The Forgotten Garden in Into the Forest

Aug 02, 2012 Parvathy rated it really liked it

Shelves: living-vicariously, broken-characters, movie-material, strong-females, past-lives, friendship, mystery, historicals, family-drama

I am having a hard time writing this review. My thoughts about this book are so scattered that I feel like my head is a kaleidoscope and my feelings are like patterns that change with each shift of logic. At first there was a sense of mystery and then there are constantly changing view points giving insights into different era's and different characters, each having their own story to tell and each solving a piece of the puzzle in their time. I have often found that it is very difficult to write I am having a hard time writing this review. My thoughts about this book are so scattered that I feel like my head is a kaleidoscope and my feelings are like patterns that change with each shift of logic. At first there was a sense of mystery and then there are constantly changing view points giving insights into different era's and different characters, each having their own story to tell and each solving a piece of the puzzle in their time. I have often found that it is very difficult to write historical fiction without being overly descriptive but Kate Mormot sure proved me wrong. Lack of lengthy description never once let down the imaginative part of the book rather the writing style is almost similar to that of a fairy tale. When you read a fairy tale you don't need the author to explain to you what a castle is or describe to you the features of a beautiful princess. You simply know what a castle is and how a beautiful princess would look when you read such a tale. This simplistic approach to story telling is one of the first things that would attract you to this book and the thing that keeps you hooked is the mystery and the way it is handled.

The story begins with a little girl who is left all alone in some mysterious place clutching a white suit case by a woman named authoress. The then story moves to a point 17 years after to the year 1930 where a young girl Nell learns the secret that would shatter her very existance and question everything she was left to believe. Later in the year 2005 we are introduced to Nell's granddaughter Cassandra who upon her beloved grandmother's death decides to find out the truth her grandmother was seeking even in her death bed. The truth connecting a little girl, a mystifying authoress and an old white suitcase.

Written from the point of view of a multitude of characters the author has managed to do the impossible by allowing us to feel sympathy for each characters, even the bad ones. The author's rendition of dark fairy tales was pleasing and had a brothers Grimm quality to it but the fact that managed to astound me the most was the way in which the fairy tales were incorporated in to the story, even as another version of the plot actually taking place. All the characters in this story are well written. Except for one or two lapses in the way some of them handled particular situations I would say they were believable for most part. The story gets a little bit predictable towards the end but by then most stories are so can't complain much. The curious fact however is that if you went with a wild guess at the beginning of the book or after when all the characters are introduced, you might not be that far from the truth. But the author has this round about style of writing which makes you change course in between and lets you think of all kinds of probabilities, in the end leaving you with the answer that came to you in the first place. It may seem confusing now but once you dive into the book you might get a feel of what I am talking about. If you still don't, then all the more better because you will end up with an answer you never would have guessed. To conclude after finishing this book I can safely say that there will be more Kate Mormot books in my future. I have already gone through her published works and added some of them to my to reads list. If it is not obvious by now I would definitely recommend this book to all those in search of a good story and has some time to kill. ...more

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