To me, Lailah seems like the best source of inspiration for the Girl in the Garden, although conflated with Gabriel's role. When Clare and her two pre-teen daughters move into an open-plan housing estate (the synopsis touts it as a commune of sort, which it actually isn't), they are welcomed by a host of neighbours and their children.

While I have no idea what to make of the Serpent, I do have a theory about the Girl drawn from actual Jewish legend.From the very beginning we know something terrible has happened, which lends an ominous air to all that follows. In some ways, this story is a little quirky, told from various POV’s, but also does a pretty good job of creating a feeling of unease, and building suspense at a steady pace, with a few very surprising twists thrown in along the way. While this wasn’t a heart pounding thriller, it did manage to keep my attention nicely once everything was set up. I guess there were secrets, things our parents and the neighbours talked of in hushed voices, conversations that stopped when we entered a room, but nothing that ever worried us.

Even Gordan, Leo's grumpy and obnoxious father was well imagined, and I think we all have someone like him in our own family. We want our products to look great in your home, smell wonderful in the shower, and feel amazing on your body. There is a great deal of conversation in the book and I believe that the addition of the quotation marks will take away from the flow of the story.One of the last mysteries introduced on the show was the identity of the Girl in the Garden that greeted Jack and gave to him a new soul. When Grace is found unconscious in the gardens on her 13th birthday, it opens a can of worms for the residents. MELANIE WALLACE is the author of The Housekeeper , which was long-listed for the Orange Prize, and Blue Horse Dreaming , which was long-listed (in translation, as Sauvages ) for France's Prix Femina. June meets only kindness in her new surroundings, many of the locals are helping her in their own way. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition.