The Walled Garden

Richly evocative and transporting.Stacey Halls

The Walled Garden is a novel about yearning to break free-from the past, from trauma, from the social conventions in a post-war Britain filled with starched aprons and stiff upper lips. Stephen and Alice, outwardly healthy and wealthy, struggle to rekindle their marriage after the unspeakable horrors of the Second World War. From the very first page, The Walled Garden seethes with unspoken turmoil as the inhabitants of Oakborne Hall try to put together the pieces of their lives. But normality cannot be resumed at all cost. As spring turns to summer and the walled garden blooms, secrets and entanglements threaten to tear apart the fragile peace. Sarah Hardy's supremely observed novel blossoms like a rose-sharp and pointed, and stunningly beautiful.Inga Vesper, author of The Long, Long Afternoon

Written with great delicacy and feeling.Elizabeth Buchan, author of Two Women in Rome