#BookReview-‘The Poison Garden’ by Alex Marwood

About the book…

‘The Poison Garden’ by Alex Marwood is out now, from Litte,Brown UK in hardback, ebook and audio book formats wherever good books are sold. My thanks to the publishers for my gifted ebook copy which I received via Netgalley.

‘I devoured ‘The Poison Garden’ . . . Gripping and utterly convincing, it’s Alex Marwood at the top of her (already impressive) game‘ Jojo Moyes
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Where Romy grew up, if someone died you never spoke of them again.

Now twenty-two, she has recently escaped the toxic confines of the cult she was raised in. But Romy is young, pregnant and completely alone – and if she is to keep herself safe in this new world, she has some important lessons to learn.

Like how there are some people you can trust, and some you must fear. And about who her family really is, and why her mother ran away from them all those years ago.

And that you can’t walk away from a dark past without expecting it to catch up with you…

Shocking, tense and sharply written, The Poison Garden is the gripping new novel from the international bestseller and Edgar award-winning Alex Marwood.

I have to be extremely careful to avoid spoilers here as this is a book I would want as many lovers of thrillers, dark suspense and horror to read without knowing where they are going.

After escaping the Plas Golau cult, Romy(who has lived there since she was 8 months old) has to adapt to modern life, without her family around her. The way that the modern world is viewed through her eyes after being embedded into a very strict caste structure with defined roles and ways of behaving that do not gel with current mores,is absolutely fascinating and so detailed.

Run by magnetic figurehead Lucien, this is an end of days cult where they are known by their nearest neighbours as ‘survivalist types’ who are awaiting the arrival of ‘The One’ who will see them through the End Times. They regard those outside the cult as ‘The Dead’ in that their lives are doomed and pointless, they are to be pitied for being so susceptible to the luxuries they expect and are seduced by whislt those in the cult grow their own crops, slaughter their own animals, bury their own dead.

The things that you take for granted-making tea, a bath to yourself, jerk chicken-are completley new experiences to her, as is the availability of medicine. Romy’s mother, Somer, was in charge of the physic garden so any remedy, and also poison, was very important for all those in the cult to recognise from a very early age.

Somer, renamed from her birth name of Alison,ran away from home herself after finding herself pregnant and rejected by her highly religious parents, themselves the descendants of an organisation called the Federation who preached that Jesus would return to Earth and more specifically, Finbrough where they have built a house for His Holy Homecoming.

Alison and younger sister Sarah have grown up inside this environment, learning that things like free will, are pointless when the path of your life is so set and determined.

When Romy is in the real world, our world, Sarah is on the edge of divorce from husband Liam,childless and reduced to living in her parent’s old home, frowned upon by dust laden family portraits, scolded by the dead and rejected by the living.

”Liam said that there was something wrong with her.Women cry,he told her.It’s what they do.His little girlfriend cried all the time, she’s sure of it.Cried to display her womanhood,cried to persuade him that his wife had no emotions.But,if your early training teaches you that tears bring penalties,you learn not to show them unless you’re alone.”

As a legally recognised adult, Romy is given a flat of her own after being deemed safe to live alone, despite not being assessed by any psych teams specialising in cults. But she is not the only one who has escaped. Her younger siblings Ilo and Eden have been given into Sarah’s custody, and the contrast between them and how they work towards finding each other is disturbingly heartwarming.Because these are not functional children, this is not a functional adult and all of them are hiding a an earth shattering secret…

Suspenseful, twisted, dark and deliciously funny in parts (the rewording of Gloria Gaynor’s classic anthem of liberation is a master stroke!)this is a standout novel for me. Not for the faint hearted, there are scenes that might upset more delicate stomachs, but it is Alex Marwood’s best novel yet. It alternates between now, and then, with Romy and Somer/Alison’s narratives of life in, and growing up in the cult with Sarah’s story now, and Romy’s post cult life.

In this humble reader’s opinion, I read it as ‘The Posion Garden’ as an allegory between nature and nurture-the mushrooms you grow in a garden might all look identical, but some could absolutly leave you bleeding from every orifice and dying horrifically.

The notion of family,what leaves you to accept or reject one form of family for another and then the subsequent choices that you make as an adult, creating your own, are keenly felt as well as the issue of self determination and free will.

How far can it bend before you break?

Is the modern world on a path to destruction and is opting out ever a viable option?

Does believing in a power higher than yourself mean you are condemned to a physically impoverished life on earth? What is the nature of hope and happiness?

All of this is what I was left mulling over after finishing ‘The Poison Garden’, it was deeply affecting, thought provoking and an intense read which I thoroughly recommend without hesitation to those who love a novel of suspense, pshychological thrillers and mysteries.It’s chilling and one I would re-read again, same as her other books. She excels at picking up the rock of human behaviour, poking the pale grubs of life that stir underneath, and exposing them to the sun. Excellent, thought provoking stuff.

About the author…

Alex Marwood is a former journalist who worked extensively across the British press. Her first novel, ‘The Wicked Girls’, achieved widespread acclaim and international bestsellerdom. It was shortlisted for ITW, Anthony and Macavity awards, was included in Stephen King’s Ten Best Books of the Year list, and won the prestigious Edgar Award. ‘The Killer Next Door’, her second novel, won the coveted Macavity Award for Best Mystery Novel, was nominated for the Anthony and Barry. ‘The Darkest Secret’, the tale of the disappearance of young Coco, met with critical and reader acclaim. ‘The Poison Garden’ is out now. She has also been shortlisted for numerous other crime writing awards and her first two novels have been optioned for the screen. Marwood lives in south London and is working on her next novel.