The Secret Garden Club (Wendy Lynn Newton, Macmillan)

Whimsical, witty and genuinely heartwarming, Wendy Lynn Newton’s The Secret Garden Club is a striking debut. When 52-year-old lapsed artist Hilary finds her husband of 30 years, newly retired engineer George, dead in his beloved garden, her life is turned upside down. In shock, she hacks his immaculate garden to pieces, left with “only her own heart and too much space”. Within days, she uncovers unexpected secrets about George, including his connection to The Secret Garden Club – a group of keen gardeners (and even kinder humans) who arrive on her doorstep determined to bring gardens back to life and lift people’s spirits. And what was going on with club member Rose? Did Hilary really know her husband after all? Newton’s dry, direct and assured tone quickly draws the reader in, making Hilary’s prickly fragility compelling as she adjusts to life as a widow. Philosophical excerpts from George’s gardening journal, his early-morning celestial visitations, and Hilary’s flashbacks to their life together add genuine emotional depth. The novel’s bold exploration of grief and midlife awakening is moving without ever becoming sentimental, thanks to pitch-perfect plotting and dialogue. The very random dynamics between Hilary and the ever-patient Helpline consultant are a standout. You may need a tissue while reading The Secret Garden Club, and you’ll likely miss these characters long after the book ends. For fans of Kate Solly, Joanna Nell and Richard Osman (whose Thursday Murder Club members would get on famously with the Secret Garden Clubbers).

Books+Publishing reviewer: Michelle Atkins is a communications professional and published educational author. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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