Garden Spells Book Review

Debut novel plants a seed

Thursday, 20 September 2007
Lindsey Cook
NI A&E Writer
An apple tree that throws apples and shows you the biggest events in your life, a garden full of magical flowers that can do everything, the honeysuckle which allows you to see in the dark, the lavender which raises spirits and prevents bad decisions: all of this and more can be found in the debut novel, “Garden Spells” by Sarah Addison Allen.

“Garden Spells” is the story of the Waverlys, who despite trying to be normal, are a curious family because of their peculiar gifts and extraordinary garden. Taking place in Bascom, N. C., the two main characters are sisters Claire and Sydney.

The sisters are complete opposites. While Claire is settled at home in the old family home, starting her own catering business using the mystical flowers, Sydney the wild child left home as soon as she could, trying to follow in the footsteps of their own wild child mother.

Sydney runs into trouble when her wild ways leave her with a little girl and an abusive boyfriend. Sydney finally is able to run away with her daughter, Bay.

Arriving back home, Sydney disrupts not only her sister’s quiet life but the whole town’s as rumors start to spread about the real reason she came back.
Sydney tries to readjust to her hometown and settle herself down for the first time, while Claire is trying to adjust to having people in her life again. They run through the obstacles of Sydney trying to get a job and Claire dealing with a new hunky artist neighbor who despite her many hints won’t stop paying attention to her. Then there is Bay, who tries to recreate a dream she had and spends every moment she can in the garden.

The ending was fulfilling and absolutely wonderful. I was left wanting to know more about these Waverlys, but it wasn’t a cliff hanger. There seemed to be many more stories that could be told. I hope Allen revisits this family again.

The book is filled with delightful characters. All of the Waverlys have some type of gift. Claire has intuition about certain things and can use her flowers in her cooking.

Bay has a feeling of where everything and everyone belongs. Evanlee, Claire and Sydney’s cousin, gives out gifts to people for no important reason that the characters later have a use for. Sydney struggles with what her gift is, but realizes it during the story.

The story is told through all of their eyes at different points in the story. While most of the story is told by either Claire or Sydney, the transitions are seamless. They allow you to see the different parts of the town and sympathize with more than one character. Although I felt more attached to Claire then anyone else in the book, this could change depending on the reader’s perspective.

One of the reasons I felt most attached to Claire was that at one point in the book she says, “There’s a reason I’m the way I am, you know.”

I think everyone in their life says that to someone. We’ve all had life experiences, and sometimes story tellers forget to give their characters a past and future as well as present.

At 286 pages, there is something in this book for everyone: romance, suspense, mystery and of course a certain mystical element that fits nicely and neatly in the book without being questioned.

Unlike most first time novels, there wasn’t a single problem I found in the book. The characters were filled out, the plot complete and the ending satisfying. According to the back of the book, Allen is currently working on her next novel which should be out some time in 2008. I greatly look forward to reading her next novel.

Rating 5 out of 5 stars