The Night Garden: A Novel
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The Night Garden: A Novel Paperback – October 7, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
Praise for Lisa Van Allen’s The Wishing Thread
“Reader to reader, knitter to knitter: You’re going to love this book.”—Debbie Macomber
“Whimsical . . . great for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Alice Hoffman.”—Library Journal
“Reader to reader, knitter to knitter: You’re going to love this book.”—Debbie Macomber
“Whimsical . . . great for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Alice Hoffman.”—Library Journal
About the Author
Lisa Van Allen is the author of The Night Garden and The Wishing Thread. Her writing has been published in many literary journals and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She currently lives in northern New Jersey with her husband and their pet hedgehog.
Customer Reviews
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By
Shelleyrae
TOP 500 REVIEWER on October 11, 2014
Format: Paperback
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“To visit the Pennywort farm was to be reminded of everything in the world that was beautiful and bountiful…luxurious and endlessly good.”
In upstate New York, Olivia Pennywort tends the family farm and the remarkable garden maze that she has created as a haven at its heart. It is said that the maze offers its visitors the answers to their most difficult questions, but it affords no such benefit to its caretaker who harbours a secret that forces her to keep everyone at arm's length. Over the years, Olivia has schooled herself to accept that there is no solution to her problem, but when Olivia's childhood best friend and sweetheart, Sam Van Winkle, returns to town, her fiercest desires are rekindled and she is compelled to ask herself if the garden she has created is her protector, or her prison.
Van Allen's prose is often lyrical, with vivid imagery of the garden and its surrounds. I could easily visualise the bordered up house, the stone walled garden of poisonous plants and the ramshackle cottage where Olivia's father made his home, though I wish I had a better knowledge of horticulture to fully appreciate the individual design of the maze.
" As she approached the garden maze, she saw that it too had gone wild with the joy of the rains. The smell of flowers was so thick it crossed the line from pleasant into nearly repulsive. Inside, Olivia wound through the twists and turns, admiring how rambunctious and joyful her maze seemed, as if it were spring instead of late summer. Morning glories the size of dinner plates stayed open all day long, and thickened beds of coreopsis gave off a mustardly glow. There was a slight breeze that carried the faintest scent of autumn, and far beneath the sweetness, the mineral scent of winter.Read more ›
In upstate New York, Olivia Pennywort tends the family farm and the remarkable garden maze that she has created as a haven at its heart. It is said that the maze offers its visitors the answers to their most difficult questions, but it affords no such benefit to its caretaker who harbours a secret that forces her to keep everyone at arm's length. Over the years, Olivia has schooled herself to accept that there is no solution to her problem, but when Olivia's childhood best friend and sweetheart, Sam Van Winkle, returns to town, her fiercest desires are rekindled and she is compelled to ask herself if the garden she has created is her protector, or her prison.
Van Allen's prose is often lyrical, with vivid imagery of the garden and its surrounds. I could easily visualise the bordered up house, the stone walled garden of poisonous plants and the ramshackle cottage where Olivia's father made his home, though I wish I had a better knowledge of horticulture to fully appreciate the individual design of the maze.
" As she approached the garden maze, she saw that it too had gone wild with the joy of the rains. The smell of flowers was so thick it crossed the line from pleasant into nearly repulsive. Inside, Olivia wound through the twists and turns, admiring how rambunctious and joyful her maze seemed, as if it were spring instead of late summer. Morning glories the size of dinner plates stayed open all day long, and thickened beds of coreopsis gave off a mustardly glow. There was a slight breeze that carried the faintest scent of autumn, and far beneath the sweetness, the mineral scent of winter.Read more ›
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By
Lisa H
on October 8, 2014
Format: Paperback
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4.5 Stars!
"To visit the Pennywort farm was to be reminded of everything in the world that was beautiful and bountiful...luxurious and endlessly good."
No quote better sums up the tale that is The Night Garden. This is such a compelling novel filled with loss and love, grief and happiness, hope and redemption. Lisa Van Allen has an exquisite way of creating a truly enchanted realm that is bought vividly to life with her poetic prose and rich descriptions. Her writing stretches further still with the insightful incorporation and portrayal of the various conflicted states of mind of the main characters. Their struggles are heartrending, their longings palpable, their emotions poignant. And aside from the eventful comings and goings of these leads, this novel is full of their - and quite possibly your own - life lessons that will really give you pause for reflection:
"Let her live out her days as plants did, simply `being' without questioning, without the unceasing self-flagellation that comes with the human condition, the `why me?' and `why this?' and `what now?' "
The imagery is so real that you feel as if you are walking through the maze, pausing to rest on one of the many garden benches, and contemplating life and how to handle what comes your way:
"The only thing that stands in the way of your inner wisdom is your fear of it."
Although one cannot help comparing it to the likes of Sarah Addison Allen, this tale is really quite original, crafted in such a beautiful way and truly magical from so many points of view - literally and figuratively. For you see the author strikes just the right balance of friendship and warmth, longing and love, all wrapped up in nature, providing a holistic escape to another somewhat magical place.Read more ›
"To visit the Pennywort farm was to be reminded of everything in the world that was beautiful and bountiful...luxurious and endlessly good."
No quote better sums up the tale that is The Night Garden. This is such a compelling novel filled with loss and love, grief and happiness, hope and redemption. Lisa Van Allen has an exquisite way of creating a truly enchanted realm that is bought vividly to life with her poetic prose and rich descriptions. Her writing stretches further still with the insightful incorporation and portrayal of the various conflicted states of mind of the main characters. Their struggles are heartrending, their longings palpable, their emotions poignant. And aside from the eventful comings and goings of these leads, this novel is full of their - and quite possibly your own - life lessons that will really give you pause for reflection:
"Let her live out her days as plants did, simply `being' without questioning, without the unceasing self-flagellation that comes with the human condition, the `why me?' and `why this?' and `what now?' "
The imagery is so real that you feel as if you are walking through the maze, pausing to rest on one of the many garden benches, and contemplating life and how to handle what comes your way:
"The only thing that stands in the way of your inner wisdom is your fear of it."
Although one cannot help comparing it to the likes of Sarah Addison Allen, this tale is really quite original, crafted in such a beautiful way and truly magical from so many points of view - literally and figuratively. For you see the author strikes just the right balance of friendship and warmth, longing and love, all wrapped up in nature, providing a holistic escape to another somewhat magical place.Read more ›
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By
Judith D. Collins
on October 7, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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A special thank you to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
THE NIGHT GARDEN by Lisa Van Allen, is a magical fairy tale; whimsical journey of hope, love, forgiveness and courage.
Outside the windows of northwestern Catskills, the Pennyworts each year have expanded the beautiful garden maze to be one or two rooms bigger. Flowers grow out of season and plants that should not have bloomed in western Catskills soil were hardy and flamboyant. Everyone talks about this special and mysterious garden and the Penny Loafers.
The garden and its legend became so popular that women would go to the Pennywort’s property and stay with them for as long as they needed to get answers from the Maze, and in exchange they would only have to help out with chores. These women were known as Penny Loafers.
The maze, some people said, could bring on a kind of mental or emotional clarity—if a person was open to it. The things a woman did not understand about herself might become clearer; the difficult choice a man had to make would not become less difficult but he might feel more confident about making it after a visit to the garden.
Olivia Pennywort is like a beautiful but dangerous plant kept safely under glass, a thing to be admired only from afar. And though few people in Green Valley knew it, she had not come to be so standoffish for her own good, but for the good of everyone around her. Her natural inclination was to be affectionate, trusting, and warm. It had taken many years of careful practice for her to learn how to rein in her enthusiasm about making new friends, to act as if her personality fell in the precise center between friendly and aloof.Read more ›
THE NIGHT GARDEN by Lisa Van Allen, is a magical fairy tale; whimsical journey of hope, love, forgiveness and courage.
Outside the windows of northwestern Catskills, the Pennyworts each year have expanded the beautiful garden maze to be one or two rooms bigger. Flowers grow out of season and plants that should not have bloomed in western Catskills soil were hardy and flamboyant. Everyone talks about this special and mysterious garden and the Penny Loafers.
The garden and its legend became so popular that women would go to the Pennywort’s property and stay with them for as long as they needed to get answers from the Maze, and in exchange they would only have to help out with chores. These women were known as Penny Loafers.
The maze, some people said, could bring on a kind of mental or emotional clarity—if a person was open to it. The things a woman did not understand about herself might become clearer; the difficult choice a man had to make would not become less difficult but he might feel more confident about making it after a visit to the garden.
Olivia Pennywort is like a beautiful but dangerous plant kept safely under glass, a thing to be admired only from afar. And though few people in Green Valley knew it, she had not come to be so standoffish for her own good, but for the good of everyone around her. Her natural inclination was to be affectionate, trusting, and warm. It had taken many years of careful practice for her to learn how to rein in her enthusiasm about making new friends, to act as if her personality fell in the precise center between friendly and aloof.Read more ›
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