| Within the framework of the classic Gothic suspensethriller, Jon Godden has written a haunting and psy-chologically complex novel set in England today. It isa novel that moves from the reassuringly cozy andfamiliar to the nightmarish, all the more terrifyingfor its setting: a formal and sunlit English countrygarden. Grace Maitland at 75 has arranged her life to suitherself. When her husband was alive she travelledwith him around the world; now she prefers a quiet,circumscribed existence--seeing a few old friends wholive nearby, taking part in the annual flower show, giv-ing lunch to her grandchildren when they drive upfrom London, painting a little. But mostly she occupiesherself wkh her garden--her joy, her pride, her crown-ing achievement. In her garden she is never lonely orbored. But her stepdaughter is beginning to suggest thatit might be too much for one elderly woman alone andthat possibly Grace might prefer to give up the houseand move into a flat with "window-boxes, perhaps alittle roof garden." Grace knows she would stifle in aflat, but the garden is getting frightfully overgrown,so it seems like a bit of serendipitous luck when abattered white van drives up to the house and a youngman steps from it, introducing himself as Ben Haldenand saying he has heard she might need a gardenerand may he apply. Grace is charmed, and during the long summerdays that she and Ben spend working side by sideamong the flowers, drinking companionable cups oftea in the kitchen, speaking together of the past, thepresent, and the future, a strange, strong friendshipbegins to form and grow. As the summer continuesGrace feels awakening within herself a long-dormant |
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