Gardens of Delight (by Erica James)

(Amazon UK link)

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoy Erica James’ novels. I acquire new ones as soon as they are out in paperback, and have been rereading some of the older ones in the past few months. I’m trying to reread them approximately in publication order, and arrived at ‘Gardens of Delight’, which I had only read once, back in 2007. I recalled not liking it much, but not the reasons. I vaguely thought that there was perhaps too much about gardening…

However, I sometimes change my mind about books I have disliked so I wanted to give it another chance. And on the whole, I did like it better this time. Having said that, there’s quite a cast of characters, and I found them a bit confusing at first. Most of them live in a village where everyone knows everyone else. A lot of backstory is given in most cases, although I felt that some of it could have been edited down; it mostly wasn’t necessary to the story. 

The most recent arrivals in the village are Hunter and Helen, rather a mis-matched couple in their late forties. Helen is generous and kind, while Hunter is rather power-crazed, possibly narcissistic, and likes throwing his wealth around. It’s clear from the start that Helen (who is his third wife) married him, at least in part, because he was able to fund her beloved grandmother in a top class nursing home. But she was also flattered by his attention to her. Hunter’s daughter Savannah, who is very spoiled and selfish, is being dumped on them for the summer, while her mother goes abroad. Neither Helen nor Savannah is happy about this. 

Lucy and Orlando are another pair, the best of friends but not romantically involved. They are housemates, and Lucy works in a garden centre run by Orlando’s father.  Lucy has a rather selfish mother, and isn’t speaking to her father who left them when she was fourteen. She is still hurting, another fourteen years later. Orlando is rather good-looking and Savannah decides to cultivate an interest in garden design, which is his speciality.

Then there’s Mac, a somewhat crusty man in his 70s who had a stroke a couple of years earlier. His nephew Conrad invited him to live with him. Mac was a huge part of his childhood, and although they argue a lot, they are very fond of each other. 

There are also some friendly elderly men who work on an allotment near Lucy, there’s a woman who works with Helen in a ‘care for the elderly’ business, and there are some strident village women who like to run everything… 

It’s a bit of a village soap-style saga, well written as I expect with Erica James. The first half of the book, set in the village, leads up to a group, including all the main characters, going on a gardening holiday in Italy which includes tours to large houses with big gardens. I found it all quite interesting, seeing the interactions between the different people in the village. It was hard to feel much attachment to any of them, as there are so many viewpoints and subplots. But by the time they arrive in their hotel I felt that at least I knew who was who. 

In the first half of the book, I did feel mildly irritated in places where it felt like there was a lot of plant name-dropping. I don’t have a problem with the mention of liles or lilacs or roses. But there were several places where I skimmed over lists with perhaps six or seven obscure plants mentioned. I wasn’t going to look them up, so the description was meaningless. But other than that, I quite liked it, and found the book very readable. 

Lucy becomes an important character once they’ve settled down in their hotel. Her father lives nearby and she still hasn’t decided whether she’s going to contact him, though everyone advises her to. And although she doesn’t like Orlando and Savannah becoming an item, she’s annoyed - and then flattered - by the attentions of a rather smarmy young Italian pianist. 

Helen, also, has a significant part to play: the cracks in her marriage become clearer as she mixes with other people. She finds one of them extremely attractive, as well as gentle, a complete contrast to Hunter. But she’s convinced that she’s not going to endanger her marriage. 

There’s more, of course - this is a 400-page novel, and I found it quite hard to put down once I was about half-way through. I skimmed the descriptions of houses and gardens in Italy, but was interested in the many characters and their relationships. I thought the pace was good, and the conversations realistic, even if some of what goes on is a bit sordid. I couldn’t remember what the outcome was for any of the people in the book but thought, on the whole, it was satisfactory - with one slight twist that I wasn’t expecting.

I’m glad I gave ‘Gardens of Delight’ another chance. It still isn’t one of my favourite Erica James books, but I definitely liked it better than I did the first time.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews