A Secret Garden Affair: From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes the most captivating new historical romance and family drama of 2023, perfect for fans of The Book of Beginnings!

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July 1981. As the country prepares to celebrate Prince Charles' wedding to Lady Diana, Libby flees London - and her cheating fiancé Marcus - for the Suffolk countryside. Set in the 1970s in the summer of Charles and Diana’s wedding, I found it unusual that the ‘present day’ was still fifty years in the past. On reflection, I think this is intended to highlight the limited choices that women still faced with employment. Attending secretarial school and being office assistants was still an accepted role with the men usually in more dominant careers. Being a woman in the 1970s still meant being there for the husband and creating the perfect family home. Therefore, when Libby’s engagement ends along with her self-employed business share with her ex-best friend, she finds herself drawn to Bess and Elfrida, the constants in her life. Erica James’s 25th novel A Secret Garden Affair publishes at the end of March. Read on to hear how Erica’s own garden inspired the book. The story is set in 1981, as Libby flees London to spend time with her great aunt Bess and friend Elfrida, in Suffolk. Whilst Libby stays with them, they remember their pasts full of family secrets and romances spanning 60 years. There is a beautiful friendship between two ladies that has lasted almost a lifetime. Over the years they have shared each other’s confidences and kept each others secrets.

A Secret Garden Affair by Erica James - Fantastic Fiction

But for lifelong friends Bess and Elfrida, Libby's arrival has stirred up the ghosts of the past. And before they can help her rebuild her shattered future, they must confront their own secrets, lost loves, and tragedies… This new story from Erica James is enthralling. Written in both the past and the present, which is a departure for James, it tells the stories of Libby, Elfrida and Bess and the intricate nature of their relationship. But for lifelong friends Bess and Elfrida, Libby’s arrival has stirred up the ghosts of the past. And before they can help her rebuild her shattered future, they must confront their own secrets, lost loves, and tragedies… The author lives in Suffolk and is a keen gardener and this is clearly reflected in her descriptive writing. Secondly, I think I missed the magic that other stories from James have given. I really appreciated the Italian setting but wondered if this could have been expanded further. A lot happens at Larkspur House in Suffolk, but I think I craved something more exotic at times, to reflect how colourful Bess and Elfrida’s lives have been. I felt a bit trapped in Suffolk, a bit like Bess does when she falls ill. For me, this meant the story was not as immersive as I had hoped, even though it is still a strong narrative.A dual timeline book between the 1980’s & 1920’s, a very well written book which drew me in from the start & had me devouring this engrossing read in two sittings. Dual timelines are not my favourite but the author certainly did a very good job of changing my mind. The characters have depth & were well portrayed &the pace is good. There was friendship spanning decades, tragedy & secrets as well as some twists & surprises. A delightful read which I recommend Staying with her aunt Bess and Alfreda, she starts to mend her broken heart, deciding what to do with the rest of her life. A Secret Garden Affair for me is the type of novel that I enjoy reading as it allows you to see Elfrida and Bess as two old ladies which Libby sees them as now, Then Allows both the reader and other characters to find out about their lives and the decisions they made during events and the repercussions that comes down the generations. For me as one of those readers I felt that after a little difficulty at the start Erica James’s writing style did allow me to get into working out where in the story the novel was both in time frame and whose perspective it was being seen through.

A Secret Garden Affair: From the Sunday Times bestselling

A Secret Garden Affair" is another great family drama from Erica James. It is full of family secrets, lifelong friendships, romance and family rifts. The majority of the key characters are female and, as the action covers about 60 years up to 1981, we see the prejudices and constraints they had to deal with in the earlier parts of the last century. This is a thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read. We are introduced to three strong women whose stories are all entwined, we have Libby who was a bride to be until just before the wedding she walked in on her fiancé and bestfriend. Libby needed to escape and she knew the one place she could find comfort and support would be at Larkspur House with her great aunt Bess and Elfrida. While all this jumping around in timeline and point of view could make, A Secret Garden Affair, more complicated to follow which could have made the layout better for the story arch, at the expense of the reader. In the present, Libby is learning to rebuild her life and to trust her heart to someone else. More than that, though, she is discovering the family she thought she knew isn’t what is seems.

There are some great characters to get your teeth into in this tale, but my favourites are Elfrida and Bess. A wonderful closeness grows up between them over the years after everything they have been through together, even though they begin the story in very different places socially. Elfrida has always been the unconventional rule breaker, misunderstood by almost everyone except Bess, and their fierce protectiveness of each other is enchanting. Their interactions give rise to many humorous and poignant episodes. Inspired by Norah Lindsey the socialite and garden designer, this novel contains an insight into life between the Wars. The characters are captivating as we hear of past events which moulded them to what they had become in later life. It’s both a sad and joyous novel, full of suspense and the transition between the different time periods is very skilful, encouraging the reader to continue forward. Erica James does this by having the main story take place during the Summer of 1981 at a time when the then Prince Charles was marrying his first wife Lady Diana Spencer, which gave the novel a fixed period in time.