The Twilight Garden by Emma Davies (Audiobook)

 

Gemma loses her new job and her home all at the same time. Her only hope of salvation seems to be an obscure advert in a magazine offering board and lodging for help on a smallholding. Taking a leap of faith, she discovers a new lease of life and a reconnection with someone from her past.

As I started listening to The Twilight Garden by Emma Davies, I immediately felt sympathetic towards Gemma. Having spent the past year nursing her dying mother, work was the last thing on her mind. Looking for a fresh start, she has lined up a new job and tenants for her home. Unfortunately, things come crashing down when she discovers the job no longer exists, and her old job has gone. She doesn't want to inconvenience her friends or turn her new tenants away. It is easy to understand why she would leap at the chance of a job where she doesn't have to think about the demands of everyday life, giving her time to reflect and re-evaluate her priorities.

The new job isn't quite what Gemma was expecting, but with nowhere else to go, she decides to give it a chance. The smallholding is on land which was once part of a large estate. Keen to learn more about the history of the estate, Gemma uncovers what was once a well-established flower garden and sets about restoring it to its former glory. Along the way, Gemma learns new skills and develops new friendships.

There are surprises along the way. Not long after arriving at the smallholding, Gemma discovers that her ex-husband, Leo, also helps out. Learning that they divorced 18 years ago, my interest was immediately piqued, wondering why they had separated. There is also a mystery surrounding some of the things that keep going wrong; is someone trying to sabotage the work they are doing?

This is a genial story, with just enough mystery to keep you absorbed. The story surrounding the breakup of Gemma's marriage was an extremely poignant one, showing how grief affects people in different ways, and how essential communication is.

The Twilight Garden by Emma Davies is available in paperback, ebook, and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for a review copy.

Author Details

After a varied career, Emma Davies once worked for a design studio where she was asked to provide a fun and humorous (and not necessarily true) anecdote for their website. She wrote the following: 'I am a bestselling novelist currently masquerading as a thirty something mother of three.' Well the job in the design studio didn't work out but she's now a forty something mother of three and is happy to report the rest of her dream came true.

After many years as a finance manager, she now writes full time, and is far happier playing with words than numbers. She lives with her husband, three children, and two guinea pigs in rural Shropshire where she writes in all the gaps in between real life. It's a county she adores, her love of its beautiful people and landscapes providing endless inspiration for her books, and in fact the only thing that would make Shropshire more idyllic is if it were by the sea.