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Seeing these women grow together and Libby’s healing was quite therapeutic to read. Coupled with this, the writer’s descriptions of the gardens sounded amazing and I actually found myself having green-fingered envy! Yet, whilst the grounds that Elfrida has designed seem perfect, life has become the juxtaposition to this. Libby has discovered her soon to be husband has been sleeping with her best friend and flees to Larkspur House to stay with her great aunt Bess and her aunt’s friend Elfrida. Libby has gone to decide what to do with her life, but ends up finding out more than she expected. July 1981. As the country prepares to celebrate Prince Charles' wedding to Lady Diana, Libby flees London - and her cheating fiancé Marcus - for the Suffolk countryside. July 1981. As the country prepares to celebrate Prince Charles’ wedding to Lady Diana, Libby flees London – and her cheating fiancé Marcus – for the Suffolk countryside.
A Secret Garden Affair | Jan 28 2023 - event.gives A Secret Garden Affair | Jan 28 2023 - event.gives
Libby hopes to find a way forward in the house which has happy childhood memories and the magical garden created and maintained by ElfridaIn the present, Libby is learning to rebuild her life and to trust her heart to someone else. More than that, though, she is discovering the family she thought she knew isn’t what is seems. Inspired by Norah Lindsey the socialite and garden designer, this novel contains an insight into life between the Wars. The characters are captivating as we hear of past events which moulded them to what they had become in later life. It’s both a sad and joyous novel, full of suspense and the transition between the different time periods is very skilful, encouraging the reader to continue forward. Set in the 1970s in the summer of Charles and Diana’s wedding, I found it unusual that the ‘present day’ was still fifty years in the past. On reflection, I think this is intended to highlight the limited choices that women still faced with employment. Attending secretarial school and being office assistants was still an accepted role with the men usually in more dominant careers. Being a woman in the 1970s still meant being there for the husband and creating the perfect family home. Therefore, when Libby’s engagement ends along with her self-employed business share with her ex-best friend, she finds herself drawn to Bess and Elfrida, the constants in her life.
A Secret Garden Affair by Erica James | Goodreads
Suffolk, 1981: whilst the entire country seems gripped by Royal Wedding fever, Libby, the heroine of James’s 25th novel, wants to get as far away from it as possible, for on the brink of marrying her fiancé, she has discovered him in flagrante with her best friend. Libby takes refuge with two eccentric old ladies one can imagine on screen played by Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. One is her great-aunt Bess, a former lady’s maid, and the other Elfrida, a society beauty in the 1920s but a deeply unconventional one, who eschewed marriage to build a satisfying career as a garden designer, in the footsteps of Norah Lindsay and Gertrude Jekyll. Its blurb describes the novel as a ‘love story from long ago’, referring doubtless to Elfrida’s clandestine relationship with a glamorous White Russian – for this novel is really her story, entwined with that of the loyal Bess, who being of a different social class has had to face threats of another kind. However, it could equally well refer to Libby’s emotional troubles. There is a beautiful friendship between two ladies that has lasted almost a lifetime. Over the years they have shared each other’s confidences and kept each others secrets. We are introduced to three strong women whose stories are all entwined, we have Libby who was a bride to be until just before the wedding she walked in on her fiancé and bestfriend. Libby needed to escape and she knew the one place she could find comfort and support would be at Larkspur House with her great aunt Bess and Elfrida. The Secret Garden Affair immerses you in the world of beautiful gardens, and difficult family relationships through the eyes of three women - young Libby who has had her heart broken, and the two characters who have been a steady influence on her throughout her life, Elfrida and Bess. Libby heads to Larkspur House looking for stability as a time when she cannot trust her own feelings, but little does she know that former socialite Elfrida and her close friend (and her former lady's maid) Bess have been keeping secrets from her too.Larkspur House felt like a character to me. It wrapped its magic around me (much like it did to Libby and Daniel) and I felt sad when I had to say goodbye. I loved Laura Aikman’s narration, she was superb at all the different characters through the decades. Another heartbreaking but glorious tale of secrets and love from the Sunday Times bestselling author Erica James…
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