the forgotten garden kate morton summary

By about a third of the way through I was convinced I had figured out who dunnit, as I think many readers will be. The plot is involved and interesting enough to keep the reader turning pages. The characters develop well: Morton binds the sisters in an intricate tangle of love and duty and resentment. This book is filled with wonderful prose (“And then had come the rain, great sobbing drops that brought an immediate sheen to the world.” and “The room bore an unmistakeable signature of stillness”). Juniper still waits for the expected fiancé who never arrived. Whilst there, she hears something of the events of 50 years previous that have left Juniper stuck on October 29th, 1941. She meets the elderly sisters Blythe: the twins, Persephone (Percy) and Seraphina (Saffy) and the much younger (and mad) Juniper (June), during a tour of the Castle. Sometime later, Edith’s publishing job takes her near Milderhurst Castle, where she is drawn to know more about the place her mother stayed, the place that was also home to the famous author, Raymond Blythe. Her daughter Edith watches her reaction and is inwardly sceptical when her mother dismisses the letter as unimportant. The letter is from one of the Blythe sisters of Milderhurst Castle in Kent, to where Meredith was evacuated from London during the war. The story begins when Meredith Burchill receives a letter that has been delayed by 50 years. The novel plays out over two time periods: the early 1940s and 50 years later.

The Distant Hours is Australian author, Kate Morton’s third novel.

The forgotten garden kate morton summary