The Gardener

Another good read from Sally Vickers. This time she takes us to rural Shropshire and paints an almost idyllic picture of a village, if you ignore the domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour and racism! Hassie and her sister Margot buy a house on the edge of the village and Hassie hires Murat, an Albanian who has moved to the UK, to work in the garden. She befriends Miss Foot and her kitten. Their father having recently died, the two sisters have various issues to resolve and Hassie is recovering from an affair that ended. A lovely book to read in summer, with the scents and colours of the garden wafting throughout the novel. There is a lot of bucolic English idyll but also rough edges. Hassie is somewhat fanciful but good hearted. There show more is a brief drama in the middle of the novel that is nicely tied up by the end. A perfect novel that is enjoyable without being traumatic. show less

It is books like this that make me wonder why I don't read more outside the crime fiction genre. Too much inside the genre competing for my attention I suppose.

I have listed Salley Vickers as a "new to me author" although I'm pretty sure I have read one title by her at least, but possibly decades ago.

This to me was a reminder that sometimes you just need to read books that explore relationships, rather than always solving murder mysteries. There are mysteries in THE GARDENER but they are not the primary focus.

A gentle read