The September Garden - Softcover

Law, Catherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749012730 ISBN 13: 9780749012731

Publisher: Allison & Busby, 2013

Synopsis

Set in London during the Blitz, in occupied France and amid the rolling Chiltern hills of Buckinghamshire, this is the story of two cousins who, as squabbling rivals, are thrown together by the outbreak of war. Nell and Sylvie grow up quickly during the early days of rationing, black-outs, and the arrival of RAF planes in the skies over the Chilterns. Sylvie, marooned in England, is desperately worried for her parents who she left behind in Nazi-occupied Normandy, and puts up a barrier of bitterness to hide her distress. Nell, meanwhile, witnesses the crumbling of her parents' marriage. Even as the war rages on around them, the competition and jealousy between the cousins battles on - especially in romance. When the girls fall in love with the same man, the brave and unassuming RAF officer Alex Hammond, he is spared having to choose between them. The machinations of war change the course of all their lives, with devastating consequences. Sylvie continues to hurt those who love her and to hide her pain behind her tough facade. And for Nell, the only place she can ever find solace is inside the September Garden, the walled garden that her father tended so lovingly before he left.This is the only place she feels safe in, to where she is always drawn, and where she decides to hide her most dreadful secret. ..

About this title

Review

"Had me on tenterhooks throughout and overwhelmed at the end."--Vulpes Libris blog

"Catharine Law has an extraordinary gift as a writer -- the ability to draw her readers into a deftly woven story populated with memorable characters caught up in a web of all too human emotional entanglements and conflicts. Also available in a Kindle edition, this truly exceptional novel is highly recommended for personal reading lists and community library fiction collections."--Midwest Book Review

"Village life, meddlesome evacuees, the Blitz, lies, misunderstandings, withheld truths, secrets, and, of course, the eponymous garden will all play a part in complicating Nell and Sylvie's lives in this bittersweet wartime romance, with its lovely and loving evocation of life in the English countryside."--Historical Novels Review

"What looks from the cover to be a fluffy romantic book, is anything so although there is a romance, Catherine Law does not spare us the details of life in either country with some truly horrifying events befalling each of the young characters... A well-researched novel that makes me truly grateful that I didn't have to live through those terrible times."--Cleopatra Loves Books

About the Author

Catherine Law was born in Harrow, Middlesex in 1965 and trained as a secretary at the BBC before becoming a journalist on glossy interiors magazines. She left her job in 2015 to follow her dream of being a full-time novelist and now lives in Margate, Kent.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allison & Busby
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0749012730
• ISBN 13: 9780749012731
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384