The Lily Garden- Book Review

The Lily Garden by Barbara Josselsohn

Expected Publication: 2nd July 2021
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary 

3.5 Stars 

The Lily Garden was created by Caroline’s mother more than thirty years ago. After her mother’s death, followed by her father’s accident, Caroline leaves Lake Summers and goes to live with her aunt in Chicago. 

The story starts with Caroline working in her aunt’s successful business empire. Her daughter Lee is ready to graduate and has her future decided for her as the heiress of the business. Caroline and Lee have a two-week summer break to look at other options and travel to Boston. 

A message from Maxine, the woman who cared for Caroline like a mother, forces her to change her plans. The Lily Garden would be demolished, and they need to find a way to stop it somehow. 

Then we have Aaron, a historian and a professor who moves to the town for a year. He has his own past to deal with. When paths cross, Caroline has to decide if she wants to play it safe or take a plunge and see where things go. She also has to face her past, and things are not what she thought them to be. 

The premise is great, and I love the cover. After reading The Bluebell Girls last year, I had high expectations from this one. 

A young widow with a teenage daughter going back to her childhood town to fight for the last memory of her mother was enough to make me pick this book as soon as I could. The writing was easy to read, and the setting was wonderful. The author can create vivid imagery of the landscape and its people. The side characters are well-etched and added a lot to the book. 

So what made me give it just 3.5 stars? 

I was looking for the ‘terrible secret’ that was supposed to be revealed in the book. The ending of the blurb goes- 

“But then Caroline learns a terrible secret about the day her mother died. If she continues fighting to save the garden, she may uncover more painful truths that will affect her whole family. But if she leaves now, she will have to give up a future with Aaron and the beautiful town that has always been in her heart…”  

But the secret doesn’t get revealed until almost 82-85% of the book. And when it’s done, it’s underwhelming because the scenes rush by one after another. Things get sorted in the last 15% of the novel, though we still don’t know the answer to some questions. There’s a hint, and guess we’ll have to make do with that. 

For someone with so many lovely memories of the place, it seems odd that Caroline didn’t want to go back even once. Yeah, she has created her own version of some of the past incidents. However, it doesn’t really change the story. 

Caroline is pretty much a hesitant and tentative character, prone to panics for the slightest of issues. It does make her real, but it also makes her a weak character to carry the weight of the story. 

I felt Lee was better etched for her age, and Caroline’s character shadows her in many places. I think it’s the limited third-person narrative that resulted in this. 

There are a few chapters from Aaron’s perspective (limited third person), but they leave us with more questions than answers. We get a gist of what would happen soon to tie up the loose ends, but it left me dissatisfied. I wanted more from the book. The relationship between Aaron and Caroline was okay. It wasn’t explored enough for me to root for them. 

The side characters are the strength of this book. They bring color and life and make the story more interesting. The relationship between Caroline and Maxine was great. It was one of the positives of the book. 

Overall, the story is sweet and heartwarming, but it needed better treatment to shine. The author did a better job with other book(s), and I hope to read that kind of magic from her again. 

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture. 

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