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Drawn outside by the first pale light, she stood on the terrace gazing down at the garden. The air was moist, carrying scents of mown grass and honeysuckle...
***
The Blurb
"How can I truthfully tell you I'm sorry, when the worst thing I ever did has turned out to be the best?"
Bridget feels compromised. By marrying Anthony Harper and moving to Wildings, his family home for three generations, she's abandoned her urban roots for rural affluence and comfort she hasn't earned. As Anthony becomes increasingly difficult and their marriage flounders, she immerses herself in her new career as gardener and designer. Conscience urges her to leave him; but with her identity and status so closely bound to the garden she knows intimately, how can she? Soon circumstances mean that a split with Anthony is at first essential, then impossible ...
When Meg, a young stonemason, rents a workshop at Wildings, she wants only to be independent and alone. In the exacting craft of cutting letters in stone she finds meaning and purpose, her one true thing. But in spite of her resolve to avoid emotional attachments, she's drawn into intense relationships: with Bridget and with Adam, another artist-in-residence whose confident manner and bold abstract paintings mask deep inner conflict. She finds herself caught between competing claims of loyalty, trust and desire.
A generation on, Jane, the youngest Harper daughter, is left aimless and adrift when Anthony dies suddenly, with the surprise in his Will that he had another son, unknown to the family. Now Wildings must be sold. Everything is in turmoil - work, home, her on-off relationship with Tom. Who is the stranger who's to inherit a third of the estate? Where will she go, and how will she face the future alone? Aware that Meg and her mother each had an absorbing focus for their energy and passion, she is unsure where to find her own - but without it, what's the purpose of her life?
Now far from Wildings, but bound by a promise to support Jane, Meg is unable to be honest about the secrets she knows from both parents - or thinks she knows. Having thought of herself as the observer who saw everything, she's forced to realise how much she failed to see - and the cost to herself and to those she loves.
When the ground shifts, where is one true thing to be found?
My Review
This book was only published yesterday and I feel enormously privileged to have had an advance copy to read as it was fabulous.
The chapters are told from the point of view of the three main characters, Bridget, a renowned garden designer, her daughter, Jane and stonemason, Meg.
We learn from the opening page that Bridget is soon to pass away, and much of her story is told retrospectively. Please don't think the mention of death on the first page makes this a maudlin book. That couldn't be further from the truth. Rather, it is a story of all of the characters looking back at their lives to a time when Bridget was the focus. Mother to Jane and close friend to Bridget, we see her and the plot from their individual perspectives and it makes for marvellous reading.
Bridget is married to the temperamental Anthony but they are not happy and everyone around them can see this. He is unappreciative of Bridget and everything that she does. It was fascinating to observe the path that their marriage follows when it looks as though separation is the only option.
Jane's section of the book is told from the point when Anthony dies which adds another dimension to the story. We also hear from Meg at this time too.
The setting of this book was every bit as important as the characters. When Bridget marries Anthony, she moves into his family home, Wildings. It is so far from her working class roots that she feels completely out of place. That is until she transforms the gardens and outbuildings into something beautiful and purposeful. She carves out a successful career for herself, and the growth of her confidence was wonderful to follow.
I thought Meg was also a wonderful character. Her intention is to keep herself remote from the others when she rents one of the renovated outbuildings as a workplace studio. She observes those around her but cannot help but become embroiled in their lives, including that of Adam, an artist who rents the studio beside hers.
In so many ways, the book is about each of them discovering their own purpose in life, and I am sure this will resonate with readers. We observe the characters doing this very thing in their individual ways, although this is not always straight forward.
The book has been beautifully written. Ms. Newbery knows her craft very well, and it made this book a joy to read. It is appropriately paced for its genre. It has a gentle rhythm, and I was genuinely sorry when I turned the final page of the book. I could have happily stayed within the pages of this book for much longer.
There are very few books which I keep once I have read them. Quite frankly, there are many many books which, whilst enjoyable to read do not warrant a second outing. Then every now and then I come across a book that I keep, that feels like an old friend sitting upon my bookshelf. This is one such book that I can foresee myself reading again.
I heartily recommend this to anyone who enjoys literary fiction or books about relationships. Even garden lovers will appreciate this book. I am confident readers will enjoy this book every bit as much as I did.
Book Details
ISBN: 978 1068526404
Publisher: Writers Review Publishing
Formats: e-book and paperback
No. of Pages: 432 (paperback)
Purchase Links
About the Author
Linda's first publication was a young adult novel, Run with the Hare, about a sixth-form student who becomes involved with an animal rights group. Since then she has gone on to publish widely for young readers of all ages, with titles including Lob, Set in Stone, The Shell House, Sisterland and The Key to Flambards. A non-fiction title, This Book is Cruelty-Free: Animals and Us, is a guide to compassionate living that looks at our daily choices - what we eat, wear, buy, use, waste and throw away - and how they affect animals and the environment.
Set in Stone was a Costa Book Award category winner, both The Shell House and Sisterland were shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie Medal, and Lob won an independent bookseller prize in Italy.
The One True Thing is Linda's second novel for adults. Her first, Quarter Past Two on a Wednesday Afternoon (published in paperback as Missing Rose) was a Radio 2 Book Club choice.
Linda lives in Oxfordshire. She is an active campaigner on animal and environmental issues and a keen amateur photographer.
You can also find Linda at:
(book and media courtesy of the publicist)
(all opinions are my own)
