No one survives war unscathed. But even in the darkest days, seeds of hope can grow.
It is 1946 and in the village of Oakbourne the men are home from the war. Their bodies are healing but their psychological wounds run deep. Everyone is scarred - those who fought and those left behind.
Alice Rayne is married to Stephen, heir to crumbling Oakbourne Hall. Once a sweet, gentle man, he has returned a bitter and angry stranger, destroyed by what he has seen and done, tormented by secrets Alice can only guess at.
Lonely and increasingly afraid of the man her husband has become, Alice must try to pick up the pieces of her marriage and save Oakbourne Hall from total collapse. She begins with the walled garden and, as it starts to bear fruit, she finds herself drawn into a new, forbidden love.
Set in the Suffolk countryside as it moves from winter to spring, The Walled Garden is a captivating love story and a timeless, moving exploration of trauma and the miracle of human resilience.
'Richly evocative and transporting' Stacey Halls
We're a country full of secrets now. And we all just want to forget.'
The war is over, but in the village of Oakbourne, deep in the Suffolk countryside, it has left its mark.
Everyone tells Alice Rayne that she is lucky. Lucky to have her husband Stephen return from the war when so many others have not. Lucky to return to their home, the grand Oakbourne Hall, when others have nothing. But Alice little recognises the angry, frightened man now living in their vast, cold, crumbling house. In the village too, many others are struggling to adjust to postwar life.
Then George Ivens, a young vicar from London, arrives in Oakbourne. A newcomer in this tight-knit community, George faces the hostile reception of some of the villagers, the vast, freezing landscape and his own treacherous, weak heart. But while he seeks to try to help all those around him, he finds himself increasingly beguiled by the village's Big House and by Alice and Stephen, its damaged residents.
Facing a bleak, uncertain future, Alice must try to pick up the pieces of her marriage and save Oakbourne Hall from total collapse, beginning with the walled garden. As it starts to bear fruit, she finds herself drawn into a new, forbidden love . . .
A beguiling, beautifully written novel about the aftermath of war and the miracle of human resilience, THE WALLED GARDEN is perfect for readers of Anna Hope, Sadie Jones and Elizabeth Jane Howard, and heralds the arrival of a major new voice in fiction.
'Richly evocative and transporting' Stacey Halls
