A Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon Charts bestseller.
From the bestselling author of The Tuscan Child comes a beautiful and heart-rending novel of a woman’s love and sacrifice during the First World War.
As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome … effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage.
When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. Emily’s lover has not only died a hero but has left her terrified—and with child. Since no one knows that Emily was never married, she adopts the charade of a war widow.
As Emily learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs, the found journals will bring her to the brink of disaster, but may open a path to her destiny.
more
I’m a fan of Rhys Bowen so choosing this book to read was easy. This is an interesting and readable novel and I enjoyed it very much.
Didn’t enjoy the plot; struggled to finish the book.
I really enjoyed the history around the war and the role women played. The characters were very engaging with interesting plot twists.
Aside from the obvious difference in timelines from those of “The Tuscan Child” and “In Farleigh Field”, “The Victory Garden” has an entirely different feel to it. I devoured it in one sitting, only putting it down long enough to put a couple of loads in the washer and dryer and to make a sandwich. Having previously heard the term Land Girls, I didn’t really know who they were or what they did. Even better was getting to know them individually, each from such wide-ranging backgrounds and experiences. All the more fantastic considering the WWI era and how rapidly society was becoming more egalitarian in its makeup. But what was truly special was the connection with former inhabitants of the cottage that Emily Bryce experienced and the special bond she developed with Lady Charlton. An uncommonly warm feeling came over me as I finished reading “The Victory Garden.” A very satisfying five stars.
Anything by this author is a real pleasure in which to get immersed!
I was disappointed in this book. I thought the plot was predictable. I’m a big fan of Bowen’s Maisie Dobbs series, however.
Love all of Rhys Bowens books. This is a new one and maybe a new series. They are entertaining with wonderful characters, great stories, and there is much to learn about history. If you haven’t read any of her books, you are in for a treat.
Very well written with great characters.
A great escape back to times of the British land girls
As always, Rhys delivers a good story with lovable characters. A pleasant way to while away a chilly weekend.
World War I England. Women’s fiction. Couldn’t put it down.
Rhys Bowen is a wonderful storyteller and always draws me in. And The War to End All Wars holds a bittersweet fascination for me.
The Victory Garden takes place in England in the late stages of World War I by which time few families were untouched by its ravages. Women from all walks of life volunteered to fill the jobs men left behind.
Emily Bryce lost her brother in the first months of the war and most of the young men she knew haven’t come back. Her well to do, overprotective parents despise the young Australian pilot she meets in the convalescent home near their estate. When Emily turns twenty-one, she escapes her stifling life and enlists in the Land Girl Army.
I found the book fascinating, full of wonderful memorable characters and situations. My biggest problem with the story is that it ended. I wanted it to go on and on.
The Victory Garden, a stand-alone novel by Rhys Bowen is a story that ranges from deep heartbreak to sublime happiness and back again. It is the story of a young woman on the cusp of adulthood wanting to help with the war effort but restrained by her parents, mostly out of love, partially out of fear of embarrassment. As always the setting of Bowen’s books offers great amounts of historical information. In this case it focuses on the “farm girls,” a government effort to replace farm workers that have gone off to war. As has been proven many times, women can indeed replace men in the work place.
The Victory Garden previews a love story between our “farm girl” and a pilot returning to the front. As with most love stories, there is there beauty of young love as well as the pain that often follows, and the resolution as well. Bowen does not hesitate to show both sides of life and there were many facets of just that in this village (and nation) during and after World War I. This is a well-researched, realistic view of one slice of life at this time. The characters are interesting and well rounded, the plot is based in reality, and the conclusion is hopeful. What more can a reader ask?
I received a free ARC of the Victory Garden in exchange for a fair and honest review. #netgalley #thevictorygarden
Rhys Bowen has the ability to take me away into the past and really experience the reality.
Here we get a poignant taste of the end of WWI.
The impact of the war of both those who went and those who remained behind. The deprivations. The extreme anxiety for family and friends. The evolution of the previous world order that everyone had grown up in.
Moving and enlightening.
Another delightful tale from Rhys Bowen. Her books are consistently wonderful.
Emily Bryce is about to turn twenty-one, and she is ready to start doing something to help with the war effort. Her parents have kept her at home with her mom hoping to find someone from the aristocracy to marry her off to, but Emily is determined to find her own path. Then Emily meets Robbie, an Australian pilot recovering from an injury at a hospital in the area. Even though her parents forbid it, she keeps seeing him behind their back. She also soon joins up with the Women’s Land Army, helping to keep the farms in England running to provide food for everyone. Will her parents ever accept her choices?
I’ve been a fan of Rhys’s mysteries for years, so I decided to give this book a try. As I suspected going in, this is not a mystery, but more of a coming of age story set in the England of 100 years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t think I was the target audience since I had trouble getting into it. There is a lot happening, and that was part of the problem. The story takes place over a year, and to get the entire time frame and the all Emily goes through into the story, at times I think we were cheated out of watching Emily deal with everything happening. That resulted in some things we were told about and not shown. On the other hand, Emily is a wonderful main character, and I was definitely rooting for her to succeed. I did tear up a time or two. And I felt we got a clear picture of what life was like in 1918 England for those who didn’t fight during the war – something that is often overlooked when we think about the cost of a war.