327

BY: KATE MORTON

This novel begins in 1992 in England. It is a story about families, and it looks back to what happened to two families in particular, during World War II. Bermondsey is a small town in England, and a mailbag is found with undelivered mail half a century later, in the attic of the mailman’s home after his death. There was no choice – the mail must be delivered to anyone that is still alive to receive it.

Edie, a young woman, is helping her Mum prepare Sunday dinner, when a letter to her Mum is dropped through the mail slot at their home. Edie heard it drop and went to retrieve the letter, which was to her Mother. Her Mother’s reaction was astonishing – she forgot about dinner, went to her room and stayed there – crying and in shock.

Back in 1941: when the bombs were beginning to fall in England, the children were rounded up and put in coaches to take them to a safer location in the country, where the villagers who were available would come to take a child home to live with them until safer times. Edie’s Mum’s brother and sister were picked up first and her Mum was frightened until a young lady arrived who commanded respect and picked her Mum for “my evacuee ” ! The young lady was Juniper Blythe, the village was Milderhurst, and the lady lived in Milderhurst Castle.

Edie’s mum just said it had been a lovely experience, and she had never gone back after the war to see this family. A veil came down over her Mother’s face, and that was the end of the story, or so it seemed!

Edie has a job. She is an editor at Billings & Brown Book Publishers, Notting Hill. It’s a small firm and well thought of, but Edie saw that they needed a new image to get more clients. She has been successful and is moving into an apartment in the office building, after ending an affair with Jamie, her first real boy friend.

On a trip to see a client, she becomes lost on the way home( she daydreams). The meeting had gone well, contract’s signed, but due to traffic she is completely off course when she sees a signpost that says Milderhurst, three miles. That’s it, she is out of the car and suddenly certain she’s been here before! Half a mile along the road, there are rusty gates to the Castle. Now she is certain her Mum had taken her there when she was small, and there’s no stopping now.

Edie goes on to the village and stays at a Bed & Breakfast run by a Mrs. Bird, who also arranges tours to the castle. There are three sisters still living in the castle – twins and the youngest Blythe is Juniper. Well, that’s how it all began and Edie becomes involved in unraveling the story of Raymond Blythe, his wives and his daughters. There are books and mysteries and when Edie discovers this Raymond Blythe wrote one of her favorite books, The Mud Man, there is no going back.

This novel is part Gothic, and totally an intricate and mysterious story of the Blythe family and eventually of Edie’s own family.

Morton’s novels are #1 bestsellers in England and Australia. The Forgotten Garden was a New York Times bestseller.

This is a haunting tale that stays in your mind long after the last page is turned!

Published: ATRIA BOOKS, A Division of Simon & Schubert, Inc.

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Copyright: © 2010 By: Kate Morton