#BlogTour-‘The Garden Of Lost And Found’ by @HarrietEvans

About the book..

Nightingale House, 1919.

Liddy Horner discovers her husband, the world-famous artist Sir Edward Horner, burning his best-known painting The Garden of Lost and Found days before his sudden death.
Nightingale House was the Horner family’s beloved home – a gem of design created to inspire happiness – and it was here Ned painted The Garden of Lost and Found,
capturing his children on a perfect day.

One magical moment.

Before it all came tumbling down…
When Ned and Liddy’s great-granddaughter Juliet is sent the key to Nightingale House, she starts a new life with her three children, and opens the door onto aforgotten world. The house holds its mysteries close but she is in search of answers.
For who would choose to destroy what they love most? Whether Ned’s masterpiece – or,in Juliet’s case, her own children’s happiness.
Something shattered this corner of paradise.

But what?

‘The Garden Of Lost And Found’ is published in hardback by Headline and I am incredibly grateful to them and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for my gifted copy as part of this accompanying blogtour.

This is a beautifully constructed doll’s house of a novel with intricate details and features which gradually become revealed the more you look at it.

Ostensibly the story of a painting which was mysteriously burnt just days before the artist’s death from influenza, this is a mutli generational tale of love, loss and the longing for a place called home.

The narratives of Bea,Juliet and Liddy show how the social perception of women and their degredation by their families has changed in application , yet not in it’s devastating effect. The pressure on Liddy to make a good marriage which turns out to be a horrendous plot from her scheming father is heartbreaking, the expectation on Juliet to ‘have it all’ and be seen as a professional art historian is undermined in her boss’ eyes by the fact that she is a working mother,and poor Bea…my heart breaks for the way she is treated on social media.

‘Nightingale House’ is the centre of the story and aptly named as Ned, the artist whose painting ‘The Garden Of Lost and Found’ begins the whole story and threads it together, tells Liddy that only the male nightingales sing to woo the female and with this house, he created a dynasty whose legacy is being felt decades later in the life of Juliet, his great granddaughter. This house is his song to his beloved.

It is here , after the selling of a sketch which is the only remaining image of ‘The Garden Of Lost And Found’ that Juliet and her 3 children, Sandy,Isla and Bea retreat for a fresh start. This beginning is subtly contrasted with the story of her great grandmother, Liddy, whose family history is drenched in sorrow.

There is a mystery at the heart of this novel which draws you in, the characters themselves are beautifully rendered and relatable on so many levels, but who left Nightingale House to Juliet? Who is the mysterious owner of the sketch and how did they obtain it? Was it fever or something else that drove Ned to destroy his masterpiece? And what happened to Liddy and Ned’s 2 children who are depicted in the painting, and alluded to in passing in relation to a great tragedy…

This is a breathtaking novel of quiet beauty which pulls you in , as resonant as a novel by Daphne Du Maurier and as instantly memorable-this is a book that does not let you go easily. You are invited into the garden, but leave something of yourself behind.

Highly recommended, clear the decks and discover the secrets of Nightingale House.

About the Author…

Harriet Evans is the author of ‘‘Going Home’, ‘‘A Hopeless Romantic’‘,
‘‘The Love Of her Life’, ‘I Remember You’, ‘Love Always’, ‘‘Happily Ever After’ and ‘‘Not Without You’.

Before becoming a full time
writer Harriet was a successful editor for a London publishing house. She lives in London with her family.

https://harriet-evans.com/

Twitter @HarrietEvans

@HeadlineBooks

@annecater

Instagram-@harrietevansauthor