A Garden to Keep (The Derby Series #4) [Paperback]

Jamie Langston Turner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001

Elizabeth’s story is like that of a garden left untended for too long, with weeds as bounteous as blossoms and stone walkways buried beneath tangled vines and daffodils. Beauty to be found, though amidst much neglect. When betrayal strikes at the heart of her very existence, Elizabeth Landis retraces the path of her life and her marriage, discovering along the way memories both painful to the touch and a joy to embrace. Pruning the garden of her life requires an honesty new to Elizabeth, but offers the promise of mercy…and perhaps even a grace to bestow.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Turner's fans will be pleased with this offering, another pastel-covered trip to smalltown South Carolina, to the Church of the Open Door and to the trials and tribulations of family life. The novel is narrated by Elizabeth Landis, a polite but plain substitute teacher in her late 40s. On February 18, Elizabeth's life takes two dramatic turns. With the help of Margaret Tuttle (whom readers will remember from Turner's Some Wildflower in My Heart), Elizabeth becomes a born-again Christian. A few hours later, she discovers that her husband is having an affair. Readers follow along over the next few months as Elizabeth's faith deepens and she and her husband gradually repair their marriage. The novel has many of the strengths and weaknesses of Turner's earlier books. Like Margaret in Wildflower, Elizabeth is impressively and a bit implausibly well-educated, quoting poetry at the drop of a hat and frequently drawing parallels between her own life and those of the characters in middle-brow novels of the 1990s. (Readers can assume that Garden is, in this respect, a roman … clef - Turner teaches creative writing and poetry at Bob Jones University.) And this book, like her others, is too long by about 100 pages. For all its flaws, Garden contributes much to the booming subgenre of Christian literary fiction: the characters are well-developed, and their struggles are real, not saccharine. This is proof that a faithful Christian witness can come packaged in a quality novel.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers; Repack edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076422154X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764221545
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,082,676 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply moving, October 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Garden to Keep (The Derby Series #4) (Paperback)

The New York reviewer precipitated this review--it is obvious that Northeastern snobbery come in to play at least to a degree in his/her review. Be it known: there are educated women in the South, both self- and school-educated, whose lives are filled with the pleasures of poetry, music, drama, and other of the arts and who view life through these lenses. To have the skill to use poetry as the filter through which the main character interprets her life and finds her meaning, is a technical tour de force. It is too bad that the New Yorker found the use of poetry an intellectual affront: the use of it is brilliant and shows great intellectual facility (with understanding) on the part of the writer. I agree that the story is perhaps some pages too long. It is, however, a look at the devastation of Elizabeth's separation and pending divorce, the reasons for it, her role in it, and the insight that new faith brings her. The accurate use of musicians--a college band director--as a main character is unique and shows the special insight that Jamie Turner has achieved. The moment of redeeming faith is handled so adeptly, that it is very real and person, not silly or sentimental.

This is a special book. The character development is wonderful. The humor is understated and never grating. Elizabeth's character is believeable and richly developed. The setting is every Southern small town that has a small college (it could be fifty communities in each Southern state!) but gives us more of Berea and Filbert, S.C. This is a wonderful book and an important one for all who are facing struggles in marriage. Jamie Turner's advice in this book is "tend the garden of your heart."

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sure Winner, October 21, 2002

By 

Gregory Nyman (Winchendon, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Garden to Keep (The Derby Series #4) (Paperback)

This book recently won a "Christie Award" in Christian fiction for contemporary fiction. It concerns a middle-aged woman who comes to faith in Christ and learns on the same day that her marriage is in trouble.

Turner takes literary risks, here, in writing a long, rambling first-person account of a woman dealing with betrayal as she's also learning to trust in Christ. The does, indeed, drag in parts and the protagonist is frequently sidetracked by bunny trails and poetic thoughts, however it's good to see a writer, and especially Turner, going beyond the standard cliches used by so many other authors.

Highly recommended!!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed Every Minute, October 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: A Garden to Keep (The Derby Series #4) (Paperback)

I read the previous review and although the author of it may have a point when he or she describes it as wordy, it is still a wonderful book and not at ALL boring. I have truly enjoyed every minute. The inclusion of the main character's love for poetry adds richness to the book as she struggles to make sense out of a life she has given to God and a life that has been shaken up. Turner includes the element of humor so well that I have found myself laughing out loud at times. I have also enjoyed the other books she has written and when I saw that a new one was out, I went that very day to get it. It has touched my soul in so many ways and I have enjoyed every minute.