From the author of Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick The Rules of Magic comes a transfixing glimpse into a small American town where a mysterious, magical garden holds the truth behind three hundred years of passion, dark secrets, loyalty, and redemption. “[A] dreamy, fabulist series of connected stories . . . [These] tales, with their tight, soft focus on America, cast their own spell.”—The … their own spell.”—The Washington Post
The Red Garden introduces us to the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts, capturing the unexpected turns in its history and in our own lives. From the town’s founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City with only his dog for company, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a passionate neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives.
At the center of everyone’s life is a mysterious garden where only red plants can grow, and where the truth can be found by those who dare to look.
Beautifully crafted and shimmering with magic, The Red Garden is as unforgettable as it is moving.
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Loved it. Great characters
My first Alice Hoffman book! One of my favorite books ever!
I like that the book is written as a collection of short stories, and they are all connected. However, I feel that the characters could be better developed.
Alice Hoffman is incomparable as always. Beautiful tales winding thorough time.
Interesting characters. Morally sound concepts.
This was a relaxing read. I loved the format of the story which took me thorough generations of people who all lived in this same valley, from the original settlers who went by covered wagon to the 1960’s and beyond. Great read!
An easy read.
It’s Alice Hoffman! I have read all of her books. All I need to know is she wrote it and I will love it.
This book is written in a rather original style which I enjoyed.
Magical realism is not my thing.
I read this book several years ago but some of the stories have stayed with me. This book is compiled of individual stories woven together by common threads. I found certain stories better than others but, as a whole, the book is one of my favorites from this author. I would recommend this to other readers, especially, if they are some what …
Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read several of her other books – you always care for her characters!
You just have to suspend your belief system sometimes when you read her books. Great writer.
Multiple sequential stories.
Always a fan of Alice Hoffman!
Alice Hoffman at her best.
I am not sure what the purpose of this book was. There was a thin thread woven through the stories, but I thought the whole thing was depressing.
I loved this book of short stories. Although each chapter was a story unto itself, there was continuity between them. They all centered around the same town and some characters showed up in future stories. They were written in chronological order with each new story a few decades in the future. I also liked that there was a good stopping point …
The author has a brilliant way of weaving personalities of PLACES with the people who inhabit them and drawing the reader into the lore. I place her with Gabriel Garcia Marquez in this skillful writing style.
What an entertaining read! Each chapter moved me to find out more of the tragic yet mesmerizing history of these tough as nails settlers in the Massachusetts and New Hampshire of old.