The Winter Garden

Title:  The Winter Garden

Author:  Nicola Cornick

Publication Information:  Graydon House. 2022. 336 pages.

ISBN:  1525811460 / 978-1525811463

Rating:   ★★★★

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "They awoke that morning to snow."

Favorite Quote:  "It cannot always be a fight. Sometimes we must be content to bide a little and wait for our time to come around again."

As with Nicola Cornick's other books, The Winter Garden is a story of multiple time periods and the women of the time struggling, fighting, and making their own way. In the present day, Lucy has lost her career and her way of life to a disease. She is at a crossroads because everything she worked for her whole life and everything she dreamed of is gone. She retreats to her aunt's home in Oxfordshire to rest and recover physically and emotionally. The home has its own history, and a project is underway to restore and recover part of that history - a garden lost to time.

The history of the past is of the 1600s. The Catholics of the region felt persecuted by the Protestant kings and queens. There was religious strife which led to political strife. "Matters of religion were a thorny thicket for a man - or woman - to discuss with their fellows. The past fifty years had made us wary. Wars had been waged, men of conscience killed, families such as ours split apart, imprisoned, robbed of our fortunes." Robert Catesby was a Catholic landowner and a ringleader of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed plan to blow up the King and other nobleman on the opening day of Parliament. The holiday called Guy Fawkes (another of conspirators) Night or Bonfire Night still celebrates the failure of this plot.

In the story, Lucy's aunt's home once belonged to Robert Catesby. For the book, the main character of the past is Robert Catesby's mother although the garden is question was actually created at the request of his Protestant wife. Robert Catesby's wife plays a major role in the book, and yet it is not her story that is told. 

The book proceeds somewhat like an archeological dig with a visiting ghost and visions and some of romance added. As Lucy experiences visions of the past and gets involved in the restoration project, her visions and discovery lead to that layers of the story of the past. The story of the present is one of healing; the story of the past is one of destruction. The anchor of the book is very much Lucy's story of grief and healing. The romance in the book is a sweet one and enough in the background to allow the story to remain focused on the history and its ramifications into the present.

This book, yet again, does what I love about historical fiction. It teaches me something new in history. I read the story and am off to search nonfiction sources for the actual history. I have, of course, heard of Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night. However, I had never before heard of Robert Catesby and his role in this history. The fact that the fiction is from the perspective of the women leaves me wondering of the actual women of this history and if anything is written of their roles and contributions.

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The Forgotten Sister

Title:  The Forgotten Sister

Author:  Nicola Cornick

Publication Information:  Graydon House. 2020. 368 pages.

ISBN:  1525809954 / 978-1525809958

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley and through the Fall 2020 historical fiction blog tour from Harlequin Trade Publishing free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "They came for me one night in the winter of 1752 when the ice was on the pond and the trees bowed under the weight of the hoar frost."

Favorite Quote:  "Yet in the end it is your kindness that heals me. Kindness cannot alter the past but it can change the future. It can bring peace."

***** BLOG TOUR *****

Review

Amy Robsart is a historical figure from Elizabethan England. Her "claim to fame" unfortunately was her unhappy marriage and her death. She was the wife of Robert Dudley, a favorite of Elizabeth I. Amy died from a fall down a flight of stairs. The circumstances surrounding the fall were never clarified. It remains undetermined whether the death was an accident or a results of more nefarious decisions.

The book begins with a prologue from 1752. It is unclear how it ties into the story until the very end, but then it encapsulates the story and brings it to closure. The rest of the book goes between 1549 and 2020. In 1549, there are Amy, Anna, Robert, Elizabeth, Arthur, and Johnny. In 2020, there are Amelie, Anna, Dudley, Lizzie, Arthur, and Johnny. In 1549, there are court intrigues and the rise and fall of fortunes as the struggle for power continues and the control of the throne shifts. In 2020, there are celebrity lifestyles and a death which calls into question life choices. in 1549, the story centers around Amy. In 2020, it is Lizzie.

Both Amy and Lizzie's stories are also the stories of women in their own way finding their own voices and taking (or attempting to take) charge of the direction of their lives. Considering that history tells us Amy dies under suspicious circumstances tells you the conclusion of her story. Where Lizzie's story end is much more open for question as is the question of how their stories relate.

The book gives a lot of clues as to that connection - the prologue, the title of the book, the character names in the two time periods. In other words, the mystery turns out to not be such a mystery. However, in this case, it does not distract from the discovery of the mystery or the enjoyment of the book.

The magical realism in this book stems from extrasensory abilities in people. Psychometry is the supposed ability to learn about an event, a person, or other history from touching an inanimate object. Science disagrees about whether or not psychometry actually exists. This, telepathy, a ghost boy, and even time travel are foundational to this story. I choose to suspend disbelief and go along for the ride. I also do respond to the emotional use of psychometry. The thought of touching an object of a loved one who has passed away and conjuring up a scenario as if they were still there is an appealing one. Which one of us would not relish that possibility if only for a moment!

This book picks up on the history of Amy Robsart's death and develops an entire two timeline story that incorporates history, love stories, sibling rivalries, celebrity lifestyles, mysterious deaths, and magical realism. This book is unusual in two timeline stories in that I find myself equally engaged in both stories. Usually, one takes precedence, but this book finds that unique balance. The title of the book, I realize at the end, is a spoiler, but the book itself is a fast paced page turner that keeps me engaged until the very end.

About the Book

In the tradition of the spellbinding historical novels of Philippa Gregory and Kate Morton comes a stunning story based on a real-life Tudor mystery, of a curse that echoes through the centuries and shapes two women’s destinies…

1560: Amy Robsart is trapped in a loveless marriage to Robert Dudley, a member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Surrounded by enemies and with nowhere left to turn, Amy hatches a desperate scheme to escape—one with devastating consequences that will echo through the centuries…

Present Day: When Lizzie Kingdom is forced to withdraw from the public eye in a blaze of scandal, it seems her life is over. But she’s about to encounter a young man, Johnny Robsart, whose fate will interlace with hers in the most unexpected of ways. For Johnny is certain that Lizzie is linked to a terrible secret dating back to Tudor times. If Lizzie is brave enough to go in search of the truth, then what she discovers will change the course of their lives forever.

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Nicola Cornick has written over thirty historical romances for Harlequin and HQN Books. She has been nominated twice for a RWA RITA Award and twice for the UK RNA Award. She works as a historian and guide in a seventeenth century house. In 2006 she was awarded a Masters degree with distinction from Ruskin College, Oxford, where she wrote her dissertation on heroes.

Excerpt

Copyright © Nicola Cornick.

PROLOGUE

Amy Robsart, Cumnor Village

They came for me one night in the winter of 1752 when the ice was on the pond and the trees bowed under the weight of the hoar frost. There were nine priests out of Oxford, garbed all in white with tapers in hand. Some looked fearful, others burned with a righteous fervour because they thought they were doing the Lord’s work. All of them looked cold, huddled within their cassocks, the one out ahead gripping the golden crucifix as though it were all that stood between him and the devil himself.

The villagers came out to watch for a while, standing around in uneasy groups, their breath like smoke on the night air, then the lure of the warm alehouse called them back and they went eagerly, talking of uneasy ghosts and the folly of the holy men in thinking they could trap my spirit.

The hunt was long. I ran through the lost passageways of Cumnor Hall with the priests snapping at my heels and in the end, exhausted and vanquished, my ghost sank into the dark pool. They said their prayers over me and returned to their cloisters and believed the haunting to be at an end.

Yet an unquiet ghost is not so easily laid to rest. They had trapped my wandering spirit but I was not at peace. When the truth is concealed the pattern will repeat. The first victim was Amyas Latimer, the poor boy who fell to his death from the tower of the church where my body was buried. Then there was the little serving girl, Amethyst Green, who tumbled from the roof of Oakhangar Hall. Soon there will be another. If no one prevents it, I know there will be a fourth death and a fifth, and on into an endless future, the same pattern, yet different each time, a shifting magic lantern projecting the horror of that day centuries ago.

There is only one hope.

I sense her presence beside me through the dark. Each time it happens she is there too, in a different guise, like me. She is my nemesis, the arch-enemy. Yet she is the only one who can free me and break this curse. In the end it all depends on her and in freeing my spirit I sense she will also free her own.

Elizabeth.

I met her only a handful of times in my life. She was little but she was fierce, always, fierce enough to survive against the odds, a fighter, clever, ruthless, destined always to be alone. We could never have been friends yet we are locked together in this endless dance through time.

I possessed the one thing she wanted and could not have and in my dying I denied it to her forever. For a little while I thought that would be enough to satisfy me. Yet revenge sours and diminishes through the years. All I wish now is to be released from my pain and to ensure this can never happen again.

Elizabeth, my enemy, you are the only one who can help me now but to do that you must change, you must see that the truth needs to be told. Open your eyes. Find the light.

Social Links

Author Website: https://www.nicolacornick.co.uk
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/NicolaCornick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nicola.cornick/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/nicolacornick/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/63843.Nicola_Cornick

Buy Links

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Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

The Phantom Tree

Title:  The Phantom Tree

Author:  Nicola Cornick

Publication Information:  Graydon House. 2018. 384 pages.

ISBN:  1525805991 / 978-1525805998

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "She saw the portrait quite by chance, or so she thought."

Favorite Quote:  "It is entirely possible to bargain with an enemy if there is something that you both want and so it proved. Thus we were bound together through time."

The Phantom Tree has a little bit of a lot of things in it - England in the 1500s, time travel, the role of women in society, witches, history, adventure, romance, male privilege, and strong, sympathetic characters. What I enjoy most about the book is that the twists and turns manage to surprise me. A few I see coming, but several I don't. This keeps me turning the pages until the very last one. The twists - one in particular - also gets me emotionally. I wish things had turned out differently. That surprises me because I do not feel particularly attached to the character until that point.

Those are my cryptic summary thoughts on a book that has its shares of mysteries.

Alison Bannister sees a portrait claimed to be a previously undiscovered painting of Anne Boelyn. Alison knows better. She knows that the image is of Mary Seymour. Further, Alison knows that the image holds the key to her past. For, Alison is a time traveller stuck in a time that is not hers.

Alison and Mary meet as little girls when both are orphaned and thrown upon the mercies of family members during the 1500s in England. They are thrown together and forced to get along. They do not exactly become friends. Little do they know that their fates are forever entwined, and one will perhaps be the best friend to the other.

Circumstances and sometimes their own naivete and choices create a turbulent childhood. "People with happy families so often don't realize how lucky they are." As teenagers (which was a ripe old age for a girl at that time), things get worse. I leave you to imagine what worse may mean for a young woman without family and backing at that time.

From the very beginning, we know how Alison's story for this time period sort of ends. She finds herself in a different time period and begins a new life. How does she get there? What keeps her there? Why? What becomes of Mary? Having now seen the portrait, what choice will Alison make about the past, the present, and the future? What of her new life, where people don't know that she is from the past?

These are the questions that this book tumbles through as I keep turning pages to see where it goes and what becomes of these girls. Reader beware. Although the main characters are young women, this is an adult book with violence and adult themes and situations.

The mix of historical fiction with time travel works in this book. The time travel seems to go along with the belief in witches and curses prevalent at the time. The book at no time feels futuristic or science fiction like. The time travel simply requires the same suspension of disbelief as putting myself in England in the middle of the 1500s.

Contrasting this premise, the emotions of the book feel real. Alison's quest for the past seems entirely believable even when she has found and created a beautiful new life. Mary's innocence in the face of the connivers that surround her also seems credible. Maybe, all of this happens because I vest in the stories of these characters. Regardless of the reason, this book holds my attention all the way through to the end.

Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.