The Forgotten Garden

by Kate Morton
5 Stars
Setting: Australia, England
645 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
This was a great book with an intriguing mystery about a foundling. Throughout the book, Morton carefully solves one part of the mystery while presenting other small mysteries. Readers are hooked! She jumps between three time frames without being confusing, which is a hard effect for authors though many try. I highly recommend this novel for a book club - readers love it and have a lot to discuss.

Book Summary
A foundling, an old book of dark fairy tales, a secret garden, an aristocratic family, a love denied, and a mystery. The Forgotten Garden is a captivating, atmospheric and compulsively readable story of the past, secrets, family and memory from the international best-selling author Kate Morton. 

See Ellie's reviews of Kate Morton's other novels: The House at Riverton and The Distant Hours.

Book Club Information
Click here to see a video of Kate Morton talking about The Forgotten Garden (no spoilers).


Discussion Questions

1. Christian said the following about “The Golden Egg” fairy tale, “The characters in the story are all doing what they think is right.  It’s just that it can’t have a happy ending for all of them.”  In The Forgotten Garden, who do you think had a happy ending?
2. Lady Montrechet convinces Eliza not to travel to New York with herself and Rose.  She convinces Eliza that lying to make someone happy is a good thing.  Do you agree?
3. Discuss what parts of Nell’s true story were never discovered by Cassandra.
4. Ruby said the following about not having children, “You make a life out of what you have not what you’re missing.”  Nell admits to herself she has focused too much on her missing late husband and child.  Who else focused on what was missing? 
5. Did Hugh and Lil make the right decision when they kept Nell? (question from katemorton.com)
6. On the night of Nell’s twenty-first birthday, her father Hugh tells her a secret that shatters her sense of self. How important is a strong sense of identity to a person’s life? Was Hugh right to tell her about her past? How might Nell’s life have turned out differently had she not discovered the truth? (question from katemorton.com)
7. Is it possible to escape the past, or does one’s history always find a way to revisit the present?  (question from katemorton.com)

Crone: The crone is a stock character in folklore and fairy tale, an old woman who is usually disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructing. She is marginalized by her exclusion from the reproductive cycle, and her proximity to death places her in contact with occult wisdom. As a character type, the crone shares characteristics with the hag.  The word "crone" is a less common synonym for "old woman," and is more likely to appear in reference to traditional narratives than in contemporary everyday usage. 

The House at Riverton

by Kate Morton
3 Stars
Setting: England
599 pages
Published 2006

Ellie's Review
I actually give this 3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed this 1920s novel set in England - it had some nice family and romantic parts in the plot as told by the maid. Even though the ending had a nice twist, the fact that a mysterious death is told about at the beginning and you find the true story out in the last few pages a bit cliche. It was very enjoyable and great to curl up with and read all in a weekend.

Book Summary
Summer 1924 - On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

See Ellie's reviews of Kate Morton's later novels: The Forgotten Garden and The Distant Hours.

This was published in Europe under the title The Shifting Fog.

Click here to watch a 4-minute video of Kate Morton talking about The House at Riverton (no spoilers).

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee
4 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: Alabama
323 pages
Published 1960

Ellie's Review
To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book about prejudice that was artfully written from the viewpoint of a child who knows no prejudice and learns the social customs and hatred our world has. I enjoyed it in high school and enjoyed it again as an adult who has experienced more. I hope to have the strength of the character Atticus in raising my children.

Book Summary
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

East of Eden

by John Steinbeck
3 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: USA
601 pages
Published 1952

Ellie's Review
I almost gave East of Eden 4 stars. I did enjoy this book and the lessons of good and evil within us. Some of the descriptions were fabulous (Liza is "as humorless as a chicken"). However, I think Steinbeck added in things he could have cut out to make the book shorter. I was a bit confused as to why he had someone narrate it first-person in just a handful of sections; I kept waiting for that person's story to be told more.

Book Summary
The masterpiece of one of the greatest American writers of all time. East of Eden is an epic tale of good vs. evil with many biblical references and parallels. The story is ultimately that of good's triumph over evil and the human will's ability to make that happen.

Killer Weekend (Walt Fleming #1)

by Ridley Pearson
4 Stars
Setting: Sun Valley, Idaho
336 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
If you're looking for a good murder mystery, try this out. This is the first book I've read of Pearson's, and I liked the main plot and was very interested in the subplots as well. This was a good page-turner, and I liked the ending.  Killer Weekend is a nice, entertaining read and is especially fun for anyone with an Idaho connection since novels aren't usually set there.

Book Summary
Eight years ago, in Sun Valley-snowcapped playground for the wealthy and ambitious-all that stood between U.S. Attorney General Elizabeth Shaler and a knife-wielding killer was local patrolman Walt Fleming. Now Liz Shaler returns to Sun Valley as the keynote speaker of billionaire Patrick Cutter's world-famous media and communications conference, a convergence of the richest, most powerful business tycoons. The controversial attorney general is expected to announce her candidacy for president. It's a media coup for Cutter-but a security nightmare for Walt Fleming, now the county sheriff. As the Cutter conference gets under way, authorities learn of a confirmed threat on Shaler's life, and various competing interests-the Secret Service, the FBI, Cutter's own security forces -begin jockeying for jurisdiction. Amid the conference's opulent extravagances, Walt is suddenly shaken by an apparent murder, his nephew's arrest, and a haunting legacy from his family's past. The clock ticks down toward Shaler's keynote address as we track the chilling precision of her assassin's preparations.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford
4 Stars
Historical Fiction, WWII
Setting: Seattle
304 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
This book was a fascinating read about the Japanese internment - I learned so much. However, this book was also a wonderful love story and a novel about father/son relationships. At times, the writing didn't flow that well, but I still really liked the book.

Book Summary
In 1986, Henry lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese girl from his childhood in the 1940s -- Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

by Wayne W. Dyer
5 Stars
Nonfiction: Self Help
416 pages
Published 2007

Ellie's Review
This is an amazing book! Split into sections for every verse in the Tao Te Ching, Wayne Dyer gives his interpretation of the verse and suggests how to apply it to your daily life. I read one verse a day so the meaning could sink in. I can honestly say this book has changed my life and helped me be more at peace. Regardless of your religious beliefs, I think you could benefit from this book. The world would be a much better place if everyone read this!

Book Summary
Five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a God-realized being named Lao-tzu in ancient China dictated 81 verses, which are regarded by many as the ultimate commentary on the nature of our existence. The classic text of these 81 verses, called the Tao Te Ching or the Great Way, offers advice and guidance that is balanced, moral, spiritual, and always concerned with working for the good.In this book, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer has reviewed hundreds of translations of the Tao Te Ching and has written 81 distinct essays on how to apply the ancient wisdom of Lao-tzu to today’s modern world. This work contains the entire 81 verses of the Tao, compiled from Wayne’s researching of 12 of the most well-respected translations of text that have survived for more than 25 centuries. Each chapter is designed for actually living the Tao or the Great Way today. Some of the chapter titles are “Living with Flexibility,” “Living Without Enemies,” and “Living by Letting Go.” Each of the 81 brief chapters focuses on living the Tao and concludes with a section called “Doing the Tao Now.”Wayne spent one entire year reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu’s messages, practicing them each day and ultimately writing down these essays as he felt Lao-tzu wanted you to know them.This is a work to be read slowly, one essay a day. As Wayne says, “This is a book that will forever change the way you look at your life, and the result will be that you’ll live in a new world aligned with nature. Writing this book changed me forever, too. I now live in accord with the natural world and feel the greatest sense of peace I’ve ever experienced. I’m so proud to present this interpretation of the Tao Te Ching, and offer the same opportunity for change that it has brought me.”

The Lost Symbol (Robert Langdon #3)

by Dan Brown
3 Stars
Setting: Washington, DC
509 pages
Published 2009

Ellie's Review
The first half of this book was a real page-turner for me. Then I started loosing interest, and it was work to keep myself interested at the end. I didn't feel like I learned that much in this book, unlike his other Robert Langdon novels. I'm interested in learning more about Masons but didn't feel like I learned too much from this book.  Brown had too much of an agenda, and I just got tired of it. One of his scientific breakthroughs in the novel was something I've known for years - I just expected more.  Overall, I liked it but this was not up on the same level as The Da Vinci Code.

Book Summary
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation... one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.

When Langdon's beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth. 

Firefly Lane

by Kristin Hannah
3 Stars
Settings: USA
496 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
Although the beginning of this book felt too much like a Lifetime movie, I ended up really enjoying it and couldn't put it down at the end. It's a nice chick-lit novel that's totally girly and just an enjoyable read.


Book Summary
Spanning more than three decades and playing out across the ever-changing face of the Pacific Northwest, Firefly Lane is the poignant, powerful story of two women and the friendship that becomes the bulkhead of their lives.

The Shadow of the Wind

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, translated by Lucia Graves
4 Stars
Setting: Barcelona, Spain
487 pages
Published 2003

Ellie's Review
This is a beautifully written book! The plot of this mysterious book is so well laid out that at the end I could see how carefully the details were planned from the beginning, yet it wasn't predictable. I really enjoyed this both for the writing and the plot, which doesn't happen often for me.

Book Summary
Barcelona, 1945—Just after the war, a great world city lies in shadow, nursing its wounds, and a boy named Daniel awakes one day to find that he can no longer remember his mother’s face. To console his only child, Daniel’s widowed father, an antiquarian book dealer, initiates him into the secret of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library tended by Barcelona’s guild of rare-book dealers as a repository for books forgotten by the world, waiting for someone who will care about them again.

Daniel’s father coaxes him to choose a book from the spiraling labyrinth of shelves, one that, it is said, will have a special meaning for him. And Daniel so loves the book he selects, a novel called The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax, that he sets out to find the rest of Carax’s work. To his shock, he discovers that someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book this author has written. In fact, he may have the last of Carax’s books in existence.

See Ellie's review of Zafon's book The Angel's Game.

The Broken Window (Lincoln Rhyme #8)

by Jeffrey Deaver
3 Stars
Setting: USA
414 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
This novel reminded me of some of the original, classic John Grisham's - that's a good thing in my mind. While solving a crazy mystery, the reader learns about some topic. I would have given this 4 stars, but I didn't like who the killer was and Deaver had a teenager in NYC owning a car (I think that's totally unrealistic, especially for one in foster care - Deaver needs to learn to write about the subway).  If you like Grisham's first books and haven't  read Deaver, give him a try.  This is my first mystery read from the Lincoln Rhyme series, and I was fine picking this up without the others.

Book Summary
Lincoln Rhyme and partner/paramour Amelia Sachs return to face a criminal whose ingenious staging of crimes is enabled by a terrifying access to information....  When Lincoln's estranged cousin Arthur Rhyme is arrested on murder charges, the case is perfect - too perfect.  Forensic evidence from Arthur's home is found all over the scene of the crime, and it looks like the fate of Lincoln's relative is sealed.

Belong to Me

by Marisa de los Santos
4 Stars
Setting: USA
400 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review
What does it mean to belong to someone? This novel switches narration between Cornelia (someone I'd love to be friends with), Piper (the queen bee of a social group), and Dev (teenage genius); whose lives all intersect and explores various relationships as life becomes unexpected.  I really liked this book - it was quite enjoyable.

Book Summary
As this book begins, the couple is settling into their first house on an idyllic street in a picturesque Philadelphia suburb. Cornelia is inexplicably drawn to "this unsurprising place" that she yearns to call home, but her neighbors are less sure of how these transplanted, apparently childless urbanites will fare in their midst. Especially Piper Truitt. The epitome of blonde cool, this demanding mother of two has created her own version of perfection within the walls of a home that sits across the street from Cornelia's. From their early encounter at a dinner party, the two are at odds, a situation that Cornelia, adrift from her familiar surroundings, cannot conceive how to navigate.

As the novel progresses, new characters emerge. We meet Elizabeth, Piper's best friend, who's battling cancer, as well as Toby, Cornelia's brother, and Clare, the bright and compassionate teen familiar to readers of Love Walked In. Then there's Lake, a single mother working at a local Italian restaurant, who throws Cornelia a timely lifeline in the form of a dish of spaghetti alla puttanesca. Lake's son Dev, a preternaturally gifted 13-year-old, becomes Cornelia's unexpected kindred spirit. Deftly blending several tales at once, de los Santos' narrative is richly embroidered with intertwined lives and loves. As present circumstances are threatened by the revelation of past secrets, the friends forge a circle of strength and forgiveness that the reader, too, belongs to -- and will hate to leave when the last page is turned. A triumphant testimony to the power of love, Belong to Me hums with the hope that pulls friends through the ups and downs that the years hold in store for everyone. 

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

by Thomas Hardy
4 Stars
Classic, Historical Fiction
Setting: UK
592 pages
Published 1884

Ellie's Review
While I really enjoyed Jane Austen's books where the girl always ends up happily ever after with her love, Hardy's view of what girls go through was fascinating. Sometimes life sucks. I contemplated giving this book five stars, but I was a bit disappointed in the ending. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and was sad that it ended.  This gave me a lot to think about.

Book Summary
Thomas Hardy's penetrating look at the sexual hypocrisy of Victorian society attracted strong barbs (and numerous readers) when first published. Today it is revered for its subtle character portraits and resonant symbolism.

The original title was Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented.

Outliers

by Malcolm Gladwell
4 Stars
Nonfiction: Other
309 pages
Published 2008

Ellie's Review

Outliers is a great book that looks into why individuals or groups have been so much more or less successful than others. It mentions the research without going too deep into the statistics to overwhelm/bore the reader. I learned some fascinating things in regards to raising children and think any parent in particular would like this book. This is a wonderful book that I think anyone can gain great insight from.

Book Summary
Gladwell argues that, when we try to understand success, we normally start with the wrong question. We ask 'what is this person like?' when we should really be asking 'where are they from?' The real secret of success turns out to be surprisingly simple, and it hinges on a few crucial twists in people's life stories - on the culture they grow up in and the way they spend their time.