In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.…
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.
When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.
Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own….
My Thoughts
This is the second book I've read by Sarah Addison Allen. I really enjoyed reading my first, which is why I decided to read the Allen's debut novel. I rated The Girl who Chased the Moon 4 stars on Good Reads, which translates to "I really liked it", however I rated Garden Spells 3 stars, which translates to "I liked it". Had I read these books in the reverse order, I think the ratings would also be reversed. Let me explain...
I like Allen's style of writing. It's incredibly visual, and more so than most other books (that I've been reading), you can very easily picture being there yourself. I mentioned in my last Allen review that I could see a movie being made of the novel. I believe the same to be true for Garden Spells. Allen's writing is richly descriptive and her settings have a nice balance of realism/fantasy. It's very easy to be swept away... the first time. But, the nuance between my 3 and 4 star ratings aside, I enjoyed the read. It was good fun, and I will certainly continue to read Allen's other novels and will likely continue to rate them using the ho-hum "I liked it".
I felt this way about Jodi Picoult's novels. The first one (I can't even remember which one it was), I really liked, then after reading a few more and figuring out that she was essentially telling the same/similar story using slightly different characters, I got very bored. They were fun, easy reads where you don't really want to stop reading while you're reading, but when you finish, you wonder why you just wasted your time on it. I hope it doesn't get to that stage with Allen's novels. I stumbled across a twitter dialogue regarding Garden Spells, and one comment was that The Sugar Queen should be read instead of Garden Spells, so that will be my next Addison choice.
I realise this was more of a rant on the author than a book review, but would still classify as 'my thoughts'. In short, I would recommend it as an enjoyable, easy read.
Tea Pairing
I read most of this novel on a GO train trip out of Toronto paired with a cup of Quangzhou Milk Oolong tea from David's Tea. You can smell the sweet 'milkiness' of the tea even when it is dry/unsteeped. I don't like unknown additives in my teas. I am perfectly fine with flowers like chrysanthemum or jasmine, or added spices and herbs, but added flavours that can only be described as 'natural flavours' or 'artificial flavours' (if the natural flavour can't be identified, it's just as bad as artificial in my opinion) are not okay. The mere thought of something chemical in my tea is enough to turn me off. So, I asked the store attendant if there were any additives or flavouring and she told me there weren't, and the fragrance was a natural occurrence of this particular oolong tea and the tea leaves were the only ingredient.
I loved it. It tasted like oolong tea, but smelled like sweetened condensed milk (a nostalgic childhood memory), and it just worked. I'm a little dubious that this tea is 'all natural' and my 5-minute Google search didn't yield any conclusive results. If anyone knows, could you please enlighten me?
No comments:
Post a Comment