The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf (Random House Reader's Circle) [Paperback]

Stephanie Barron (Author)

Book Description

Series: Random House Reader's Circle | Publication Date: September 29, 2009

In March 1941, Virginia Woolf filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself in England’s River Ouse. Her body was found three weeks later. What seemed like a tragic ending at the time was, in fact, just the beginning of a mystery. . . .

Six decades after Virginia Woolf’s death, landscape designer Jo Bellamy has come to Sissinghurst Castle for two reasons: to study the celebrated White Garden created by Woolf’s lover Vita Sackville-West and to recover from the terrible wound of her grandfather’s unexplained suicide. In the shadow of one of England’s most famous castles, Jo makes a shocking find: Woolf’s last diary, its first entry dated the day after she allegedly killed herself.

If authenticated, Jo’s discovery could shatter everything historians believe about Woolf’s final hours. But when the Woolf diary is suddenly stolen, Jo’s quest to uncover the truth will lead her on a perilous journey into the tumultuous inner life of a literary icon whose connection to the White Garden ultimately proved devastating.

Rich with historical detail, The White Garden is an enthralling novel of literary suspense that explores the many ways the past haunts the present–and the dark secrets that lurk beneath the surface of the most carefully tended garden.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Barron, a pseudonym for thriller writer Francine Mathews, puts her talents for suspense to good use examining the death of Virginia Woolf from the vantage point of present-day England. The story begins when American Jo Bellamy sets out to study the White Garden at the estate of Virginia Woolf's lover, working for Long Island clients who want to recreate it. Her mission also has a personal component: figuring out why Jo's beloved grandfather, who worked at the garden as a youth, killed himself. After the head gardener passes Jo a journal he found in the tool shed, which may be Woolf's work, Jo embarks upon a wild tour of Woolf's old stomping grounds, tracking down answers and missing pages. While leaning on convenient stereotypes—the headstrong but clueless American; the femme fatale (with eyes like liquid pools); stuffy Brits—Barron invests the text with a quick pace and an absorbing plot, making this a dynamic thriller with a well-tempered literary fixation. (Oct.)
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Review

“Barron is a master at crafting English period pieces.”—Denver Post

“The White Garden grows an intriguing tale, weaving together the tendrils of past and present, growth and corruption, love and despair, into a landscape of hope. This is a mystery in a garden: a garden in war; a garden beset by modernity; a ghostly white garden haunted by the dead.”  —Laurie R. King, author of The Language of Bees

“Stephanie Barron has concocted a delicious exploration of what could have happened to Virginia Woolf in the weeks between her disappearance and the day her body floated to the surface of the river Ouse. Part mystery, part a search for redemption, The White Garden will entrance readers from the moment they open it.”  —Tasha Alexander, author of And Only to Deceive

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Product Details

• Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Printing edition (September 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553385771
• ISBN-13: 978-0553385779
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,063 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

STEPHANIE BARRON

Stephanie Barron is a graduate of Princeton and Stanford, where she studied history. THE WHITE GARDEN is her twentieth novel, but she is perhaps best known for the critically-acclaimed Jane Austen Mystery Series, in which the intrepid and witty author of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE details her secret detective career in Regency England. JANE AND THE MADNESS OF LORD BYRON, the tenth Austen mystery, is forthcoming from Bantam in October 2010. A former intelligence analyst for the CIA, Stephanie--who also writes under the name Francine Mathews--drew on her experience in the field of espionage for such novels as THE ALIBI CLUB, which Publishers Weekly named as one of the fifteen best novels of 2006. She lives and works in Denver, CO.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great premise, didn't care for its execution, November 25, 2009

By 

CatsMeow (Dulles, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf (Random House Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

I snatched this one up, first because the cover caught my eye, and second, the title led me to believe it was a work of historical fiction. After reading the back cover and learning that it's really a mystery set in modern times, I was still gung-ho to read it.There is a little bit of history--and that part I liked, though I have to wonder about its authenticity. But for me, the rest of it was awfully contrived--"awfully" as both an intensifier and as in "exceptionally bad and displeasing." I thought the characters were flat and the plot devices were obvious and forced: Jo thinks Peter should open a restaurant just because "'You know you want to (cook)'"? This unconvincing and out-of-left-field device enables the two to hook up at the end, of course--because Jo will design and maintain his potager! How sweet it is. And boy, did Peter manage to tie up all those loose ends at the end in his and Jo's favor. When did he have the time to get the family to sign all those papers, much less agree to his ideas? As Peter and Jo were running around trying to solve the mystery of the lost pages of the manuscript and its connection to the secret brotherhood of the Apostles, while Margaux and Marcus were teaming up with the evil manipulator Grey, I had to wonder if Barron was under the influence. The influence, that is, of the Da Vinci Code.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspensful Mystery Includes Horticulture and Quaint British Pubs, July 12, 2010

By 

J. A. Bell "she reads xyz" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf (Random House Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

I enjoyed this well-written, thought-provoking and suspenseful book. Barron is obviously a Virginia Woolf expert. I liked how she wrote a journal in the style of Woolf, within this book, a style much different from her own in which The White Garden itself is written. That was clever. And she also gave snippets of insight into Woolf's suicide: "she was a middle-aged woman who fancied she could see the future, and it wasn't the one she wanted." I liked the the plot, dialogue and characters, with one exception: anything to do with Peter, which somehow felt forced, as if he had been added so that Jo could have a love interest.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, I'm blue again., October 18, 2009

By 

L. Decker (FL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf (Random House Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

Kudos to you Ms. Barron, you are simply marvelous. This book, set in the wonderful countryside of Kent for the most part, echoes those beautiful descriptions conjured up by Jane Austen; this however is written from the perspective of a professional gardner with a fully detailed list of flowers and shrubs used to create a White Garden -- the brainchild supposedly of Virginia Woolf. The idea for it came up during England's attack from Germany in the second World War where all light was blacked out to create a foil for the bombers using light and landmarks to bomb England. The white garden would be luminous at night helping to guide the family along the pathways. As the story unfolds about the last months of Virginia Woolf's life, the leading character gains insight into her Grandfather's life from documents found in the Gardener's shed. The conflict immediately begins as to ownership of those documents and whether or not Virginia Woolf had written them before she died. A lively mystery ensues with so many twists and turns, one hasn't time to do much wondering at what the end will be as you are completely swept up by the story line moving artfully towards the conclusion.