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Garden Fiction



If you like good fiction relating to gardens, check out these Library-recommended novels that have to do with gardens or growing green things. Select a title link or cover to view the book's Library location and availability.

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Arnow, Harriette. Between the Flowers
"Deeply moving without being either sentimental or melodramatic, Arnow's previously unpublished second novel unfolds the inner life of a young girl whose adventurous spirit brings her constantly into conflict with the ignorance and poverty into which she was born." See also other books by Harriette Arnow.

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Buchan, Elizabeth. Consider the Lily
"Brief allegorical chapters about flowers and gardening are interspersed in this tale of starcrossed lovers, set in the period between the two world wars." See also other books by Elizabeth Buchan.

Cover of The Blossom Festival

Coates, Lawrence. The Blossom Festival
Set in the Santa Clara Valley between the two world wars, "this quietly old-fashioned novel occasionally stumbles on its nostalgic reverie, but its essence is bittersweet: that even a paradisical land is marked by the human hopes and hatreds that reverberate long after the orchards are replaced by corporate parks."

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Craig, Alisa. The Grub-and-Stakers House a Haunt
"A lighthearted mood is created with a heavy hand as widow and heroine Mrs. Zilla Trott joins up with other members of the Grub-and-Stakers Gardening and Roving Club of Lobelia Falls, Ont., to hunt for the bones and buried gold of murdered muleskinner Hiram Jellyby." See also other books by Alisa Craig aka Charlotte MacLeod

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Dallas, Sandra. Alice's Tulips
During the Civil War, "after her husband enlists in the Union army, newly married Alice Bullock and her cantankerous mother-in-law are left to tend the family farm....When Alice becomes the primary suspect in a local murder, she and Mother Bullock form a previously unthinkable united front." See also other books by Sandra Dallas

Cover of The Changeling Garden

Elze, Winifred. The Changeling Garden
"When Annie, Mark and their five-year-old son, David, move into an old Victorian house surrounded by a jumble of gardens, they are not prepared for the terror that awaits them.... As an unknown enemy stalks her family, Annie is drawn deeper and deeper into the mysterious life of the garden."

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Fforde, Katie. Second Thyme Around
"Good-natured and utterly charming romance about Lucas, a handsome, talented, somewhat prickly chef, falling back in love with his ex-wife, Perdita, whose small produce operation supplies fresh vegetables for his restaurant." See also other books by Katie Fforde

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Fredriksson, Marianne. Two Women : A Novel of Friendship
"A quiet and beautiful story of two women whose chance meeting in a gardening store blossoms into a powerful friendship that ultimately heals old wounds." See also other books by Marianne Fredriksson

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Harrison, Janis. Lilies That Fester
"When a florist's convention comes to nearby Branson, Missouri, life as the design competition coordinator is hardly a bed of roses for Bretta Solomon. The combination of hothouse flowers and hotheaded florists proves to be a lethal one as a series of murders takes place within and around this thorny bunch of competing flower-shop owners." See also other books with the character Bretta Solomon

Cover of Bad Girl Creek

Mapson, Jo-Ann. Bad Girl Creek
Bad Girl Creek is "a place where the wounded are welcome, but only if they bring their pets, and the price of admission is a willingness to work the flower farm that supports them. Phoebe, Ness, Nance, and Beryl, four women of wit and grit, transcend their individual pain to revel in the promise their combined lives make possible." See also other books by Jo-Ann Mapson

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Martin, Lee. Quakertown
"Award-winning author Lee Martin travels back to 1920s Texas to tell the story of a flourishing black community that was segregated from its white neighbors — and of the remarkable gardener, Little Washington Jones, who was asked to make a heartbreaking choice." See also other books by Lee Martin

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Medlicott, Joan. The Gardens of Covington
"The beloved friends who so charmed readers in The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love return in this installment, where Hannah [the gardener] battles developers threatening their beloved valley. Meanwhile Amelia becomes involved with a dashing older man, and Grace and Bob open a teahouse together — and discover there is nothing easy about tea." See also other books by Joan Medlicott

Cover of Tulip Fever

Moggach, Deborah. Tulip Fever
To flee 17th-century Amsterdam, married Sophia and her lover Jan need money, "so they decide to gamble their limited resources on the latest craze of tulip speculation: if they buy the right bulb they can make a sizable fortune. But as their scheme gets closer to fruition, things begin to unravel."

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Pilcher, Robin. An Ocean Apart
Newly widowed, "David is unable to return to work, and his only form of solace comes from working in the garden of his parents' estate in the Scottish countryside." Dispatched to America, he eventually takes a job as a Long Island gardener and "is able to open his heart to love once again." See also other books by Robin Pilcher

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Pim, Sheila. Common or Garden Crime : an Irish Gardening Mystery
"Set in the outskirts of Dublin during World War II, this horticultural whodunit cultivates a bumper crop of quirky characters, nearly all of whom become suspects when Lady Madeleine suddenly dies."

Cover of Harvest of Murder

Ripley, Ann. Harvest of Murder: a Gardening Mystery
"Louise Eldridge — wife, mother, and television gardening show host — shares dog-walks with eccentric biologist Dr. Peter Whiting. However, she soon finds his slashed body in the woods near her home. When she's invited by Dr. Whiting's widow only a week later to help complete her husband's plant experiments, Louise feels she's getting into something more sinister." See also other books by Ann Ripley

Cover of Ordinary Horror

Searcy, David. Ordinary Horror
"Frank Delabano is a retired science teacher.... When his beloved blooms are threatened by a mysterious burrowing pest, he sends away for an organic remedy: an exotic tropical plant guaranteed to be 'antithetical to garden varmints but harmless to pets and everything else.' The strange 'gopherbane' plants take care of the problem... and much more." See also other books by David Searcy

Cover of Creeping Jenny

Sherwood, John. Creeping Jenny
"Celia Grant, gardener extraordinaire and owner of a thriving nursery in a small English village, hires a timid young woman to assist with the potting and planting. Little does Celia suspect that her new employee is a rabid "green environmentalist" with ties to a nasty ring of thugs and an agenda that includes using violence to further the green cause." See also other books by John Sherwood

Cover of Night Gardening

Swann, E.L.. Night Gardening
"When Maggie, recovering from a life-threatening illness, meets Tristan, a handsome landscape architect, her diminished spirit is rekindled. As he restores her fading garden, their relationship blooms into an intensely exciting romance neither one had ever dared to imagine."

Cover of Sophie and the Rising Sun

Trobaugh, Augusta. Sophie and the Rising Sun
"Mr. Oto, a gardener, and Sophie, a spinster who has spent her youthful years taking care of relatives, meet in the local hardware store, and a genuine affection blossoms between the two. The time is 1939, and war brings fear to the town and changes to the growing romance between the hesitant Sophie and the quiet Mr. Oto." See also other books by Augusta Trobaugh

This page last updated September 26, 2008 by the Web Team

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