In March 1941, Virginia Woolf filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself in England’s River Ouse. Her body was found three weeks late...
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Jul 02, 2011
Maggie
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I wish I had read this novel before I had read The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, which I hated. The White Garden had many ingredients which should make a book enjoyable for me: A literary tie-in (Virginia Woolf!), a gardening tie-in, quick pacing, an English setting, and decent writing. But unfortunately the plot was a few too many shades close to Physick Book for comfort.
First of all, I understand that people find and/or return rare books all the time - remember Hitler's stolen a More...
First of all, I understand that people find and/or return rare books all the time - remember Hitler's stolen a More...
Mar 26, 2011
Toni
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I suppose the term "literary mystery" can mean one or both of two things: a mystery about a literary figure and/or literary production, or a mystery that is something other (or more) than a genre novel (examples include Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time or Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars). A. S. Byatt's Possession is really a literary mystery in both senses. The White Garden is certainly a literary mystery in the first. In the end, it is more plot-driven
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Aug 05, 2010
Susan
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I read this novel, which is written by a family friend, just after visiting Sissinghurst (the very famous gardens of Vita Sackville-West) where Virginia Woolf spent time. But I read it with some trepidation - I'm always nervous about any fiction involving Virginia Woolf because I'm such a purist about her - my adoration so deep - and so I took this on with some skepticism. As it turns out, I really enjoyed it. The sense of place in this novel is hugely important - and rarely have I had the pl
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Aug 03, 2010
Carl
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I scarcely know how to begin, not something a reviewer should admit publically, I suppose. This wonderfully realized and written novel is a first class literary mystery. It deals with a three-week period in l941 that marks the end of a troubled life, the life of Virginia Woolf. It is serendipitous that this novel comes to my hand at a time that epitomizes a good deal of what she was all about. In a word, independence. Independence for women and independence for writers.
Virginia Wo More...
Virginia Wo More...
Jan 10, 2010
Lynda
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As a gardener I've long been enchanted by Vita Sack-Ville West's White Garden. I love that the White Garden itself was a prominent character in the novel. A garden is always in transition, it's ephemeral, it's endures over time with care. A garden is a memory and a dream of the future at the same time. A garden visibly exists in the here and now.
Barron uses the elements of a past, present and future of a garden as the framework of her story. Jock, Vita, Virginia and Harold-the past, More...
Barron uses the elements of a past, present and future of a garden as the framework of her story. Jock, Vita, Virginia and Harold-the past, More...
Dec 27, 2009
Ash
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Stephanie Barron's The White Garden is a fictional attempt to understand what happened to Virginia Woolf during the three weeks after Leonard read her suicide note and she was actually found in the river. I normally get hung up on things like facts and how true to the story an author is staying, but I could not put this book down. When Jo Bellamy tells her grandfather, Jock, that she is going to Sissinghurst Castle to copy The White Garden for a client he says all the right things. After all, it
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Jan 19, 2010
Sandy
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Interesting for its history, however there are some really excruciatingly, annoying, narcissistic and self-serving characters and a central character is very irritating and weak...... oh well, rather on par with Barron's other lightweight "Jane Austen" mysteries. (written as I was reading)
(When finished) As I continued reading, I found myself more engaged in the story and the mystery. The history of Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, John Maynard Keynes, the 'Apostles' as More...
(When finished) As I continued reading, I found myself more engaged in the story and the mystery. The history of Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, John Maynard Keynes, the 'Apostles' as More...
Mar 03, 2010
Leslie
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Barron casts Virginia Woolf as an unwilling witness to espionage in this erudite literary thriller that entwines a bold re-imagining of the end of Woolf's life with a landscape architect's search for meaning in her grandfather's suicide while studying the famous White Garden of Sissinghurst - Woolf's friend and lover Vita Sackville-West's home - to reproduce for a client.
Clever, well-researched, and suspenseful, The White Garden will appeal to fans of works such as Byatt's Possession More...
Clever, well-researched, and suspenseful, The White Garden will appeal to fans of works such as Byatt's Possession More...
Oct 13, 2009
Dorothy
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As a gardener and an admirer of Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen series, I was very interested to read this book. I can't say that it quite lived up to my hopes for it, but in the end, I did find it an enjoyable and interesting read for its historical touches and for the bits of gardening lore. Barron seems to have an instinctive feel for gardens and gardening and I wondered if perhaps she herself is a gardener.
The thread that this tale hangs by is Barron's imagining that Virginia Wo More...
The thread that this tale hangs by is Barron's imagining that Virginia Wo More...
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Sep 20, 2010
Juliet
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I have renewed this one from the library as many times as I can, thinking I wanted to finish it- even if I didn't much like it or care what happens to the characters. Why do we do this to ourselves? I wish that instead of being a book about a modern character reading an old journal this had been set in a re-imagined past entirely. Might have served the story better.
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Oct 31, 2009
Carly
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Gardener Jo Bellamy travels to Sissinghurst Castle to study the famous White Garden in order to create a replica for her wealthy American client. While there, she discovers a previously unknown diary by Virginia Woolf with the first entry dated after Woolf commited suicide. This sets in motion a chain of events as Jo seeks to uncover the truth about Woolf's last days and their connection to her beloved grandfather. This enjoyable mystery reminded me of a lighter version of Possession with the hu
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Oct 25, 2009
MAP
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Having recently read about 17 mysteries over a span of 3 month, I decided enough is enough, and that I would move on to other genre. So I was in my local public library where I came upon The White Garden A Novel of Virginia Woolf. Now I ask, does that sound like a mystery? It didn’t to me. I was thinking along the lines of Michael Cunningham’s book:The Hours|11899]. Had I looked further, I would have noticed the clue that the author has also penned the Jane Austen Mysteries. Even though I have
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Nov 25, 2009
Sheila
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I snatched this one up, first because the cover caught my eye, and second, the title led me to believe it was a work of historical fiction. After reading the back cover and learning that it's really a mystery set in modern times, I was still gung-ho to read it.There is a little bit of history--and that part I liked, though I have to wonder about its authenticity. But for me, the rest of it was awfully contrived--"awfully" as both an intensifier and as in "exceptionally bad and dis
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Feb 07, 2010
Jody
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I didn't even notice the author when I bought this book. Later I noticed it was Stephanie Barron who is a favorite of mine due to the Jane Austen mystery series. This one is a modern-day mystery but centered around Virginia Woolf. The main character is a professional gardener who goes to Sissinghurst to review the white garden for potential replication in one of her client's gardens. Sissinghurst was Vita Sackville-West's home (and gardens). Needless to say, there is the Virginia Woolf conn
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May 07, 2011
Jamespc
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One would think that I would find a book about Virginia Woolf--any book, fictional or otherwise--to be entertaining. And yet this novel is poorly written, dull and ignorant of even basic details of Virginia's life. Only the portrait of the feminist scholar strikes me as having any entertainment value. The reader is presented with a mystery that turns out to be no such thing--by the end I wished only that all the characters had been butchered around page 30, when they were just starting to wear o
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Nov 20, 2009
Susan
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American landscaper Jo arrives in Sissinghurst with a commission from her attractive billionaire client to build a "white garden" just like Vita Sackville-West's. Jo is also searching for information on the life of her beloved, recently dead grandfather. She learns that he had worked at Sissinghurst, and finds that he had hidden a notebook that seems to be by Virginia Woolf--but written after the date of her presumed suicide. She seeks help from Peter, a Sotheby's expert, but is sty
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Oct 11, 2009
Suburbangardener
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This is a plausible explanation for the time lag between the day Virginia Woolf left her husband a suicide note and the discovery of her body in the river several weeks later. The protagonist is a garden designer, visiting Sissinghurst to copy the design of the White Garden for a client when she finds a notebook entitled "Notes on the Making of a White Garden." It's actually a journal beginning the day after Woolf disappeared.
I'm always a sucker for books with a gardener as t More...
I'm always a sucker for books with a gardener as t More...
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Nov 19, 2009
Lisa
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Delving into the mind of Virginia Woolf is like abseiling in the pitch-dark; if you don't find a foothold, something firm and familiar to hang onto, you can fall into the abyss and be lost completely.
This book rests on the present-day thread: the mystery of how Woolf could have begun a diary the day after she was supposed to have committed suicide. And it features a couple of likeable main characters. But, of course, as in any detective work, you have the villain(s) who are determi More...
This book rests on the present-day thread: the mystery of how Woolf could have begun a diary the day after she was supposed to have committed suicide. And it features a couple of likeable main characters. But, of course, as in any detective work, you have the villain(s) who are determi More...
Sep 07, 2011
Martha
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Literate chick-lit I guess you'd say. Fanciful idea about Virginia Woolf's death interestingly developed. Good style. I could keep the characters straight even though some were a little cardboardy. Pretty good action and interesting stuff re Vita Sackville-West and Sissinghurst, the Woolfs, England in WWII. Good thinking-woman's beach or cup-of-tea-on-a-D&SN read. Note: To avoid a spoiler, don't read the blurb on the back cover of the paperback before starting the book.
Apr 23, 2010
Sara
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As is so often the case, I pulled "The White Garden" from the shelf based mainly on its cover art and, fortunately, the story itself was just as lovely. The style pulled so much from its setting of English gardens and countryside; slow and meandering in the best possible way, akin to a stroll. The mystery - although not difficult to solve - is subtle with more focus placed on the lives of the characters than is usual for a mystery novel. In fact, even though this book was shelved in
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Jun 15, 2010
SheilaRaeO
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I never finished this book. I got about 20% of the way into it and realized it just wasn't engaging me. I have far too many books waiting on my shelves to waste time with reading something that isn't compelling me to want to learn more about the story. Too many sub-plots going on and none of them making the characters more likeable. A disappointment because I like Virginia Woolf, Vita Sackville West, and gardening so I was expecting to enjoy this very much
May 15, 2011
"Aubri"/Lisa
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This book by one of my favorite authors kept me on the edge of my seat. I started out with it as a download on my iPod to listen to while I worked out at the gym. I have to admit my work-out flew by on the times I listened while taking laps around the track and pedaling away on the recumbent bike. Eventually though I got frustrated with not being able to go back and forward with any sort of ease when even a little bump made it skip ahead so I downloaded it instead to my Nook and finished it n
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Jan 26, 2010
Lori
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I really liked this book. It took me forever to crack it open, but once I did, I was engrossed. It has a suspenseful, mysterious pacing like The DaVinci Code, but with an added twist: Virginia Woolf's (fictionalized) life and death! It was a great read and made me want to jump back into some Woolf classics I haven't touched since college and learn more about Vanessa Bell, Vita Sackville-West and the Bloomsbury Group. I would recommend it to Woolf fans, especially those who like Dan Brown novels.
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Aug 16, 2010
Annie
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This book combines my favorite elements, books, gardens and mysteries. It has been awhile since I read any Woolf, but I remember it being full of symbolism and new ideas. I learned much about people and history strictly British and it was never for a moment dull.
I dread coming to the end of another wonderful author's work, but I think after A Flaw in the Blood I'll be back on the pre-order list.
I dread coming to the end of another wonderful author's work, but I think after A Flaw in the Blood I'll be back on the pre-order list.
Feb 10, 2010
Laurie
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This is a novelization of Virginia Woolf, seen through the eyes of a modern landscape gardener. My cover blurb says: "The White Garden grows an intriguing tale, weaving together the tendrils of past and present, growth and corruption, love and despair into a landscape of hope. This is a mystery in a garden: a garden in war; a garden beset by modernity; a ghostly white garden haunted by the dead."
Mar 04, 2010
Kit
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A quick read; kinda interesting if you are a fan of Bloomsbury and gardens. Written by the woman who writes the Jane Austen mysteries. I have been to the places she writes about (Sissinghurst, Charleston and Rodmell) and enjoyed that part. Plot a little too tidy, characters a little too convenient. But I did turn the pages and read to the end, so that says something.
Feb 19, 2010
Patti
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I really enjoyed this book. I didn't know a lot of the history around Virginia Woolf's suicide, but I thought she did an excellent job of blending actual history and the fictional story line. I loved the references to the garden.
Now I would really like to visit Sissinghurst and I might actually try to read something by Virginia Woolf.
Quick read - read in 2 days.
Now I would really like to visit Sissinghurst and I might actually try to read something by Virginia Woolf.
Quick read - read in 2 days.
Jan 05, 2012
Maria
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I picked up this book at the library expecting a nice British novel about gardening and books. It was all that with the a bit of mystery thrown in. A few characters were maybe a bit one-sided, but some were quite likable and even quirky.
It does help to know a bit about Virginia Woolf before reading The White Garden. There's a lot I didn't know, and managed to learn a bit and be entertained at the same time.
It does help to know a bit about Virginia Woolf before reading The White Garden. There's a lot I didn't know, and managed to learn a bit and be entertained at the same time.
Feb 13, 2010
Suzanne
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this book was fun and quick- perfect for a few hours during a winter snowstorm. The author makes a creative leap about the death of Virginia Woolf and ties in an historic English garden during WW II. The mystery becomes a bit "Da Vinci Code" through the references to a secret society in Oxford, but all together it was a good way to spend 4 hours.
Aug 09, 2010
Donna
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An absolutely delightful read. Excellent writing style. Brings Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group to life through the eyes of a young American woman sent to England to recreate Sissinghurst's White Garden. I had enjoyed Stephanie Barron's Jane Austen murder mysteries, but this is even more intriguing. Highly recommended.
