The Victory Garden: A Novel

I enjoyed reading about the lives of various people (although they are fictitious, the information is true) and how the people at home dealt with the war. The characters are well written and the story is an emotional roller-coaster. Just what I like in a historical novel.

I enjoyed this book.

This is a well-written heartwarming story. It’s a great way to relax in the evening and end the day on a happy, optimistic note. I want more!

The Victory Garden is by Rhys Brown. This book is wonderful and it takes you to another place with ease. It takes you to England during World War I. Many women have taken jobs once denied to them simply because men were gone. Many young women from the society pages had taken on jobs as well while some were just involved through charities. Clarissa Hamilton had been taken into the nursing section and worked her way up. She was now stationed somewhere in France. Her best friend, Emily Bryce, had been forced to stay home and work only with the charities her Mother deemed polite enough for her daughter. After all, Emily was only twenty and was highly marriageable. She only had to make her decision as to whom to marry among her parents’ friends and acquaintances. Emily was not ready to get married and had no intention of choosing the men her parents presented to her. An arranged marriage was not going to be for her! She understood her parents wanting her to stay at home after the death of their only son; but Emily felt the need to do something to help the home front to help her feel her brother’s death was not in vain. The one charity she thought particularly stupid was serving baked good to the men at the hospital which had been set up in the mansion next to them. It was for officers so was acceptable. If she had been allowed to sit and talk to the young men or write letters for them, that would be useful; but to serve buns from silver trays with crystal tongs and not being allowed to talk to the men other than pleasantries, seemed a waste of time until she accidentally met Flight Lieutenant Robert Kerr from Australia. Things seemed to look up as they became acquainted. When Robbie was sent to a different hospital in Plymouth, Emily decided to take matters into her own hands as she had just turned twenty-one. She enlisted in the Land Girls program near enough to be able to see Robbie on days off. Her parents were furious. Emily’s adventures with the Land Girls, her romance with Robbie, and her life after the War are described in wonderful detail in the book. Rhys Brown’s attention to detail in creating her characters and places in the book creates a world you can easily slip into as you read. You simply do not want the book to end and you are left wanting more.

Rhys Bowen is one of the authors that I follow and I bought this book because I enjoyed her earlier novel "The Tuscan Child." I liked The Tuscan Child a little better but this book was also a very good read. It was the story of Emily Bryce who, against her family's wishes, worked as one of the land girls during WWI, planting crops and caring for livestock while the men were off fighting. While I liked the story and read it quickly, it was very predictable and unrealistic for the time period. I don't want to give away details of the story, but at the time period in question, a young woman who had a child out of wedlock would have been shamed and definitely not accepted. Emily, on the other hand, became a hero to the village people for her ability to heal them with herbal remedies. The ending was also an easy one to guess but I still enjoyed it. I recommend this book to others who enjoy historical novels as it does give the flavor of the time period despite the unrealistic handling of Emily's predicament. I enjoyed the book so much that I bought In Farleigh Field for my Kindle and look forward to starting it this weekend.

Enjoyed the novel. Thankful for surprising and fun loving storylines. Now can add a mystery with a twist and no bad dreams.

The description on the back of this book was on point, nothing else to this story. So, I am going to review my likes and dislikes. This follows the fictional life of the main character Emily during WWI. The story does include her life among the Women's Land Army, albeit not into much detail. Since the book covers the very end of the war, the land girls and Emily's life there were only given about one fourth time of this novel. I was disappointed. Next, the story tries to then focus on the main character using natural herbal remedies as the next chapter in her life, but this aspect just seemed tacked on. Emily's herbal remedy potions had little to do with what she learned being a land girl. It was like the story needed somewhere to go. I kept reading waiting for everything to piece together, but it was weakly done. Something I found interesting and was hopeful about was the pregnancy of the main character. Refusing to go to a home where she can have the child placed for adoption, she was determined to have the child on her own and make ends meet. She has the child out of wedlock during a time period where this was unacceptable, so this is what kept me reading. Yet, I found her unrelenting ability to always prevail and meet her challenges successfully during the pregnancy far-fetched and romantical rather than historical. Not as impressive as The Tuscan Child, which I was a huge fan of. I didn't feel like I was immersed into another society or culture. BUT a quick and very easy read. I would say 2.5 stars. Although some things were very predictable, it was entertaining at times.

This is a charming and engrossing book which, despite my being very busy, I gobbled it up in a few sittings. Historically, it was interesting to me, because I knew nothing about the Land Girls in WWI. I’d heard about the nurses, therapists, etc., but I’d never heard of the Land Girls despite the incredibly valuable role they played in England during the war. The story is quite engrossing and you will hate to put it down because the trials and tribulations of the main character and her friends are so interesting and believable. I had just gone through all of Rhys Bowen’s “Her Royal Spyness” series and was sad that the next one doesn’t come out for several months, so I decided to explore her other works. I’m so glad I did, because this was a delight to read. I highly recommend this book as well as all of the “Her Royal Spyness” books. Now, I’m going to find some more of her works, which I suspect I will be recommending too.

This novel is a delight from beginning to end. The two world wars have been a treasure trove to mine for numerous authors and this is no exception. It is set in and around the 1914-18 war when all sorts of young men were being shamed into joining up to fight a war that would soon be over - or so they were led to believe. In all this Rhys Bowen tells a touching story of how others, not at the front, were occupying their time and being useful at the same time. The central figure is a young lady, Emily Bryce, mature beyond her young years and the daughter of a judge, who after unforgivable behaviour to his daughter, comes good in the end and a mother with relatively little to commend her. It is all a matter of that perennially debilitating English condition - class. Having been barred from the comfortable middle class home because of her desire to help the war effort in any capacity, she eventually joins the Womens Land Army and is billeted with various women, deemed to be below her class, who turn out to be be her finest friends. She grows up very quickly and and learns much of the farms and land and gardens which will see her triumph in a business embracing them all. The author draws various characters with skill and sympathy and the romance leading to rejection by her parents is handled like all aspects of this book with a true story tellers insight. You must read this beautifully written and touching story.

Comme toujours les récits de Rhys Bowen ne déçoivent jamais. Elle écrit magnifiquement bien avec beaucoup de sensibilité. Le récit est passionnant et poignant par moments mais malgré l’extrême cruauté de la 2ème guerre mondiale et de ses conséquences, ainsi que les problèmes si marqués entre les classes sociales, on garde l’espoir que le temps aidera à limer les différences et surtout à surmonter tant de douleur. Le peuple britannique est un peuple qui a souvent montré un grand pouvoir de résilience. Un remarquable roman à lire absolument.

An enjoyable story. Well written, realistic characters whose lives were shaped by the times they were living in. It was interesting to read about women’s contributions to the war efforts, facts that sometimes get lost in history. This is the first book I have read by this author but it won’t be my last.

All the best ingredients for a heartwarming read. You will certainly not being dissapointed. Oh well four more words necessary.

Non conoscevo questa scrittrice, l’ho trovata molto coinvolgente si legge facilmente. La consiglio vivamente sono già al suo terzo romanzo