In this haunting new novel by Salley Vickers, artist Hassie Days, and her sister, Margot, buy a run-down Jacobean house in Hope Wenlock, on the Welsh Marches. While Margot continues her London life in high finance, Hassie is left alone to work the large, long-neglected garden. She is befriended by eccentric, sharp-tongued, Miss Foot, who recommends a man named Murat to help Hassie in the garden. Murat is an Albanian migrant, who has been made to feel out of place among the locals, and their friendship and shared labour in the garden allows them both to explore their lives.
As she works the garden in Murat’s peaceful company, Hassie ruminates on her past life: the sibling rivalry that tainted her childhood and the love affair that left her with painful, unanswered questions.
But as she begins to explore the history of the house and the mysterious nearby wood, old hurts begin to fade as Hassie experiences the healing power of nature and discovers other worlds.
Join Lucinda Hawksley on 28 July to chat about Salley Vickers’11th novel – which follows her critically acclaimed titles including Miss Garnet’s Angel, Dancing Backwards and The Librarian.