman.
Also reviewed on Goodreads, StoryGraph,Fable and Instagram (post coming soon) @read.with.rue

I have seen some other reviews that say this is like The Secret Garden but for adults, and I kinda get it. Not that Secret Garden can't be read by adults, of course, btu this seems more focussed to that audience.

It doesn't specifically say how old the sisters are, but in my head they were both quite elderly, and I think you get a different idea of the book depending on how you age them which makes it interesting. It was also interesting to see two women, two older women, carrying a story instead of being the spare parts.

The two sisters are well written, and worked against each other very well. I much preferred Evelyn to Lily. Lily felt naïve, immature, stuck in her ways, rude, and just a bit unpleasant. She felt very childlike but not in an innocent cute way. Evelyn was almost the mother figure, trying to do her work and look after Lily and then this boy who appears. My heart was more in her corner.

On various websites I've seen it described as a sci-fi book, fantasy, and/or horror. But I didn't get any of that. It felt more like a general literary fiction rather than anything scary. It has a good story, narrative, and characters, but no real darkness about it - which I'm glad about because I'm a wuss. Having said that, there are some hints of darkness towards the end, but nothing overly so, and in my opinion, they didn't really fit in to what had been a non-scary book.

It is mostly set in the (unknown) present time, but every so often there's a chapter set during the women's childhood, which gives us some idea as to why they are how they are now.

It was a weird book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's well written, original and yet familiar, interesting, engaging, with great characters. And yet, I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was. And there's a certain amount of letting the reader try to figure out what's going on and to fill the blanks themselves, which I was on the fence about.

One criticism I suppose is I wanted more to happen. What is there is well written and enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but I wanted more. There's a lot of day-to-day narrative, nothing of real substance. So I'd have liked it to be a bit deeper, just to expand on what he's created, which is good.

Overall I would say I enjoyed it a lot. Nick is a very good storyteller, with great characters, a powerful setting and atmosphere, and interesting world building. I think for me, to get it up to a full five stars, it just needed to be more sure of itself, of what it was, because I still can't really explain what it was.

I loved this book. Very much a study of relationships between siblings, loyalty to long lost parents, or was it fear? Fear that perhaps mum is always watching over and what would she say to Evelyn if she didn’t follow her mothers almanac to the letter.

The book is set in a time and place that we don’t know, we’re not entirely sure what has happened in the past but it would seem an environmental disaster of sorts happened when the two sisters were very young.

Now feeling the effects of old age, especially Evelyn, they live in just one room of their once substantial family home where they grew up. Their parents long gone and the rest of the house “out of bounds” they live a somewhat frugal and completely self sufficient life. They haven’t seen anyone else for many, many years. Evelyn being the elder of the two sisters seems to take on the role of ‘mother’ to her younger sister Lily. Lily comes across as somewhat child like in her ways, she’s certainly the more adventurous, fun person out of the two, yet they’re both quite lovable in their own individual ways.

It’s when ‘The Boy’ turns up that the plot starts to pick up speed. We start to get snippets of what has happened in the past and why they’re both so fearful of strangers and the outside world.

There are so many aspects to the story, humour, sadness, tension towards the end, even a little horror and gore. There’s also much poignancy to the relationship between the sisters and how they come to the realisation that maybe they’ve wasted away their entire lives on the basis of what happened during their formative years. Fab book, I really enjoyed it.

4.5 ⭐

I immediately warmed to Evelyn and Lily, two little old ladies, navigating their lives through routine, and tending the garden.
It becomes apparent very soon something I'd amiss. Why are they living just in the kitchen? What has gone on outside the walls of the garden? What's gone on withing the walls of the garden?
A little bit sinister at times, always having an edge of unease.
Hard to put down, and just not long enough in my opinion.

I’m not really sure how I would classify this. It a rather disturbing adult fairytale, a bit gothic, a bit horror and very dark. It’s a relatively short book which tells the story of sisters Evelyn and Lily who live alone in the family home, in the kitchen, with the rest of the house closed up and a walled garden keeping everyone out - or maybe them in! Told throughout in Evelyn’s POV this is a slow paced but completely compelling book about relationships and the complex human psyche.

Briefly, the sisters have no contact with the outside world. They grow their own fruit and vegetables, keep bees and chickens and spend their days tending these and their garden as their mother taught them to do. They are both elderly and both very different in personality, Evelyn is the serious one whereas Lily is more flighty and prone to breaking the rules imposed on them by their mother. But their lives are changed when an unnamed boy comes into their lives.

I can’t even begin to imagine how the terrible isolation must have affected the two women, they are now elderly so it must be around 60 years where they have had no conversation or interaction outside their own little world. Although it seemed like a bit of a cozy tale at first there was always a hint of menace in the background. Two amazing characters but whilst Evelyn was a martyr to her, or rather her mother’s, beliefs Lily’s free spirit railed against their lives once her curiosity was allowed free rein. A haunting piece of literary fiction, that won’t be for everyone, but which left me with a feeling of immense sadness for the sisters.

4.5⭐️

Evelyn and Lily have a beautiful garden, which is both their prison and their sanctuary. Using a book written by their mother they tend the garden and live their days together peacefully.

When a mysterious young boy appears their world changes and they see their live through different eyes.

This is a wonderul read. it is intriguing and beguilling. I loved the richly descriptive words and The plot is unlike anything I have read previously.

recommended read.

"The Garden" by Nick Newman invites us into a captivating yet enigmatic world, where two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, live in an isolated garden that is both their refuge and prison. Set in an ambiguous time and place, the novel explores themes of grief, memory, and the intricacies of human relationships.

The sisters' daily lives revolve around tending to their secluded home, following the instructions left by their mother in an almanac. Their peaceful existence is disrupted when they discover a mysterious boy hiding in the boarded-up house at the heart of their garden. This revelation raises numerous questions and forces Evelyn and Lily to confront unsettling truths about themselves, their sanctuary, and the world beyond.

As suspicions grow and allegiances shift, memories resurface, intertwining past and present in a complex narrative. The enigmatic boy serves as a catalyst, propelling the sisters on a journey of self-discovery and unearthing long-buried secrets.

Newman's lyrical prose creates an atmosphere rich with emotion, immersing readers in the haunting beauty of the garden. His vivid descriptions evoke a sense of place that is both enchanting and eerie, reflecting the turbulent emotions of the characters. While the slow pacing may not appeal to all readers, it allows for a deeper exploration of the characters' psyches and the themes at play.

The ambiance of the novel oscillates between tranquility and unease, with lush imagery contrasting the pervasive sorrow that underlies the story. Emotions run high as the characters confront their pasts, and moments of tenderness are often tinged with sadness, painting a nuanced portrait of the human experience.

This novel evokes the same haunting atmosphere as Grey Gardens, with a post-apocalyptic twist that adds an extra layer of intrigue.

Wow loved this book ! This deliciously twisty story kept me up late at night, desperate to know the outcome. A definite 5 stars

Rating: 4.5 stars

Oh, my melancholy heart rejoiced whilst reading this one.

‘The Garden’ by Nick Newman follows the lives of elderly sisters Evelyn and Lily, isolated from the rest of the world, or whatever is left of it, spending their days in their garden, with ghosts of memories and with each other. Until a boy shows up, and everything the sisters thought they knew comes into question.

It’s a small cast of characters, which means we get to know the ones we do meet well. The sisters really come to life throughout this book, I felt like I came to naturally understand both Evelyn and Lily’s point of views and thoughts. I liked their conversations with one another, I thought they flowed well and read realistically. I also liked that the boy was less of a in-your-face character and more of a plot line, I found he didn’t take away from the sisters and their stories but enhanced the main story well just with his presence, yet any questions I had were answered satisfactorily.

The overall vibe of the book is, in my opinion, exquisite. It has a sense of creepiness, a dose of melancholy, a dollop of heartbreak, with the setting of a desolate floral haven, slowly crumbling down.

This is a unique read, I think it’ll be a must read in 2025. It’s beautifully written and the story told is one that lingers in your mind.

Also, a very big thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC of this ebook!

The Garden is an eerie and hypnotic book that transports readers to a secluded world, where two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily, live in a walled garden. Their lives are solitary and routine, governed by the instructions left in an almanac by their late mother. The garden is all they have ever known, and the outside world is nothing but a forgotten memory—until a nameless boy is discovered hiding in a boarded-up house on their grounds. This sudden intrusion upends their quiet existence, raising questions about the boy’s origins and intentions, and forcing the sisters to confront unsettling truths about themselves and the world they thought they knew.

This book masterfully blends elements of mystery, horror, and speculative fiction. Though classified as sci-fi/fantasy, it feels more like a gothic mystery, with a constant sense of unease threading through the story. The atmosphere is beautifully crafted, dark and haunting, and the suspense builds steadily as the narrative shifts between the present and the sisters' hazy memories of the past.

Evelyn and Lily are compelling characters, each one revealing hidden layers as the story unfolds. Their relationship is complex, and as suspicions arise and loyalties shift, the tension between them becomes palpable. I found myself aligning with different characters at various points, which added to the unpredictability of the story.

While The Garden is a slow-paced book, the chapters are concise, and the third-person narration through Evelyn’s eyes keeps the reader engaged. The shifting timelines, especially the flashbacks, add depth and help heighten the sense of mystery.

Overall, The Garden is a darkly beautiful, atmospheric read. Its slow burn might not appeal to everyone, but for those who appreciate quiet tension and a deep, unsettling mystery, this is a book that lingers in the mind long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Bookreview.