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Jan 29, 2012

Hannah rated it:

Aussie author Kate Morton deftly managed to push nearly every one of my reading buttons with her lovely book, The Forgotten Garden:

1. Not so young woman with a haunted past - check
2. Not-so-fairy-Grandmother who bequeaths said woman an old house with a mysterious history - check
3. Said old, mysterious house is actually a cottage on the wild Cornish coast, complete with a hidden garden, a handsome neighbor, and the faintest suggestion of the supernatural - check
4. Sa More...

15 comments like (40 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2010

Kat rated it:

*Kat looks at The Forgotten Garden*

*Kat looks at the beckoning stack of other books to read*

*Kat looks back at the first 33 pages of The Forgotten Garden*

*Kat groans*

So basically there's this woman. Let's call her Stupidhead because I couldn't care enough to remember her name. She finds out on her 21st birthday party that her loving, adoring family is not her biological family. They found her as a very small child and cared enough to take her in More...

108 comments like (108 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Karla rated it:

I really became quite enchanted with this tale and really loved the interwoven bewitching dark fairy tales that added more dimentions to this novel. It was a mystery that had me second guessing myself several times. Every time I had it all figured out a new chink was added to the chain of clues. I think the style of writing was superbly done, not often can I say that. I loved the way each chapter transported me to another time and a different POV spanning the generation of women in the family. I More...

6 comments like (18 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Kathy rated it:

Sometimes when people keep recommending a book, you should listen and read that book. The Forgotten Garden is such a book. You finally read it and end up wondering why in the world you waited so long. Kate Morton provides the intricate layering of different times and places in a masterful manner, gifting the reader with a story that captures the imagination and heart completely. Nell, as the lost child, is the pivotal character around which all mysteries and actions revolve. A tale that begi More...

20 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2010

Cheryl/Aradanryl rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is an easy read, and yet gave me room to pause as I stopped to think. I like books that let me do that without pounding me into a pulp on the way. I suspect the book might appeal more to women then men and it would be a good choice of several of the reading circles I know.

My only regret: that Eliza's book of fairy tales isn't a real book.

Things I like knowing before I buy a book: No profanity that I noticed. Respectful story-specific re More...

0 comments like (24 people liked it)

May 12, 2011

ruzmarì rated it:

I am breaking silence here to gush about Kate Morton. Her fiction is carefully researched and crafted, and the writing itself is luminous. The Forgotten Garden unwinds like a fairy tale, slowly curling off the spool where ambiguously benefic crones have wound it. We jump back and forth between present-day Australia where a young woman mourns the mysterious grandmother who inspired her as a child, to England at the turn of the last century where an affluent family in a small coastal town conspire More...

4 comments like (16 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Chris rated it:

I almost didn't buy this book. I got my copy at the used book stall at the local Spring Fair. I was little torn about it. The phrase "New York Times Bestseller" usually means I won't like it (take, for instance, my reaction to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane). Then I read the back and looked at the inside cover. Anything that uses Arthur Rackham (Illustrator) pictures deserves a shot, and it was only two dollars.

I'm glad I give this book a chance because it is goo More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2008

LindyLouMac rated it:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6182...

I found this as engrossing as her debut which I read earlier this year. This time Kate Morton has written an intriguing mystery that started in the 1900’s and is not fully unravelled until 2005. It is told as three stories covering three generations combining to give us clues along the way.
Maybe the ending was a little predictable but I certainly did not guess all the answers to the mysteries along the way.
The protagonist is Nell More...

0 comments like (18 people liked it)

Aug 07, 2009

Laura rated it:

While this is ostensibly a novel of secrets spanning four generations, most of the “secrets” are fairly obvious. I kept waiting for the blow to fall — murder? incest? buried treasure?? Alas, no. The narration shifts among different-but-related storylines, all of which, to be fair, I found intriguing: in 1913 a child who can’t remember her name turns up on an Australian dock carrying a book of fairy tales; in 2005 her granddaughter tries to uncover the mysteries of a hidden garden in Cornwall; in More...

7 comments like (34 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Tiffany rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Sammy rated it:

This is another one of those good, casual reads that you do actually need to devote a bit of focus to. Not really to follow the story itself, but more to keep track of the characters. The basic gist of The Forgotten Garden is that you're following three different characters, in three different times, down one storyline.

As fun, genuine, and engrossing as the book was there was nothing super remarkable about it. The characters, quite frankly, are typical and nothing special. The st More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2011

Megan rated it:

I feel a bit conflicted about what rating to give this book. On the one hand, I loved and devoured the last three hundred pages of this book. I found Cassandra, Nell, and Eliza to all be compelling characters and I grew attached to each of them individually. The writing is really beautiful, even poetic in parts, and I loved the weaving of Eliza's fairy tales throughout. I also really enjoyed the setup of the book, with the three women narrating and the way Morton wove everything together so More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Chelsea rated it:

I read 549 pages and that was the reveal? Really?

God, I was bored. I only stuck it out because I figured the book had to be building up to something. And I suppose that technically, it was. Just not anything particularly interesting or worth waiting for. I get it, everyone in the book has mother/child abandonment issues.

I think this book really wanted to be The Thirteenth Tale, but didn't have the balls (if you pardon the inaccurate expression, what with how female-c More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2011

Barbara rated it:

***Added Later:

My summary of this book would have to be this: it is an oddly-plotted book about very stupid people written in lovely language.

But oh, the idiot characters. Honestly. Why would Nell be such a twitty jerk to her fiance and adoptive family? Why on earth would Eliza act as she did? Sorry; don't buy it.

-----------------------

Figured out what "happened" (the mystery of the little girl on the boat) earlier on and scanned much More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Liz rated it:

I loved, Loved, LOVED this book!!! It is one of my favorite books read to date.
I thought the language & description in the book was so beautiful. It really captured me straight from the beginning.
I also loved how she interlaced the different narratives to slowly bring the mystery together. Something would be hinted about or questioned in one narrative & then it would be explained in the next one. What a creative writer!

*SPOILER ALERT*

More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2010

Megan rated it:

I gave this a four because I LOVED it and read it very fast up until about 3/4 of the way through. I still liked it after that, but it suddenly breached the line of "over done" at that point (in my opinion), and got just a tiny bit too cheesy. I was also a little annoyed with what I think the author thought were subtle references to The Secret Garden which were not at all subtle(the names Archibald and Mary, the sickly cousin who orders people around, the dark and mysterious mansion, t More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 27, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

I loved every page of this book, including the hokey stuff.
This is definitely comfort reading, but it's not chick lit and it's not oversimplified. It had enough plot complexity to keep my grown-up mind engaged. At the same time, it had enough enchantment and mystery to appeal to the little girl I once was. I was happy to discover that little girl is still in there, and she still believes in magical gardens and strange coincidences.

This is a long and lovely story about a woman More...

11 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2009

Ali rated it:

This is a really an unputdownable book, and quite a quick read despite being over 600 pages long. I have to say I liked it much more than House at Riverton. The plot is a fascinating one, and the narrative moves back and forth in time. We meet Nell as a young child, a woman in her sixties and as she lies dying aged 95. The action takes us from Brisbane Australia in 2005, and the 1970's, to the London of 1900 and 2005, and also to cornwall of the early 1900's and the 1970's and again 2005. The no More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Aug 29, 2008

Annalee rated it:

This is another hefty tome from the bestselling author of 'The House at Riverton'. The tale meanders back and forth from the early 1900s to 1975 and 2005. I don't usually mind stories that jump around in time, but even for me, this one was a little disjointed. By far the most interesting (to me) part of the book was set in the 1900s and I felt that with a bit of tweaking, one could do away with the most modern characters completely!

It is a tale full of secrets, and it is the unravell More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2010

Carla rated it:

Nem sei muito bem por onde “pegar” esta review, é que se passa tanta tanta coisa que, consequentemente, tenho muito muito que dizer. Mas suponho que posso começar com um: adorei e quero mais.

O Jardim dos Segredos foi então a minha estreia na obra da australiana Kate Morton, uma compra absolutamente aleatória (quer dizer… a capa bonita ajudou) num solarengo dia de Inverno quando fui às compras por outro motivo qualquer que não livros, e fiquei fã.

Este The Forgotten Garden, More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2009

Philip rated it:

I've just finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, which will be
published in the U.S. in April. I didn't finish her first book, THE HOUSE AT RIVERTON, because it was so annoyingly derivative of Barbara Vine and Daphne du Maurier (it even opened with a rephrasing of REBECCA’s famous opening). However, GARDEN is a good read, though I found it rather padded and protracted.

What is a four year-old girl doing alone on a ship that has
sailed from England to Australia? What More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2009

Amanda rated it:

This was a very enjoyable read. I loved dipping into the early twentieth century in London, the West Country (England) and Australia. It was a great combination of interesting characters, history and solving a century-old mystery. I'm looking forward to reading 'The House at Riverton'.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Bayshore rated it:

The Forgotten Garden is told through the viewpoints of three women spanning over 100 years. Each mystery leads to another with fairytales written by one of the main characters sprinkled throughout. Save time for this one – once you begin you will not want to put it down!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Cynthia rated it:

This was a wonderful stories incompassing generations. Lots of questions of heritage and probing for the truth,with a great resolve at the end.

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2011

Gina rated it:

I was disappointed that I didn't enjoy this book more but glad it was a book club choice because that kept me reading when I would have abandoned it early on. I was forced to figure out why I so easily could have put the book down. I found it very one dimensional with the only draw to keep reading was to figure out the mystery presented in the first chapter, of why a little girl was apparently abandoned. Somehow the writing didn't grip me enough to want to find out the answer and I kept hoping t More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 21, 2009

Grace rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Laura rated it:

I loved this book. After her Grandmother's death, Cassandra stumbles upon the mystery of her Grandmothers origin and decides to see if she can figure out what happened. Her grandmother was found at a boatyard at the age of four with a small suitcase. She is brought home by a dock worker and has a wonderful childhood with her "parents" and eventually some sisters. At the age of 21, her father tells her about finding her. Nell (as named by the couple that found her) ends up devoting More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Carrie rated it:

A really good book. It did take me a bit to get into the story--the first few chapters had a lot going on and jumped around a bit with all the different characters and time periods. But, after I began to "know" the characters it became much easier to get into the story.
This is one of those books with lots of layers. At first, you see the big picture of Nell's parents, Rose & Nathanial,(for example)parents who loved their daughter dearly and who tragically died when she was only More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Lindsey rated it:

I'd really like to rate this book 3.5 stars, but in choosing integers, it doesn't quite rate a 4.

I enjoyed the overall storyline of the book. The writing is solid and pulls you into the story; Morton uses some beautiful prose to describe various scenes and particularly the emotions within certain points in time. The characters are average, likable but not vivid in a way that makes you feel as though you know them. The plot line is also solid; there are no gaping holes or unexplain More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 10, 2011

Rose rated it:

Simply enchanting. I can't think of a better word for this wonderful, mysterious, strange story or shall I say "stories".

The book spans over a 100 years through the eyes of 3 women. In 1900's a small girl is left abandoned on a ship, is found and adopted by the harbormaster and his wife, whom they call Nell. This starts the tale of intrigue that surrounds her. As she grows to womanhood and is told of her beginnings and how her family is really not her biological family, More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

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