Blog tour: The Walled Garden

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Welcome to the blog tour for The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy!

More about the book…

It is 1946 and in the village of Oakbourne the men are home from the war. Their bodies are healing but their psychological wounds run deep. Everyone is scarred - those who fought and those left behind.

Alice Rayne is married to Stephen, heir to crumbling Oakbourne Hall. Once a sweet, gentle man, he has returned a bitter and angry stranger, destroyed by what he has seen and done, tormented by secrets Alice can only guess at.

Lonely and increasingly afraid of the man her husband has become, Alice must try to pick up the pieces of her marriage and save Oakbourne Hall from total collapse. She begins with the walled garden and, as it starts to bear fruit, she finds herself drawn into a new, forbidden love.

More about the author…

Sarah Hardy has lived for the last 10 years on the Suffolk coast which is where her novel is set.

Before that she lived in London, Dublin and the Hebrides.

She has worked on national magazines and newspapers.

My impressions…

It always amazes me how a book that is full of sadness and the horrors of war – and, in this case, the struggles lived by both men and women in the aftermath of war – can be so beautiful, delicate and full of hope. The Walled Garden is an ode to resilience, and Stephen and Alice are memorable characters that will tug at your heartstrings.

Three words to describe it. Evocative. Moving. Hopeful.

Do I like the cover? One of the most beautiful covers I’ve come across recently.

Have I read any other books by the same author? No, this is an exceptional debut novel.

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