Catch Hold Of The Sea Garden: A Novel Drafted By Deborah Lawrenson In Print

love a good historical novel especially those set in wartime, Deborah Lawrenson has created a twist on the normal dual time narrative, in this book we have three narratives told up to a point with the denouement linking the three together.
This is all helped by the way the author has captured both the time periods but also the different places our narrators are located.


Ellies story is the longest, set in the present day she visits the island of Porquerolles where she has a commission to redesign a memorial garden but her trip doesnt begin well with a young man falling overboard on the ferry journey.
Despite the delay Ellie is keen to get stuck in to the exciting task at hand but soon finds the owner, to be a little eccentric and his mother even more so.
There are a number of mysteries hinted up and a strong suggestion of the supernatural which I wasnt so keen on and this part of the novel ended with Ellie preparing to leave Porquerolles.


The second narrative is that of a blind girl Marthe resident in Southern France during the Second World War, Marthe starts of as quite a naïve but loyal girl but as the war continues she is forced to be incredibly brave as her employers, perfume makers, become more involved in the Resistance.
Reading Marthe's story was quite uplifting and showcased the author's ability to develop a character in a short space of time and exploring without ever being exploitive the problems that someone who has lost their sight encounters.


Last we have my favourite from all the novellas with Iriss narrative at the heart of the British Security Services during the war, based in Baker Street London.
During the course of her tenure she witnesses loss of friends as well as a love affair with a fellow spy, The agents embark on missions to fly into France for undertaking various tasks on behalf of the Security Services adding to the tension within the pages.
This was a sad tale which really bought home the danger that the spies undertook, more heartbreaking still when the author shows us that not all the spies were on the same side, or if they were it could be that they were seeking a different outcome.


This book was unusual because the three stories appeared to be separate not only because they focus on different characters and places but also in tone and pace.
Ellies story is quite spooky and drawn out, whereas Marthes story quickly picks up the pace with plenty of intrigue to keep the readers interest before Iriss narrative which has some romance as well as the hardhitting realities of what life must have been like for those involved in this little spoken about aspect of the war.
stories.

A great read for anyone who wants to learn about more than the fighting or homeland in wartime with characters that are both fascinating and realistic.


I am very grateful to Orion Books for allowing me to read a copy of this book in return for this honest review Since this story is not just a dual narrative but a triple narrative, for the full explanation youll want to visit goodreads.
The first storyline follows a British garden designer hoping a commission on a beautiful island will be her chance to break into the international scene.
However, once she realizes that her clients are eccentric and possibly malicious, shes not sure the job is worth the risk, The second story is that of a young blind woman living in Nazioccupied France with a difficult decision to make, And the third story is that of a British intelligence agent during WWII who falls for a French agent who disappears, suggesting he might have had hidden allegiances.
The way these three stories connect is a surprise,

The first scene in this book immediately highlighted the authors amazing talent for bringing a location vividly to life, I think what made her descriptions work so well for me is the level of detail she includes, Its not too much, not too little, matching what I think Id notice if I were actually there, The first story was not as enjoyable as I expected based on that first scene, It was a bit trippy, with hints of the supernatural or a conspiracy or both, I found it a little too confusing and finished this section unsure what had just happened, By the end, I considered this first section worthwhile for its impact on the story as a whole, but I didnt love reading it.


The second and third stories were both fantastic, I continued to enjoy the authors evocative writing but also started to love the plot, Both of these sections featured somewhat untraditional, very brave female protagonists, I thought they were both incredible and a ton of fun to read about, The layering of the three stories, each one adding more information and getting closer to the heart of the matter, gave this story a lot of depth.
It was a very unique way to tell a multinarrative story, sequential instead of alternating, and I think it worked beautifully, The overall effect was to give the ending a lot of emotional impact, I admire the authors choice to tell a story in a unorthodox way and would love to read more of her work,

This review first published on sitelinkDoing Dewey, Excerpt from my review:

It seems a bit silly to start my book review with the fact that I could just be happy sitting and staring at the cover of The Sea Garden.
The artwork is gorgeousas it should be to capture the mood and beauty of Deborah Lawrenson's words, I had the pleasure of reviewing Lawrenson's novel The Lantern a couple of years ago and described it as "lush" and "a book for the senses.
" The Sea Garden is no different, The author's words paint pictures in the mindyou see the characters and places, feel the warm breezes, smell the flora and fauna and generally get just as caught up soaking in the settings as you do in the stories themselves.
Of the three stories, I probably connected most with the second and third which are both primarily set in the later part of WWII.
I have an interest in the history of that time, I found the characters of Marthe and Iris to be brave and compelling and the roles they played in the war were fascinating, The The Sea Garden'spages move quickly, as much as I wanted to linger and soak in the beauty of the prose, I found myself hurrying to turn pages to find out what would happen next and see how everything would connect.
The way it all comes

together at the end was a good balance of things I had figured out as well as some startling things I did not see coming.
This is a wonderful book for a warm summer morning in the garden or on the lanai,

You can see my full review and a recipe Provencal White Bean and Artichoke Spread with Lavender and Herbs inspired by the book on my blog post here: sitelink blogspot. com/

Note: A review copy of "The Sea Garden" was provided by the publisher and TLC Book Tours in return for a fair and honest review.
I was not compensated for this review and as always my thoughts and opinions are my own, This is better seen as three parts of the same story told from different angles rather than standalone novellas, Of the three, only the second is truly selfcontained it provides useful information that informs the other two but doesn't need them to tell its story.
Please keep that in mind as you read I was very frustrated by the ending of the first book but satisfied by the end.


Poor Ellie Brooke perhaps wasn't surprised to feel herself pulled into a world haunted by death from the very first page of the story, but that she felt herself literally haunted was the surprise.
Why had the seeming bon vivant Laurent summoned her all the way from England to restore his garden in modernday Porquerolles, and why did his mother regard her with such antipathy from the first It's not hard to figure out what happened to Ellie and whator whois going to follow us into the next story, but the question is why.


The second novel follows blind Marthe Lincel as she bravely works to use her gifts mixing scents for the kindly Mussets into something useful for the French Resistance.
She is blessed with bravery and integrity her weaknesses are, as for everyone else, other people: whom can she trust, and how can she protect those she cares for without harming others.
Worse, how can she go on after a painful loss Of all three stories, this was the one that moved me the most,

The final story follows Iris Nightingale from thes to the present day, and here all the strands come together, Iris works for British Intelligence, helping the French Resistance coordinate intelligence with the larger effort, Pragmatic and competent despite her young age, she nevertheless finds herself swept up into a romance with a heador is it reckless French agent.
Tracking down what became of him and her later resignation that she'll never know us just one of the meanings behind the title "The Shadow Life".
Iris will eventually get her answers, but is the cost worth the truth

This spooky tale of romantic suspense had a slow build that made the ending more satisfying even if many of the connections were easy to spot.
I would recommend this to fans of historical romance as well as paranormal suspense, This book opens engagingly with Ellie, a prizewinning designer of gardens, Called to an island off Southern France, Ellie comes to restore an isolated garden that seems to hide darker mysteries within, In the second section, blind Marthe has found her calling as an apprentice perfumier, This strong young woman becomes involved in Frances Resistance during WWII, And then the third part of the novel opens with Iris, a British spy during WWII, also working to aid the French Resistance, The second and third sections tie more closely together, which really makes the first part of the novel the original hook stick out all the more.


As a novel, the book lacks a true sense of cohesion, As separate novellas, they contain interesting enough characters, but I wish that there had been stronger connections between the modern storyline and the historical counterparts.
It just feels very disparate with its supernatural elements and its overall “creepy” aura that appears nowhere else in the book, And though thirty pages from the end, those connections do become a bit clearer, But at this point, it is too little too late, The ending has a rushed quality and simply isnt satisfying, The plot holds some surprises, but with a conclusion that is “all telling and no showing” which is actually the style for Iriss entire section it just feels too convenient.


The book as a whole, has an interesting concept and some beautifully described settings, but all in all, it left me disappointed.
Originally posted on sitelinkThe Book Musings

I love dual narrative stories, but The Sea Garden gives you something unique, at least for me.
Its a triple narrative, but it doesnt alternate between the three narratives, Instead, she gives us three novellas in one book that are interconnected in some way: The Sea Garden, The Lavender Field and A Shadow Life.


The Sea Garden tells the story of Ellie Brooke, a landscape/garden designer who travels to an island called Porquerolles to restore and redesign a memorial garden.
When Ellie gets there, something does not feel right, she finds her client a little eccentric and his mother is against her trying to restore the garden.
He makes friends with a war historian,

The Lavender Field plays off during WWII in France, Marthe Lincel is a young blind girl who works at a perfume factory in Provence, She wasnt always blind, but instead of being depressed, Marthe finds herself by using her senses to create extraordinary scents, while the owners of the factory are involved in the Resistance movement.


A Shadow Life is also set in WWII, but plays off in London, Iris Nightingale is an intelligence officer working for the SEO, She meets a French agent and falls in love with him, but he isnt what he seems to be, She falls pregnant before she could tell him, but after the war, she tries to find him with no luck, She believes him to be dead, because what other explanation is there if he is not in London and neither returned to France as expected

The author does a great job in connecting these stories.
It is done slowly and towards the end of the novel is where you will find the most surprises, which is why A Shadow Life is my favourite novella of the three.
I loved the descriptions of the settings the lush landscape of Porquerolles and the beautiful and lush lavender fields of Provence, Even her descriptions of scents bring the senses to life and I loved how she brought the meaning of scent and memories into the story.
Scent has such a wonderful way of taking you back into time, remembering fond memories, I would definitely recommend this novel, If you are a fan of wartime stories, I think that this novel or collection of novellas is a definite mustread, For me, this is a reread, Present day. On a lush Mediterranean island off the French coast, Ellie has accepted a commission to restore an abandoned garden, It seems idyllic, but the longer Ellie spends at the house and garden, the more she senses darkness, and a lingering evil that seems to haunt her.


Second World War, Two very different women have their lives irrevocably changed: Iris, a junior intelligence officer in London and Marthe, a blind girl who works in the lavender fields of Provence and is slowly drawn into the heart of the Resistance.
As secret messages are passed in scent and planes land by moonlight, danger comes ever closer, . .
It started very well and was intriguing,however started getting confusing and the ending didn't work too well for me,
It's well written but not engaging and a bit slow in places.

Overall confusing and disjointed, Thought the story of Marthe would connect more with Iris or have i missed something, Also not clear about Ellie, Just didn't work for me, .