The Sea Garden (Charnwood Library) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Sam Llewellyn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2001 | Series: Charnwood Library

The Walton-Jones family have inherited a beautiful garden set on an island off the southwestern tip of England. Upon digging up a skeleton that could be an archaeological find or a murder victim, a series of events unfolds that shatters their idyll.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Victoria, a young American, and Guy, a young Englishman, meet, fall in love and get married in the first few pages of this stylish tale of crime and passion. Soon thereafter, Guy inherits his family's estates and properties, on the condition that he and his bride change their surname from Farrer to Blakeney-Jones. They move to a mansion on Trelise, his family's island off Cornwall, which the author, a native of the Isles of Scilly, lovingly evokes. After purchasing Trelise in the 1840s, Joshua Jones, the famous medicinal herbalist, immediately began to turn the island into one large garden. When Victoria discovers some buried bones, Guy thinks they must be those of some long-ago monk. Victoria disagrees, so she begins to research the history of Trelise, consulting letters, invoices, diaries and other documents stored in the mansion. She learns that Joshua Jones was followed by James Blakeney-Jones; James's daughter, Harriet; and Harriet's son, Harry, as family leader over the years. From this point on, the book presents a clever interweaving of past and present, with the different stories told as if they were occurring contemporaneously. The mystery turns out to be thoroughly modern, however, involving many of the present-day staff at Trelise. Victoria's insights and her personal failings play a strong part in her deductions and conclusions in this intricate tale of sex and death over the generations. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From AudioFile

Gardeners listen up! Victoria and Guy Jones inherit the Cornish island of Trelise and begin work to restore its famous gardens. Five generations of quirky, opinionated gardeners have lived and planted here. As Guy digs up the flower beds, his American wife probes into the family history in documents found in the priory and around the island. Botanically speaking, this is a work of love. Historically, it is a work of lusts, secrets, murders, and exotic plants. Gareth Armstrong is a masterful reader of this English household. His American Victoria, however, is a bit over the top. The character could easily be portrayed with a mid-Atlantic accent as she hails from New Hampshire, but Armstrong interprets her with an inappropriate drawl. This hardly detracts, however, from the enormous sweep of the novel and the intensity of the history, both human and plant. B.H.B. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Charnwood Pub (May 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0708992447
• ISBN-13: 978-0708992449
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,312,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An overgrown garden on one of the Isles of Scilly, unidentified bones and a family with many secrets, November 8, 2009

By 

Cathy G. Cole (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sea Garden (Paperback)

First Line: Revel the weeder was digging where the terrace wall had collapsed by the Sea Garden at Trelise.

Victoria, a young American, and Guy, a young Englishman, meet, fall in love and get married. Shortly thereafter Guy inherits the family estate on condition that he and Victoria change their surname to Blakeney-Jones. They move to Trelise, a fictitious one of the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall in England.

Trelise was bought by Joshua Jones in the 1840s, and the herbalist spent the rest of his life turning the island into a garden. Now the gardens are overgrown, and Guy has the idea of filming their restoration and making a television series. When bones are discovered in the section currently under renovation, they're dismissed as having belonged to a centuries-dead monk. Victoria doesn't believe this and begins to research the history of Trelise, going through diaries, letters, invoices and other documents stored in the mansion. As she pieces together the generations, Victoria finds deceit and death handed down over the decades-- enough of it to put her own life in danger.

I really enjoyed this book. Llewellyn is a native of the Isles of Scilly, and he brings them to life on the page. The convoluted history of the owners of Trelise from past to present was compelling, and it was interesting to see how Victoria's own strengths and weaknesses played a part in her deductions and conclusions.

If you're a fan of exotic settings and family histories with more twists and turns than a basket of cobras, you should enjoy The Sea Garden. I will definitely be taking a look at the other books Llewellyn has written.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Impenetrable and turgid to my surprise, June 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sea Garden (Paperback)

I've enjoyed the other five books I read by this author. I found this one so disappointing. I made it through the first four chapters and flicked through the rest. It's dire. He needs to go back to sea or do another follow-on like the Riddle of the Sands/Guns of Navarone ones. Sorry, I'm just really disappointed.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars West Country Tragedies, August 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sea Garden (Paperback)

The Sea Garden unburies its dead and lays them at the feet of a late twentieth century American newly betrothed to a man who inherits the Garden by the sea. She curses her fate as history appears in the present and she tunnels back into the past. Betrayal, murder and the cruelty of the sea mixed in the wonderful bouyant Llewellyn style.