The French Gardener

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Georgia is a very exceptional, beautiful, talented woman. She embodies the best of British eccentricity in the most glorious way. I knew her when I was a child, so I went to see her while researching the book. She was a great inspiration to me and I did think of her as I created Ava. I’ve never seen anyone wear dungarees with such style. Fortunately for her, I don’t know her well enough to base a character entirely on her, but I was inspired by her unconventional beauty, her animation, enthusiasm, joy and love. I haven’t looked for her online but she is a professional garden designer! This was the first book I'd read by this author and I did find it quite enjoyable. It's quite a 'gentle' romance, telling the dual stories of two women who live in the same house decades apart. One, Ava, has a happy marriage, a beautiful garden and wonderful kids, but still falls for the young French gardener. The other, Miranda, finds out her marriage isn't as strong or as happy as she thought, and while struggling to adapt to life in the country, starts to feel attraction for the new gardener!

Incorporate stone surfaces. Gravel paths and stone steps not only define the walking paths in a a French-style garden, but they can also provide much-needed drainage during a rainy season. Gravel and stonework will help keep weeds at bay, and we recommend laying down a weed-barrier fabric underneath your pathways. Miranda seems to be a city girl but finds her heart in the country. Where do you feel most at home? I have in fact made this very same comparison myself, here in my review of The Swallow and the Hummingbird, when I recommended her writing to all lovers of romantic fiction, especially fans of Rosamunde Pilcher. I really do believe in the magic of love and in the magic of nature. Ava and Jean-Paul pour all their love into the garden and create something magical. Jean-Paul teaches Miranda and her children to love nature and they flourish. Love makes ordinary things special—it’s all about perception and focus. The old cliché that love can change the world is the truest thing ever said! The only trouble with most of us is that we love conditionally. True love is unconditional. Infidelity abounds in the lives of the various characters in The French Gardener. Do you hope that readers will remain loyal to certain characters despite their flawed behavior? How do you see the affairs as differing from one another? Is one more forgivable than the next?

Santa Montefiore has been slowly winning me over. This is the third book I read by her and she has been proving me that she has it in her to write great and delightful stories. Of the three books I've read, this is the second one that I'll be rating 5 stars and that's good news both for me and for the author as I'll definitely keep reading her words. She is really good in writing about love, about people, about lives and also about magic.

Within this overall scheme, Le Nôtre set up a grid of smaller sections, each with its own individual design. Surrounding the palace are several parterres, flat and open zones arranged in ornamental patterns. The lower-lying areas are occupied by bosquets (groves), wooded outdoor salons configured in a variety of ingenious and unpredictable ways. Throughout, sculptures and fountains play an important role and demonstrate the union of art and nature. This week I read The French Gardener by Santa Montefiore. My bloggy friend, Linda, posted about it here, and I wanted to read it based on her review. I will keep my review brief and refer you to Linda's post. Linda also has another blog, News from Italy, I enjoy reading, too. Putting the infidelity to one side was not easy for me, but the portrayal of the magic of nature, and the garden in particular, was strong enough to keep me reading. The author obviously has a deep connection with the earth and countryside that shone through in her writing and resonated with my own love of the natural world. I liked how she understood the healing qualities of nature, especially with regards to Miranda’s children who blossom when they are allowed the freedom to explore the world around them. Georgia is a very exceptional, beautiful, talented woman. She embodies the best of British eccentricity in the most glorious way. Having known her as a child I went to see her while researching the book. She was a great inspiration to me and I did think of her as I created Ava. I’ve never seen anyone wear a dungarees with such style. Fortunately for her, I don’t know her well enough to base a character entirely on her, but I was inspired by her unconventional beauty, her animation, enthusiasm, joy and love. I haven’t looked for her on-line but she is a professional garden designer! Then an enigmatic Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda reads about his past in a diary she finds in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season, but generation after generation.

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Readers are always interested in which character an author aligns herself with. Is Miranda’s job as a writer and aspirations as a novelist a hint? Do you find it easiest to write about characters with whom you relate or ones you feel distant from? There wasn't a huge amount of suspense, but in romance books you sort of know who things will turn out. I would have liked to know more about the scrapbook itself, but it was a nice device to link the two time periods together.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below. Jean-Paul has been sent to work with ? who has the most beautiful gardens in the area. He comes across as an arrogant, shiftless playboy and she doesn't figure he'll last a week. But he works with her in her gardens, planting and weeding and watching her interact with her children and family. He sees how she teaches them and loves them and he begins to fall in love. She tells him she will not leave her children, they are too important to her. Oddly enough, I didn’t identify at all with Miranda. I’m a country girl through and through! I identified with Ava a little, but I imagine some of me went into both. I write from my heart without really intellectualizing things a great deal. I write what feels right. I find it just as easy to write about someone like me as someone very unlike me—sometimes the characters who are least like me are the most fun! I can be anyone I want to be and, for the duration of the book, live another life entirely! Can you give us some more insight into the poetic phrases that begin each chapter? How did you decide on these? How do you hope they set the tone for what follows in the chapter?

Table of Contents

It begins as Miranda and David Claybourne move into a country house with a once-beautiful garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness. How do you feel about Miranda’s decision to forgive David and move forward in their marriage? Has he proven himself to be a changed man? I enjoyed this book - of course, I cried through the last parts of it. It takes a look about what is important as a family. How do you hope readers will understand the “magic” of the garden at Hartington? Do you believe in real magic, or are you using the word figuratively? Can love make ordinary things and places magical?

I’m glad you asked this question! In my youth I wanted to be a singer songwriter. These are the words of a song I wrote aged 22 when a dear friend of mine was killed in a canoeing accident. It has a chorus but it wasn’t appropriate for the book. Like the phrases at the top of each chapter, these are Ava’s words from Spirit. They’re to Jean-Paul and they’re to my readers. The idea for this book came to me watching my children thriving in my parents’ garden on the farm where I grew up in Hampshire. I have always adored the countryside, but more than that I need it spiritually. Being essentially London children they began to plant vegetables and trees and watch them grow. They became more independent, more imaginative and surprisingly creative. I feel that all children should have access to such simple pleasures in a world where computer games and television dominate so many households. I’m glad you asked this question! In my youth I wanted to be a singer/songwriter. These are the words of a song I wrote aged twenty-two, when a dear friend of mine was killed in a canoeing accident. It has a chorus, but it wasn’t appropriate for the book. Like the phrases at the top of each chapter, these are Ava’s words from her spirit. They’re to Jean-Paul and they’re to my readers. Gus seems to act out violently as a result of his parents’ inattentiveness. Do you think his sins are ultimately forgivable, or should he be held responsible to some degree?I love romance novels, gardening, handsome mysterious strangers, and anything to do with England and France. Throw in thwarted love, a mysterious notebook, a cheating husband, a selfish woman learning to love, a grand manor house, and quirky small-town characters and you had me at hello.