Knowing she will need help with the heavy digging required, she employs Murat, an Albanian refugee to help her in the garden. Of Margot, Hassie reveals: ‘I was never quite sure what it was that Margot did do but it appeared to pay. It can’t be a coincidence that Vickers refers to Lolly Willowes at some point, so I was expecting some witchery, but sadly it never came to much. With a colorful cast of characters all brought to life by illustrator Lucille Clerc, this is a botanical journey of beauty and brilliance. I also hope that this book will serve up a little insight into rural life to those who have not had the pleasure of working in a country garden.

The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter.Your question will be forwarded to one of our Fantastic Gardeners who will get back to you with an answer ASAP. The first half of The Gardener is very much like the long, hot summer of 2020, in that virtually nothing happens.

Hassie feels realistic and fully-formed, and part of this is due to the sense of humour which Vickers sculpts for her.

Perhaps this is because, although Salley Vickers begins her novel in the second-person (she is writing to a ‘you’), she only briefly uses this device maybe a couple more times throughout the main narrative.

The Gardener is not only recognized as fab by Ivan, but it is also a 1997 New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of the Year, as well as 1998 Caldecott Honor Book.Our narrator, Hassie Days (it is revealed) is writing to her unborn child and the father has got to be Murat, the Albanian gardener with the beautiful white teeth and dazzling smile. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. When I was a jejune, know-it-all, twenty-year-old student, I would have been scornful of a novel such as this. In due time Michael developed his own interests, which ran their courses and gave way to others; but his interest in Helen was constant and increasing throughout. The house offers her healing, in a way, allowing her to pour some of her energy into discovering the history of Much Wenlock, and the nature which now surrounds her.