The Forgotten Garden

The library FINALLY had this book available...it seems like the waiting list was forever long. It was perfect-I was able to check it out and take it on my trip to VA! It was the perfect book to read on the long airplane rides.
It is pretty much three versions of the same story...you might say that isn't possible but it is! It takes place in the early 1900's, around the 1970's and 2005. It is about a little girl who is abandoned on a ship to Australia in 1913...and when I say little girl I mean she is about 3 or 4. Way too tiny. She only has a small suitcase with a few clothes and a book of fairy tales. The dock master finds her and after searching for someone to claim her without luck he and his wife give her a name (Nell) and raise her as their own. She is delightful and well loved by everyone. Her father is plagued by the secret of how she came to be and goes against his wife's wishes and tells her how she came to be part of their family. It turns her world upside down and inside out.

Decades later life didn't turn out like Nell had thought it would as a young girl but she is learning to be content. She then decides to find out who she is and where she really comes from. 30 years later her granddaughter finishes the hunt for the truth.

It is such a great book, I was warned by a few that the first few chapters where hard to get through, but then the story took off and was wonderful. I don't know what those guys where reading...I loved this book from the first page. The only hard thing was that I kept thinking this was a story that took place in America and I didn't recognized city names...and then I would remember (over and over) that it takes place in Australia and England. Also...since this story does take place over 3 generations I was constantly starting a new chapter a little confused as to where I was and with what character. Other than those two small things this was a wonderful story. I would love to see it turned into a movie.

Grade: A