Book Review: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

What a great book. If you are a fan of the gothic romance/mystery type of book (like Rebecca, and The Thirteenth Tale), you will love this novel. It really isn't very dark, or ghost filled, but it is strangely enigmatic.

The basic plot of The Forgotten Garden goes like this: A woman tries to find out her own true identity after learning that she was found as a 4 year old by her "parents." She had been left on the dock of a small port town in Australia, with only a small white suitcase that held a few odd contents. She is in her sixties when she finally tracks down information that leads her to her "home" in England. Circumstances prevent her from uncovering all of the mystery, so it is not until years later when her grandaughter is curious about it all that the details start to fall into place.

The plot summary really doesn't do the book justice. It was very well written. Kate Morton is one of those truly gifted storytellers. She is able to tell the story in such a way that you are hungry to read more. It was suspenseful and fun too. I also enjoyed getting to know all of the characters. They all had very distinct personalities. It is one of those books that seem very familiar (think the Secret Garden). At first this bothered me, but the author creatively remedied this before I ended up thinking that she was just a copycat.

My Rating

Overall: 4.5 stars. I loved the book, I would probably give it 5 stars if I thought that it was all truly original.

Objectionable Content: Well, I don't want to spoil the story, but let's just say that there is some immoral behavior.