Winter Bloom

There would be tunnels of roses, beds of strawberries, fountains of overflowing herbs. And there might even be love. . . .

In the heart of bustling modern Dublin is a littered, overgrown garden of tangled weeds and a stagnant, hidden pond. Belonging to an iron-willed elderly lady named Mrs. Prendergast, who is rumored to have murdered and buried her husband there, the garden draws Eva Madigan, a young mother struggling to move on from the pain of her past. Eva is joined by Emily, a beautiful but withdrawn college dropout; Uri, an old-world immigrant; Seth, his all-too-handsome son; and occasionally even Mrs. Prendergast herself. But what drives Eva to transform the neglected urban wilderness? What makes the others want to help her? Even as Mrs. Prendergast puts the land up for sale, the thorny lives of all the gardeners are revealed and slowly start to untangle. Overgrown secrets are dug up and shared. Choices are made; a little pruning is in order. Now Eva is about to discover that every garden is a story of growth toward a final harvest. . . .

There would be tunnels of roses, beds of strawberries, fountains of overflowing herbs. And there might even be love. . . . In the heart of bustling modern Dublin is a ...

Publishers Weekly

Struggling with widowed motherhood, Eva Madigan comes across an overgrown walled garden that immediately captures her imagination. Thinking it might help her heal, she asks the owner, Myrtle Prendergast, if she can bring it back to life. But since Eva knows nothing about gardening, this is easier said than done. Hoping to find help, she solicits her Dublin community and meets Uri, an old Jewish man with a painful past; his son Seth, recovering from a failed marriage; and Emily, a young woman concealing, for the moment, her own troubles. As expected, they find common ground and a sense of healing in the garden, at least until Mrs. Prendergast's son arrives intent on selling. Heavey's newest is a by-the-numbers tale of redemption with the requisite infidelities, heartaches, and abuses, laying a less-than-fertile ground for genre readers. The metaphor of nature as a path to healing is made too obvious and the Dublin backdrop doesn't provide anything unique. Genre fans won't find much that they haven't read many times before. (Oct.)

Tara Heavey was born in London, where she was raised until moving to Dublin at the age of 12. A former lawyer, she is currently a full-time author who lives in Dublin with her family.