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Horticulturist Sophie Drear visited the beautiful old Lilymoor House in Maine 10 years ago with her best friend. They joked about the stories people told about sometimes being able to hear the voice of your true love. Sure, there’s something really special about the place, with its old house, hedge maze, and series of gardens. But Sophie doesn’t believe in magic.
Now she’s back, just for a summer, on loan from her job at the New York Botanical Gardens. Lilymoor is celebrating its 200th anniversary, and the older woman who owns it is recovering after an injury. She needs some help to get everything ready for the celebrations.
Sophie keeps herself busy day in and day out, figuring out where a vine that’s taking over is coming from, why there’s a pool of water in one area, what to do about other odds and ends. She’s pleased with her work but carrying a burden of grief. She’s not really interested in making new friends, especially since it’s only for the summer.
Then not too long after Sophie arrives, she finds a door in a wall out in the gardens — and she could swear it wasn’t there before. She finds a man there, in a garden that’s unfinished and that she’s also sure she’s never seen. Over the course of weeks, the door appears regularly but never in the same place. And she gets to know the man who, as it turns out, is trapped in the garden.
As time goes on, Sophie opens herself up a little at a time to possibilities: with the man she’s falling for, to friendships with those she works with, to a future without the person she’s grieving.
And even to the possibility of magic.
The Someday Garden is a romance, sure, but it’s very much a story about grief. Poston does a great job capturing in words the feelings that accompany a deep loss. The book is poignant and, ultimately, hopeful. I enjoyed making the journey as a reader along with the main character.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 4 uses of strong language, about a dozen instances of moderate profanity, about 20 uses of mild language (plus 50 uses of the name of a goose including the d-word), and a dozen instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes a few intense kissing scenes, each going a bit further than kissing, and two scenes of open-door intimacy with detail. Someone is injured in a fire; a punch is thrown.
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