Customer Reviews

Susannah's Garden

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

When she was eighteen, Susannah Nelson was sent abroad to school. In what she saw as her fathers attempt in dictating her life it effectively separated her from her boyfriend Jake, and she never got to see her brother Doug again who was killed that summer in an automobile accident. After a few short letters, Susanna never heard from or saw Jake and though it hurt at the time, she later met, married a fine man, and raised a family. -----

Now her children are just about grown, she's hitting midlife, and Susannah's marriage seemed stale as her thoughts continually seemed to focus on what `could have been' if her father hadn't interfered in her life and romance with Jake. With her father recently passed on, she had been summoned home sooner than she'd planned when alerted by neighbors and friends that her widowed mother was having difficulties dealing with her loss and living alone. Back in the house and town she'd grown up in Susanna would have to deal with her mother's increasing aging problems, and make some tough decisions regarding her care. Additionally, she would she face the past, discovering new insights into her troubled relationship with her dad, and dealing with a similar issue concerning her rebellious nineteen year old daughter. -----

With girlhood memories resurfacing along with long lost friends, Susannah discovered secrets that revealed not only an unselfish act of love, caring, and protection, but a surprising revelation of a mysterious presence once thought to be a figment of her mothers failing mind. ------

*** What a wonderful read! Macomber writes with heartbreaking realism when dealing with the decisions and choices made in friends and family relationships. She offers beautifully written prose that packs a mountain of emotion into every chapter. Through laughter and through tears, she nails relationships with astounding realism and understanding in this well-paced and heartwarming story, once again solidifying Macomber as a leader in fine woman's literature.

Marilyn Rondeau - RIO, Reviewers International Organization

This book could have gone on forever and I wouldn't have minded. Susannah has been married for twenty-five years and is happy with her husband and two kids. So why is she dreaming of a boyfriend from long ago? She thought her dad was against her all those years. She gets a phone call from her mother's maid, who says her mom seems to be a bit confused and thinks Susannah should come and visit earlier than planned.

So she travels from Seattle to Colville, also hoping to meet up with the long lost boyfriend, Jake. She gets her mother to finally move into an assisted living facility, and is packing all her parent's stuff up in hopes of selling soon. Her daughter arrives without notice and says she wants to help her mom and also be there for her grandmother. In the meantime, she meets a "bad boy". Now Susannah knows how her parents felt when she was in love with Jake. Susannah starts to feel as if someone has been in the house a few times and taken belongings of her parents' and her dead older brother, Doug.

Mysteries unvail and Susannah figures out what her husband means to her. This book will go by so quick, you won't want it to end. I for one, hope there is another one coming!

Debbie Macomber is one of my favorite authors and I never miss her HC release each spring. SUSANNAH'S GARDEN will not disappoint loyal fans and will entertain and welcome new readers. This time around, Debbie throws in a little mystery along the way, which to be honest, wasn't too hard (for me, anyway) to figure out early on.

Susannah is a woman nearing 50 who finds herself returning home to care for her ailing mother, convincing her that it's time she move into an assisted living facility. In addition to making this tough decision, she's stuggling with doubts and questions about a long-lost love, who abruptly left her while she was studying in Paris many years ago. She's also missing her father, who died about a year ago & who she had not gotten along with since she was in her early 20's. To further complicate things, her teenage daughter, home from college for the summer, has decided to come & stay with her to help her get her mom's house ready to sell, but instead, finds herself fallling for the local "bad boy" & spending every waking moment with him, against Susannah's better judgment & wishes.

Mothers, wives, daughters and women in general will identify with Susannah as she makes some of life's hardest decisions, trying to find herself and figure out how life got so hard & what has led her to this stage in her life. With so many unanswered questions and difficult choices to be made, Susannah cannot find peace within herself and be happy with her life until she finds the answers she thinks she's looking for.

As she sets out on a journey to find the answers that she needs, we meet her friends & family and even a few enemies, who cause Susannah to look at her life from an entirely different angle and see things she never imagained would be possible. Doubts come into play, as well as more unanswered questions, all leading up to Susannah's "happliy ever after."

The end of the story seemed to wrap up a little too neatly, but I enjoyed the journey of Susannah's self-discovery, and imagine it's a journey most women take around this age. I wouldn't say it's Ms Macomber's best work of fiction, but it's certainly worth the read. Debbie Macomber knows women and writes for them so that everyone can identify with her characters. She writes about today's women experiencing real problems in a real world and her characters can be anyone's friends & family, neighbors and loved ones.

If you're a fan of Debbie Macomber, I'm sure you will enjoy & appreciate SUSANNAH'S GARDEN, but if you've never read a Macomber HC & you're a woman who likes a good book about real issues facing today's women in an entertaining, emotional way without coming off as preachy, you should give it a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you do like this book & have never read any of Ms. Macomber's prior HC novels, go back & try BETWEEN FRIENDS or THURSDAYS AT EIGHT - - I think these are two of Ms. Macomber's best works of fiction (BETWEEN FRIENDS is one my favorite all-time books!). Looking forward to future HC novels - Keep up the great work!

You will love this book, which is reminiscent of her Cedar Cove series.

Seattle is home to Susannah Nelson, a fifty-ish housewife and mother who finds herself uneasy, at loose ends, and daydreaming about her first love, whom she loved and lost in her small Washington State home town.

When Susanah's mother starts showing serious signs of impending alzheimers, Susannah leaves her husband Joe and two children to scope out the situation. But she has another agenda: She wants to find Jake and see why he left her right after proposing elopement.

Once back in her small town, Susannah encounters all kinds of demons never put to rest, like her uneasy relationship with her dead father; her worry about, but resentment of, her mother, her grief for her long-dead brother, and all the usual detritus of a life lived and sometimes regretted. In the process of moving her mother to a nursing home, searching for Jake, meeting up with old friends and cleaning out her deceased father's study, Susannah uncovers paperwork and other clues that point her to a mystery--one that increasingly looms large.

The mystery is solved in a totally unlikely manner that defies belief, and everything is put right in the end, but that is a Macomber novel. There is a hint in the end that we might be treated to a meeting between Susannah and the wonderful characters from "Blossom Street" and the other "knitting novels," and that's enough to keep this reader interested.

Macomber is what she is, and if you're in the right mood to read her, nobody is more satisfying.

Debbie has written another good one. I enjoyed it very much and hated to see it end.

I loved Vivian, Susannah's mother, and would like to have spent more time with her.

There is only one negative I have regarding Debbie Macomber's books - they are so good, I just can't put them down so I don't get to relax and take my time savoring the contents, and then have to wait patiently for the next book.

I did figure out the "mystery" early on, but that's okay. I still enjoyed seeing how Debbie worked it all out and it did have a predictable "happy ending." In this angry, anxiety-driven world we live in, we can all use some happy endings, can't we?

Susannah's Garden was an enjoyable read and I am looking forward to the sequel as I get the feeling there will be a sequel - The Yarn Shop and the Florist...interesting possiblities on the way.

Susannah Nelson goes home to Colville, Washington to visit her mother. Her father, a judge, married to her mother for almost sixty years, died recently. Susannah had had a thorny relationship with her father, who seemingly never recovered from the death of her brother. Susannah, as her only surviving child made the difficult decision to put her mother in an assisted living home. She is then faced with the emotional task of packing up her parent's belongings and selling the house. Her daughter Chrissie shows up unexpectedly to help. Despite the poor shape of the house, her mother's garden is thriving. It is interesting to see the mother-daughter, father-daughter dynamics that have shaped their family history, past and present. Susannah tries valiantly to rectify her objections towards her daughter's new boyfriend. At the same time, she risks her marriage in an attempt to find out what happened to her old boyfriend Jake. An unexpected twist at the end brings Susannah joy after a long summer. A novel that is easy to read, and easy to relate to.

This book hits home for me as my mom has been in a nursing home for seven years. Ms. Macomber has hit the nail on the head as the role reversal scenes play themselves out. I hope those who will be going through that phase of life will take notes and be prepared for it. It's not an easy task but it a rewarding one. Thank you, Ms. Macomber.

I bought the book because I enjoy evrything that Debbie Macomber writes.I like her style of writing and was not dissapointed in this book.I would also recommend her knitting club books.

Susannah Nelson, aged 50, is vaguely unsettled despite her tranquil home and long-term successful marriage to husband Joe. Why is she suddenly dreaming about Jake, her high school sweetheart? She hopes that her summer vacation, with its respite from her teaching career, will help return her perspective on her life.

Joe suspects that Susannah's recent pensive mood is actually depression, stemming from her father's November death. Susannah is equally certain that that is not the problem, given the strained relationship she shared with her father. She concedes that maybe her father's death started her thinking of Jake again, since he probably played a part in breaking them up. Now she longs for closure of that long-ago relationship with Jake and the sudden ending that has always mystified her.

Susannah is distracted from her problems when she learns that her elderly mother, Vivian, who is back in Susannah's home town, is having problems. Vivian accuses her longtime housekeeper of stealing from her. She is forgetful, has gotten lost while wandering, is losing weight, and no longer has a social life. Vivian insists she has seen her husband, even though she realizes he is dead. Susannah decides to go stay with her mother, planning to settle her into an assisted-living community. She's also hoping for the opportunity to talk to Jake. She feels driven to find out the truth behind their breakup so she can put an end to her fantasies about him.

Meanwhile, Susannah and Joe's daughter Chrissie dreads leaving college to spend the summer with her parents --- especially her critical mother. Chrissie also dreads the separation from her perfect boyfriend, while knowing that something feels wrong between the two of them.

After spending time with her mother, Susannah realizes that she is in worse condition than she'd feared. She's glad she has reconnected with her childhood friend Carolyn, who proves to be as easy to confide in as ever. Carolyn, now running her family's lumber mill, is equally thrilled to have a friend re-enter her life, enabling her to disclose the burgeoning attraction she feels to her gardener.

When Vivian finally agrees to move to an assisted-living apartment, Susannah's job isn't finished. She must sort and dispose of her parents' lifetime accumulation and clean the house in order to sell or rent it out. She must also deal with her own guilt and sorrow. Her burden is increased when Chrissie arrives to "help" her mother pack up Vivian's home, and lands in a relationship with a man who is every mother's nightmare.

An intriguing mystery surrounding Susannah's deceased brother develops, clue by tantalizing clue. Why is her father not buried with his only son? Who leaves flowers on Doug's grave? Is it the same person who breaks into Vivian's house and steals his high school mementos? Could it be that nothing --- and no one --- connected to Susannah's past is as she remembers?

It's clear that Debbie Macomber cares deeply about her fully-realized characters and their family, friends and loves, along with their hopes and dreams. She also makes her readers care about them. Macomber capably serves up several unexpected plot turns in SUSANNAH'S GARDEN topped off with a doozy of a satisfying ending, complete with the biggest, most surprising twist of all. It all adds up to a pleasurably engrossing read.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

Debbie Macomber keeps getting better and better. This book has so much depth. I liked it as much if not better than The House on Blossom Street and A Good Yarn - and I absolutely loved those books.

Debbie writes such wonderful books that really touch your heart.

Susannah's Garden:
Susannah is 50 years old, married with 2 children but is wondering about the paths not taken. She has been having dreams about her first love, Jake, even though she has a loving husband and it has been 30 years since she has seen or heard from Jake.

She plans a trip to her hometown in Washington to visit her mother, see friends and try to find what happened to Jake. At 18, Susannah's parents had sent her abroad and she lost touch with Jake, and never saw her beloved brother again as he died in an accident while she was away.

While on her journey, Susannah finds things are not always as they seemed, including the poor relationship she had with her father.

Debbie ties everything very nicely together in this must read book.