Bookworm meets Earthworm: Garden Fiction

Despite the Nor’Easter at the beginning of the month and the 8 inches of snow that mother nature dumped on us a few days later, March winds carry the promise of Spring.  And with Spring comes GARDENING!!! There’s something about digging in the dirt and watching seeds burst through the dark, rich soil that warms my heart and soothes my soul.  And in mid-July, relaxing with a book and a glass of wine in a garden bursting with bright red tomatoes and zinnias alive with butterflies is almost enough to make me put all my travel plans on hold! But, alas, although St. Patrick’s Day has come and gone, it’s still a wee bit too early here in Philadelphia for any serious gardening. Luckily, there is plenty of garden fiction to keep us earthworm loving bookworms happy! Enjoy and happy garden reading!

1.  Digging In by Loretta Nyhan

Genre: Contemporary Garden Fiction

New Release! In author Loretta Nyhan’s warm, witty, and wonderful novel, a widow discovers an unexpected chance to start over—right in her own backyard.

Paige Moresco found her true love in eighth grade—and lost him two years ago. Since his death, she’s been sleepwalking through life, barely holding on for the sake of her teenage son. Her house is a wreck, the grass is overrun with weeds, and she’s at risk of losing her job as an ad executive who has to figure out how to promote such things as vegan, gluten-free chocolate beet root cake. As Paige stares at her neglected lawn, she knows she’s hit rock bottom. So she does something entirely unexpected: she begins to dig.

As the hole gets bigger, Paige decides to turn her entire yard into a vegetable garden. The neighbors in her tidy gated community are more than a little alarmed. Paige knows nothing about gardening, and she’s boldly flouting neighborhood-association bylaws. But with the help of new friends, a charming local cop, and the transformative power of the soil, Paige starts to see potential in the chaos of her life. Something big is beginning to take root—both in her garden and in herself.

2. The Bluebonnet Betrayal (Potting Shed Mystery #5) by Marty Wingate

Genre: Romantic, Series, Mystery Garden Fiction

Bestselling author Marty Wingate “plants clever clues with a dash of romantic spice,” raves Mary Daheim. Now Wingate’s inimitable gardening heroine, Pru Parke, is importing a precious bloom from Texas—and she won’t let a vicious murder stop her.

Pru’s life in England is coming full circle. A Texas transplant, she’s married to the love of her life, thriving in the plum gardening position she shares with her long-lost brother, and prepping a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit featuring the beloved bluebonnets of the Texas hill country. Technically, Twyla Woodford, the president of a gardening club in the Lone Star State, is in charge of the London event, but Pru seems to be the one getting her hands dirty. When they finally do meet, Pru senses a kindred spirit—until Twyla turns up dead.

Although Twyla’s body was half buried under a wall in their display, Pru remains determined to mount a spectacular show. Twyla would have insisted. So Pru recruits her husband, former Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse, to go undercover and do a bit of unofficial digging into Twyla’s final hours. If Pru has anything to say about it, this killer is going to learn the hard way not to mess with Texas.

3. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Genre: Contemporary Garden Fiction

This is a debut novel that became a New York Times Bestseller.

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

4. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Genre: Children’s/Juvenile Garden Fiction – Classic

Opening the door into the innermost places of the heart, The Secret Garden is a timeless classic that has left generations of readers with warm, lifelong memories of its magical charms.

When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen…

So begins the famous opening of one of the world’s best-loved children’s stories. First published in 1911, this is the poignant tale of a lonely little girl, orphaned and sent to a Yorkshire mansion at the edge of a vast lonely moor. At first, she is frightened by this gloomy place, but with the help of the local boy Dickon, who earns the trust of the moor’s wild animals with his honesty and love, the invalid Colin, a spoiled, unhappy boy terrified of life, and a mysterious, abandoned garden, Mary is eventually overcome by the mystery of life itself—its birth and renewal, its love and joy.

5. Devil’s Trumpet by Mary Freeman

Genre: Series, Mystery Garden Fiction

Rachel O’Connor’s company, Rain Country Landscaping, may be struggling, but she has a dream job at Oregon’s famed Columbia River Inn–until owner Henry Bassinger plunges to a suspicious death in the Columbia Gorge. If Rachel doesn’t solve the murder soon, she will lose not only her livelihood but her life.

Although Rachel is an amateur sleuth; she is, nonetheless, incredibly persuasive. Ms. Freeman’s talent rests in the way she handles her storytelling; particularly, in the way she reproduces dialogue among her characters. Communication could never be more realistic. This is a rare gift among mystery writers, who sometimes focus too much into the descriptions of surroundings and neglect the aspect of communication among characters. The following mysteries in the series will appeal not only to mystery lovers but to gardening lovers as well; each book includes at the end, a useful gardening tip, while lots of them are sprinkled throughout the novel.

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Sooooo, what do you think? I know which one I picked! I’m so excited to start digging up my own back yard and making a massive veggie garden full of flowers, too.  The best part is that not only did I get to read about a subject I love – garden fiction! – I also get to check off “novel featuring a garden” from the 2018 Read and Go Challenge.  If you haven’t joined the challenge, it is definitely not too late to do so!  Find out more on The Novel Tourist Facebook Page.

If you have a suggestion or favorite garden fiction, please share in the comments below or, if you haven’t already done so, join the rest of us Read & Go challenge fans in the members-only Facebook group and post it there. We’d love to add your ideas to the list!

Happy Reading, Lovelies!