“Spinster” gardener moves in with new family

I believe the premise of the book was actually a series about sisters, one getting married or maybe already married, and the other a spinster. The mc was the spinster and she is living with a new family (I think in the UK somewhere) where she is going to be the gardener or maybe the groundskeeper. She is very well read in botany and she brings an extremely large rose encyclopedia with. The part I remember most is that she is a virgin and there is a focus on the fact that she lays with the encyclopedia on top of her to feel/mimic the weight of someone. I read this in either the very late 90s or early 2000s when I was a preteen, so some nuances might be off, but in my memory the writing seemed very gothic in nature. Shirley Jackson-esque, but I’m not sure what genre it was. Looking back, I cannot remember if it was implied that she was ace or if she maybe was interested in one of the men of the estate.

This book is not one of The Sparrow Sisters series (The Forbidden Garden) because I know I read this when I was too young for it since I rented it from the library in a town I did not live in past 13. Although, I did read this to make sure and the things I remember seemed eerily similar.

Sounds a bit like Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller, though that's more recent.

>2 konallis: definitely too recent, and it sounds like the premise is based on a couple. This was very much centered on the MC not having had any relationships. Love Claire Fuller though :)