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22nd out of 265 books
—
849 voters
The Unfinished Garden
by
Barbara Claypole White (Goodreads Author)
James Nealy is haunted by irrational fears and inescapable compulsions. A successful software developer, he's thrown himself into a new goal—to finally conquer the noise in his mind. And he has a plan. He'll confront his darkest fears and build something beautiful: a garden. When he meets Tilly Silverberg, he knows she holds the key…even i...more
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
August 28th 2012
by Harlequin MIRA
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This is a harlequin. I did not know that when I started. If you like romance novels, you will likely love it. It is atmospheric, there is good romantic tension, and there are interesting plot devices like OCD and unexplained guilt. That, however, was not what I was looking for.
My favorite line, un-ironically uttered by Our Hero: ""You're in danger, Matilda Rose, of becoming my greatest obsession." It pretty much sums the book up. If this book were a movie, that would totally be the tag line.
When...more
My favorite line, un-ironically uttered by Our Hero: ""You're in danger, Matilda Rose, of becoming my greatest obsession." It pretty much sums the book up. If this book were a movie, that would totally be the tag line.
When...more
Oct 11, 2012
Kaethe
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
age-adult,
contemporary,
domesticity,
fiction,
friendship,
house-as-character,
parenting,
realistic,
romance,
nc,
uk
The book is at it's best when the author just lets it flow. I like the characters of Tilly, her family, and friends, I love the way Jame's OCD is handled, I even liked the stuff about gardening, which isn't normally a topic to draw me. An enjoyable story with some meat to it, and a pleasing romance. I look forward to more from this author.
***
Updated 10/11/2012: Attended a reading/talk last night with the author, in recognition of OCD awareness week. She was amazing, charming, forthright, and eng...more
***
Updated 10/11/2012: Attended a reading/talk last night with the author, in recognition of OCD awareness week. She was amazing, charming, forthright, and eng...more
Tilly is a gardener, a widow with a young child. She loves to dig and plant, and walk through weeds and tangle. She also likes to push away affection as punishment for the guilt she feels for her husband's death. Enter a stranger, James, who changes everything. What I appreciated most about this story was the author's ability to get inside James' struggle with life-stopping OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder),and the impact this disorder has on how he lives and loves. The scourge of James' perfe...more
Through "The Unfinished Garden," Barbara Claypole White brings an uncommon depth and elegance to a beautiful love story. The protagonist, Tilly, struggles to move past the death of her husband by throwing her energies into her son, Isaac, and her North Carolina gardening business.
When a wealthy and somewhat dashing James Nealy offers an exorbitant fee to landscape his new home, Tilly flatly refuses. But the quirky software developer shows a remarkable persistence, even following her to her child...more
When a wealthy and somewhat dashing James Nealy offers an exorbitant fee to landscape his new home, Tilly flatly refuses. But the quirky software developer shows a remarkable persistence, even following her to her child...more
Sep 30, 2012
Sam
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
those who enjoy light general fiction
Recommended to Sam by:
sent by publisher
When I first opened The Unfinished Garden, I thought it would be a predictable story about a widow finding love again. How wrong I was! The novel is much more than a single storyline – it twists multiple lines about family, friendship, grief, health and love – in a pleasing package.
The novel opens on our protagonist Tilly, who is working in her garden/business, Piedmont Perennials. Her friend and colleague suggests she should expand what is an already successful business even further, but Tilly...more
The novel opens on our protagonist Tilly, who is working in her garden/business, Piedmont Perennials. Her friend and colleague suggests she should expand what is an already successful business even further, but Tilly...more
About fifteen minutes ago I finished reading The Unfinished Garden. Coming to the end is bittersweet, really. For the last week, I've carried Barbara Claypole White’s novel with me everywhere, picking it up in spare moments, even if only to read a few sentences before moving on to my next task. I must admit that I attempted to race through each page, eager to uncover more and more of the saga between Tilly and James; however, I was constantly slowed down by the sheer beauty of the author’s words...more
Tilly Silverberg loves her garden.
After her husband had passed away, her garden and her thriving plant business is her sanctuary. Between that and her son Isaac, Tilly finds enough to keep her mind busy and to avoid sticking a toe out beyond her own little world. Its safe in Tilly's world and it is enough.
James Nealy has money to spare and when he wants something... it is just a matter of tossing money at it to make it so. As an in demand software developer he has trouble quieting the activity i...more
After her husband had passed away, her garden and her thriving plant business is her sanctuary. Between that and her son Isaac, Tilly finds enough to keep her mind busy and to avoid sticking a toe out beyond her own little world. Its safe in Tilly's world and it is enough.
James Nealy has money to spare and when he wants something... it is just a matter of tossing money at it to make it so. As an in demand software developer he has trouble quieting the activity i...more
The Unfinished Garden is a beautifully written, heart wrenching love story. The novel centers on Tilly Silverberg, a young widow raising her son Isaac. She has a successful business that demands her attention, and which she uses as an excuse to hide from the world, and to escape the guilt she feels over her beloved husband’s death.
And then James Nealy, an attractive man who has retired young from his successful business as a software developer, shows up one night at Tilly’s house. James suffers...more
And then James Nealy, an attractive man who has retired young from his successful business as a software developer, shows up one night at Tilly’s house. James suffers...more
The Unfinished Garden by Barbara Claypole White
ISBN: 9780778314127
Tilly heads back to England with her young son to help with her mom who's had a fall and will be recuperating. It will be the summer and she just loves the combinations of flowers once she sees her hometown again. Her husband, a college professor has been dead for years. Her gardening has always sustained her.
Her house in NC is similar and others want to hire her to make their gardens like hers. James Nealy has OCD and won't take...more
ISBN: 9780778314127
Tilly heads back to England with her young son to help with her mom who's had a fall and will be recuperating. It will be the summer and she just loves the combinations of flowers once she sees her hometown again. Her husband, a college professor has been dead for years. Her gardening has always sustained her.
Her house in NC is similar and others want to hire her to make their gardens like hers. James Nealy has OCD and won't take...more
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I am a sucker for romances that feature damaged characters but this one didn't quite do it for me. It was well written, and the author creates good chemistry between hero and heroine. But the emotional baggage is piled on so heavily that it weighs down the romance and makes it difficult to believe that there can be a true HEA ending. Having a hero with OCD is a challenge enough, but also having him be guilt-ridden about his relationships with various family members? Likewise, the heroine is not...more
3.5 Stars
The Unfinished Garden initially centers around Tilly, a widow, who is raising her son and keeping up with a gardening business. Her meeting with James, who suffers from OCD, starts a journey that follows her to her native England. Although the premise of James following her overseas is a bit far fetched in my mind, his OCD was written about very realistically and he develops as a sympathetically flawed character. Although I never really felt connected to the people in the sub-plot, I di...more
The Unfinished Garden initially centers around Tilly, a widow, who is raising her son and keeping up with a gardening business. Her meeting with James, who suffers from OCD, starts a journey that follows her to her native England. Although the premise of James following her overseas is a bit far fetched in my mind, his OCD was written about very realistically and he develops as a sympathetically flawed character. Although I never really felt connected to the people in the sub-plot, I di...more
The Unfinished Garden was a really good read. It wasn't too hard to understand, and it was a very pulling story. Every chapter I read made me want to read more to see, to find out what DID happen to this guy in the past, why IS this person's mother like this?
I liked learning about British culture through this work. I have not yet gotten to visit London or England at all, and experiencing some of it through this book has helped shaped my views of the world better.
I personally hope Barbara White m...more
I liked learning about British culture through this work. I have not yet gotten to visit London or England at all, and experiencing some of it through this book has helped shaped my views of the world better.
I personally hope Barbara White m...more
I thought this was a lovely, lovely book.
I have not had any experience with OCD as described in this book, but I certainly came away from this with a totally new understanding of it. James needs his rituals to avoid having horrible, horribly things happen. He equates dirt with the death of his mother by cancer, and can barely stand to look at someone with soiled hands, let alone touch it himself. But he is determined to take his life back, and decides he need to learn to garden. He decides on Ti...more
I have not had any experience with OCD as described in this book, but I certainly came away from this with a totally new understanding of it. James needs his rituals to avoid having horrible, horribly things happen. He equates dirt with the death of his mother by cancer, and can barely stand to look at someone with soiled hands, let alone touch it himself. But he is determined to take his life back, and decides he need to learn to garden. He decides on Ti...more
The Unfinished Garden is a beautiful story. I don't read romance but the writing here is so textural and the voice is so rich that I fell into it and couldn't put it down. The story and the relationships have substance and it is the characters' enduring faults and strengths that make them so lovable. An absolutely lovely book, a memorable one.
3.5 stars
This book managed to surprise me in several ways. So instead of the typical 2 stars I would give to a "weekend romance", I'm upping this to 3.5.
And here's the why:
1) I wouldn't have guessed that it was a Harlequin romance, and yet, there it was on the last page. I'm not a big fan of Harlequin novels, they are just not my style of romance. In this one, I liked the characters, they had believable problems, and I can't dislike a book about gardening, can I?
2) Most romance novels don't deal...more
This book managed to surprise me in several ways. So instead of the typical 2 stars I would give to a "weekend romance", I'm upping this to 3.5.
And here's the why:
1) I wouldn't have guessed that it was a Harlequin romance, and yet, there it was on the last page. I'm not a big fan of Harlequin novels, they are just not my style of romance. In this one, I liked the characters, they had believable problems, and I can't dislike a book about gardening, can I?
2) Most romance novels don't deal...more
Barbara Claypole White gifts the reader with a lush setting, a heartbroken heroine, and a hero with a crippling disability in this unusual and lovely novel. The author describes the beauty of North Carolina and England, the two primary settings, with vivid details that transport the reader. Some of my favorite passages are the descriptions of the landscape and the gardens. Tilly is trying to keep herself and her young son together following her husband's premature death and is a compelling chara...more
I just closed the pages of this beautiful book with tears in my eyes and hope for humanity.
Set in the US and the UK, The Unfinished Garden is the story of a widow and her son trying to make a new place in the world. Tilly can either choose to recreate her past with an old love, Sebastian, or forge ahead with a new future, and James; neither choice is easy, but one will save her.
Dealing with family issues of caring for ailing parents, raising children well, OCD, and physical ailments, The Unfini...more
Set in the US and the UK, The Unfinished Garden is the story of a widow and her son trying to make a new place in the world. Tilly can either choose to recreate her past with an old love, Sebastian, or forge ahead with a new future, and James; neither choice is easy, but one will save her.
Dealing with family issues of caring for ailing parents, raising children well, OCD, and physical ailments, The Unfini...more
I received this book free from Reading Group Guides. If I had known it was a Harlequin I would not have requested a copy of it. The folks at Reading Group Guides are so generous with their wonderful books and this is the first I have not liked. But I am not a fan of pure romance. Mix some mystery in and I may well enjoy in but pure romance... not so much. This was a Harlequin so pure romance. I thought perhaps the OCD angle would save it. (I trained to be a therapist at one time so this intrigue...more
The Unfinished Garden is so much more than a romance: White writes about two "damaged" people who find each other but must battle their own demons before they find a happily ever after. Tilly has lost her husband but loves her gardening business, and James is struggling with OCD and sees gardening as his shot at redemption.
Both good and bad reside in Tilly and James, two very real characters who aren't perfect and know it. Guilt and grief, change and redemption kept me turning the pages of this...more
Both good and bad reside in Tilly and James, two very real characters who aren't perfect and know it. Guilt and grief, change and redemption kept me turning the pages of this...more
The garden is the perfect metaphor for the change, growth, potential and obstacles the characters within An Unfinished Garden encounter. Ever changing with the seasons, growing, blooming, resting. All transferable to our lives.
"The English author H.E. Bates said that a finished garden is a dead garden. ... It'll take a lifetime. A garden's a work in progress without end." (page 363)
But then again, so are life and love works in progress. And as satisfying a thought that is, so is An Unfinished G...more
"The English author H.E. Bates said that a finished garden is a dead garden. ... It'll take a lifetime. A garden's a work in progress without end." (page 363)
But then again, so are life and love works in progress. And as satisfying a thought that is, so is An Unfinished G...more
A lively British voice, a satisfying tangle of interconnected relationships, and, above all, a marvelous rendering of the most unconventional hero I've recently encountered in fiction. I'm not a regular reader of love stories, but this is anything but a garden variety tale of boy meets girl. (Mea culpa for the godawful pun.) A valiant and successful effort to portray a complex character who happens to be battling a punishing behavioral disorder and to make that character, rather than the disorde...more
I received an early review copy of The Unfinished Garden from NetGalley. This was truly a lovely story. Major characters, Tilly and James, and minor characters, Isaac, Rowena, and Sebastian, effectively play off each other's strengths and foibles to explore their feelings of loss and grief, and in turn, their joy and rediscovery of hope and trust. Readers will enjoy the lush setting details in both venues--North Carolina and rural England, as well as Claypole White's use of gardening as metaphor...more
A Recommended Read! A women's fiction novel that brilliantly contradicts uniformity with quirky characters in need of stability amongst their inner chaos. Tilly and James are uniquely flawed individuals whose friendship encompasses more than just a boy meets girl story. This novel unabashedly dives into psychological fears created by death, guilt and OCD, testing friendships beyond the normal range with humor, vivid emotion and understanding.Full review also available at the TBR Mountain Range...more
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Barbara Claypole White has created such a likable, adorable, entertaining main character that I never wanted this book to end! I predict an explosion of children named "Tilly" in 2013! Hanging out with her was so much fun -- I wrung my hands with her when she was troubled, I laughed at her self-effacing humor, and I really felt her love for her family and her child. Part of the magic was White's narrative style -- it's third person that feels like first, so immediate and engaging. This wonderful...more
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It was the type of book I wanted to read all in one sitting because I was enjoying it so much but I had to keep stopping because I didn't want it to end. A novel about a young widow with all the loss and regrets that become a daily part of life. Her relationship with her son is delightful and she loves her work. As a widow there were many instances in the book that struck a chord with me. The sadness was there but promise that life can get better again.
This is a great first book by a local author. I loved reading about a gardener as the main character since I am a gardener myself. It takes place in two places that I love: North Carolina and England. Ms. White does a great job of telling the tales of a widow who is recovering from her husband's death and a man who is dealing with OCD. I have had experience with both and she does a wonderful job writing about the characters emotions and actions. I am looking forward to more from Ms. White in the...more
The Unfinished Garden is a lovely romance that centers on the life of a young widow, Tilly, who uses gardening to work through her personal grief over her husbands death. James, a software developer with his own struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, has made it his mission to get Tilly to help him create a garden of his own. The rich characterizations and storyline and beautiful depictions of the landscape, combined with flawed but likeable characters makes this a more robust and realist...more
As an alleged gardener myself in North Carolina, the gardening aspects of this were interesting. But I felt the story bogged down as the characters continually talked talked talked about their lives and yet not much really happened and the sheer volume of interiority was too much for me. For folks dealing with OCD and grief, it might be compelling and helpful.
I downloaded this book from my library's digital collection because it concerned gardens. After my last book that was important. Then I discovered it was a Harlequin. Well, some authors I respect started that way. So read it anyway. And it is better than I expected.
True, there is the formulaic romantic progression of the genre, but the OCD of a main character and how he deals with it provides enough interest for.me.to give it the three stars.
True, there is the formulaic romantic progression of the genre, but the OCD of a main character and how he deals with it provides enough interest for.me.to give it the three stars.
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I grew up in rural England, studied history at York University, and worked in the London fashion industry before falling in love with an American professor I met at JFK Airport. Twenty-five years later, we live in the North Carolina forest with our award-winning poet / musician / lyricist son.
I love all things gardening and all things OCD. My debut novel, THE UNFINISHED GARDEN, is a love story abo...more
More about Barbara Claypole White...
I love all things gardening and all things OCD. My debut novel, THE UNFINISHED GARDEN, is a love story abo...more
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