Helpful Score: 2
A young American (Victoria) and a young Englishman (Guy) fall in love and get married in the very beginning of this tale of crime and passion. Guy inherits his family's estates and properties. They move to a house on Trelise, an island off Cornwall. Guy's ancestor, Joshua Jones, purchased Trelise in the 1840s. He was a famous medicinal herbalist and he turned the island into one large garden, which is described in detail superbly. When some buried bones are discovered, Guy tells Victoria they must be from some long-ago monk. Victoria disagrees and begins to research the history of Trelise, consulting letters, invoices, diaries and other documents stored in the house. With a clever blending of past and present, Victoria soon discovers the secrets and crimes of the past and how they will come into play in the present.
Helpful Score: 1
I absolutely loved this book and it is one of the rare books that I gave a 5 star rating to! Very well crafted, this is a real page turner! If you are a gardener, you will be entranced with the descriptions of the gardens, but if you don't garden, the descriptions won't detract from your enjoyment. There are a lot of twists and turns in this book, and you are kept guessing right up until the end -- just the way it should be! This is a thumping good read!
First Line: Revel the weeder was digging where the terrace wall had collapsed by the Sea Garden at Trelise.
Victoria, a young American, and Guy, a young Englishman, meet, fall in love and get married. Shortly thereafter Guy inherits the family estate on condition that he and Victoria change their surname to Blakeney-Jones. They move to Trelise, a fictitious one of the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall in England.
Trelise was bought by Joshua Jones in the 1840s, and the herbalist spent the rest of his life turning the island into a garden. Now the gardens are overgrown, and Guy has the idea of filming their restoration and making a television series. When bones are discovered in the section currently under renovation, they're dismissed as having belonged to a centuries-dead monk. Victoria doesn't believe this and begins to research the history of Trelise, going through diaries, letters, invoices and other documents stored in the mansion. As she pieces together the generations, Victoria finds deceit and death handed down over the decades-- enough of it to put her own life in danger.
I really enjoyed this book. Llewellyn is a native of the Isles of Scilly, and he brings them to life on the page. The convoluted history of the owners of Trelise from past to present was compelling, and it was interesting to see how Victoria's own strengths and weaknesses played a part in her deductions and conclusions.
If you're a fan of exotic settings and family histories with more twists and turns than a basket of cobras, you should enjoy The Sea Garden. I will definitely be taking a look at the other books Llewellyn has written.
Victoria, a young American, and Guy, a young Englishman, meet, fall in love and get married. Shortly thereafter Guy inherits the family estate on condition that he and Victoria change their surname to Blakeney-Jones. They move to Trelise, a fictitious one of the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall in England.
Trelise was bought by Joshua Jones in the 1840s, and the herbalist spent the rest of his life turning the island into a garden. Now the gardens are overgrown, and Guy has the idea of filming their restoration and making a television series. When bones are discovered in the section currently under renovation, they're dismissed as having belonged to a centuries-dead monk. Victoria doesn't believe this and begins to research the history of Trelise, going through diaries, letters, invoices and other documents stored in the mansion. As she pieces together the generations, Victoria finds deceit and death handed down over the decades-- enough of it to put her own life in danger.
I really enjoyed this book. Llewellyn is a native of the Isles of Scilly, and he brings them to life on the page. The convoluted history of the owners of Trelise from past to present was compelling, and it was interesting to see how Victoria's own strengths and weaknesses played a part in her deductions and conclusions.
If you're a fan of exotic settings and family histories with more twists and turns than a basket of cobras, you should enjoy The Sea Garden. I will definitely be taking a look at the other books Llewellyn has written.
