The Walled Garden

Unearth the most moving and captivating novel of the year

Sarah Hardy

• Publisher: Manilla Press
• Year: 2023
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9781838779276
• Subtopic: Historical Fiction
• Index: Literature

'Richly evocative' STACEY HALLS
'Heartbreaking' RACHEL HORE
'Touching, absorbing'' DAILY MAIL
'Poignant . . . There'll be tears' WOMAN & HOME
'An enveloping story to savour' KATE SAWYER

A luminous debut novel of a love affair set against the terrible aftermath of war, for readers of IN MEMORIAM by Alice Winn, WAKE by Anna Hope and THE OUTCAST by Sadie Jones

No one survives war unscathed. But even in the darkest days, seeds of hope can grow.

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.

Set in the Suffolk countryside as it moves from winter to spring, The Walled Garden is a captivating love story and a timeless, moving exploration of trauma and the miracle of human resilience.

'A heartbreaking tale, vividly dramatised' Rachel Hore

'Tender and lyrical . . . This beautiful book had notes of both Elizabeth von Arnim and Elizabeth Jane Howard. More please!' Natasha Solomons

'Touching, absorbing . . . A beautifully written story that will especially appeal to Rachel Hore fans' Daily Mail

'A poignant drama . . . What happens when war ends? How do people move on after what they've seen and possibly done? Hardy explores these complex themes in this gentle but powerful novel. There'll be tears, but this evocative read is worth every one' Book of the Month, Woman and Home

'Written with great delicacy and feeling' Elizabeth Buchan, author of Two Women in Rome

'Hardy's supremely observed novel blossoms like a rose-sharp and pointed, and stunningly beautiful' Inga Vesper, author of The Long, Long Afternoon

'A poignant, powerful novel about aftermath, trauma and hope' Katie Lumsden, author of The Secrets of Hartwood Hall

LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA GOLD CROWN AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL OF THE YEAR*













*20th September 2023 https://www.historiamag.com/the-2023-hwa-crown-awards-longlists/

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Praise for The Walled Garden
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Map
• Prologue
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14
• Chapter 15
• Chapter 16
• Chapter 17
• Chapter 18
• Chapter 19
• Chapter 20
• Chapter 21
• Chapter 22
• Chapter 23
• Chapter 24
• Chapter 25
• Chapter 26
• Chapter 27
• Chapter 28
• Chapter 29
• Chapter 30
• Chapter 31
• Chapter 32
• Chapter 33
• Chapter 34
• Chapter 35
• Chapter 36
• Chapter 37
• Chapter 38
• Chapter 39
• Chapter 40
• Chapter 41
• Chapter 42
• Chapter 43
• Chapter 44
• Chapter 45
• Chapter 46
• Chapter 47
• Chapter 48
• Chapter 49
• Chapter 50
• Chapter 51
• Chapter 52
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgements
• Letter from Author
• Copyright