Winter Bloom [Paperback]

Tara Heavey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2010

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 Eva is joined by Emily, a beautiful but withdrawn college dropout; Uri, an old-world immigrant; Seth, his all-too-handsome son; and occasionally even Mrs.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. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From 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.
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From Booklist

In the heart of Dublin, there exists a dilapidated, acre-wide, walled garden that hasn’t been touched for years. When Eva, a recently widowed teacher and mother of four-year-old Liam, happens upon the garden, she instantly feels a strong desire to rebuild it into an urban green space. The garden has an unexpected effect on Eva’s life, bringing together a motley crew of unlikely Dubliners who rebuild it, all dealing with their own special kind of grief. We meet Emily, a college student who discovers she is pregnant after her first real jaunt with intimacy; Seth, an attractive man whose marriage is in shambles; Yuri, a Holocaust survivor; and Mrs. Prendergast, the aging owner of the garden, whose icy disposition cools to show a troubled past as the garden grows. The plot of the book moves a bit mechanically through these characters’ stories, and the small climax is somewhat overshadowed by a long, slack denouement. Still, the individual stories presented do create interest as well as a motif of regrowth and rebirth that makes for a satisfying read. --Julie Hunt

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (October 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439177937
• ISBN-13: 978-1439177938
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Engaging!, October 13, 2010

By 

Novel Chatter (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winter Bloom (Paperback)

When Eva Madigan entered a neighborhood sweet shop with Liam on a sunny Saturday in October she finally felt there was hope. Something was different. The young widow and her four year old son were new to Dublin, and Eva was having a hard time getting to know people, having a hard time finding a place in the world. Then a chance encounter with mysterious old Mrs. Prendergast (whom gossips suspect murdered her husband and buried him the garden) led Eva to that long abandoned Prendergast garden and a disjointed group of people. Their lives would be forever changed by answering Eva's blind request for help to work in a community garden.

Mrs. Prendergast's garden brought together people of all ages and backgrounds. Their only commonality was their love of gardens. Making up the rag-tag group are Uri, a Holocaust survivor and his divorced son Seth, a mysterious young college-aged Emily with a secret of her own, and the sad Eva. As they struggle to reclaim the garden from years of neglect, friendships are made, secrets are shared, and lives are entwined. All is lovely in the garden until one day Lance, Mrs. Prendergast's son, shows up demanding that the garden be sold.

Author Tara Heavey's Winter Bloom is a well written, engaging story of loss and our fight for survival by adapting to the things that are beyond our control. I normally don't review cover art, but I believe this book deserves a different cover. No offense to the designer but this is not a light "chick lit" book. It's a study of the human sou,l and I think it should have a less "chick lit-ish" fluffy cover. I highly recommend Winter Bloom and am purposefully being vague about the plot so that as so the secrets and stories unfold, and I won't want ruin your read. Get it, enjoy it, share it.

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

*Source: This book was provided to me by the publisher at my request and in no way affected my review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most Beautiful Books.., December 1, 2011

By 

Anne T. Colao - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Winter Bloom (Paperback)

Winter Bloom began in shade, and blossomed into one of the most beautiful, worthwhile, and engaging books I've read. Here are true characters, facing the greatest difficulties

this world presents, and freedom and forgiveness find their way into a garden that garners all growth, forgiveness and beauty that transforms into love.

This book I will hold aside for my daughter to read. If all of us could understand History through this lens, there might grow a deeper understanding of our differences, our

commonalities and the efforts that move us forward.

Read this book and feel blessed, then, take heart!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful affirmation of the human spirit, September 1, 2011

By 

Virginia Campbell (VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Winter Bloom (Paperback)

Just as the garden of "Winter Bloom" is lovingly and skillfully brought back to life, so are the lives of the characters revived and renewed. Tara Heavey tells the story of five people who work together toward a common goal and discover much about themselves and each other along the way. When young widowed mother Eva Madigan spies the sadly neglected walled garden of the elderly Mrs. Prendergast, she is struck by the desire to restore the wasted space to its former glory. It takes some convincing, and Mrs. Prendergast warns her that the garden is meant to be sold, but Eva is given permission for her project. She places an ad at the grocer for help with a community garden, and only two people respond to the ad: Uri, a distinguished older gentleman, and Emily, the clerk from the grocer. Soon they are joined by Uri's son Seth, and after a time, even Mrs. Prendergast begins to help with the work. Each of the gardeners has been touched by tragedy, and their individual stories are woven throughout the telling of the restoration. Uri, a tailor by trade, was taught much by his own father, who was a master gardener. Seth, who inherited his love of cultivating the soil from his father and grandfather, has his own landscaping business. Emily, stuck in her clerk's job, longs to further her education and move on with her life. Mrs. Prendergast, a lady of impeccable social grace, is nonetheless rumored to have killed her husband and buried him somewhere in the garden. It is her greedy, needy son, Lance, who is pressuring her to sell the land. Eva's husband took their baby daughter for a drive to settle her crying, and they were both killed in a terrible accident. Eva was left to care for their young son, Liam, and to manage her survivor guilt. These are remarkable people, trying their best to live "ordinary" lives. I was touched by their heartaches, and I celebrated with them their joys. Their shared experience was an affirmation of life, not only for the characters, but also for the reader. I will definitely read more work by the wonderful storyteller, Tara Heavey!

Review Copy Gratis Simon & Schuster