The Lost Garden - A Novel (Paperback)

Leaving London to grow food for the war effort, Gwen discovers a mysterious lost garden and the story of a love that becomes her own.

This word-perfect, heartbreaking novel is set in early 1941 in Britain when the war seems endless and, perhaps, hopeless. London is on fire from the Blitz, and a young woman gardener named Gwen Davis flees from the burning city for the Devon countryside. She has volunteered for the Land Army, and is to be in charge of a group of young girls who will be trained to plant food crops on an old country estate where the gardens have fallen into ruin. Also on the estate, waiting to be posted, is a regiment of Canadian soldiers. For three months, the young women and men will form attachments, living in a temporary rural escape. No one will be more changed by the stay than Gwen. She will inspire the girls to restore the estate gardens, fall in love with a soldier, find her first deep friendship, and bring a lost garden, created for a great love, back to life. While doing so, she will finally come to know herself and a life worth living. Reading group guide included.

"Luminous....a stunningly beautiful little gem that lingers in the memory like the heady scent of a damask rose."— Boston Globe, Karen Campbell

"A story of longing, life and death—the stuff all great gardens are made of."— Morning Star-Telegram, Catherine Newton

"Multi-layered in its themes with an undercurrent of wartime passion and danger...unforgettable."— The Democrat, Judy Gaither and Emily Gaither

"Humphreys has a poet's eye, and the story is full of startling images that linger in the mind."—Lisa Michaels

"This is a book to read again and again."—Nancy Goodwin, author of A Year in our Gardens

"Those who, as children, loved The Secret Garden will hear its echo in The Lost Garden....[D]elicate, moving ."—Rosellen Brown

"Humphreys's affecting third novel never fails to couple the realistic with the ideal, the historical with the timeless."—Matthew Batt, San Francisco Chronicle

"This novel...remains with the reader long after the last page is turned, and it feels like an evening walk through a pungent, private garden."—Beth Kephart, Book

"A finely wrought novel....What brings Gwen to life and makes this novel work is Humphreys's meticulous, lucid prose."—Margot Livesey, New York Times Book Review

"A beautiful evocation of love and loss....Subtle and deeply affecting....Rich and satisfying."— Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"A beautiful novel with substance."— Bookmarks, Jessica Teisch

"A graceful, poetic novel of love and loss in England during World War II."— Dallas Morning News, Lee Milazzo