From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The House at Riverton, a novel that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey through generations and across continents as two women try to uncover their family’s secret past. A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book—a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dock master and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday, they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and very little to go on, “Nell” sets out to trace her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell’s death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. A spellbinding tale of mystery and self-discovery, The Forgotten Garden will take hold of your imagination and never let go.
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One of my fondest memories of my Grandmother is taking her grocery shopping and momentarily losing her because she spontaneously veered off to a goodies display.
One of my fondest memories is when I visited my grandmother in Germany. I had white running shoes and she wanted to shine them. I told her that you don’t do that with running shoes. When I returned from a few hours away, I found my running shoes shined!! She even ironed my jeans. I just had to hug her and laugh. This was her way of being a part of our lives and showing that she loved us. How she did that, I will never know. She loved doing things for the people she cared about. She had a big heart and she is missed greatly by our family.
One of my fondest memories is sitting on the front porch of her house, listening to all of her stories about growing up in Saskatchewan during the depression, while eating one of her many baked goods! She is an amazing woman; with the ability to bake anything in the world without a recipe. She is one of my most favourite people in this world, and I’m so blessed to stil have her in my life….
One of my fondest memories of my grandmother is her singing. She used to sing to herself when baking some scrumptious treat (either sweet cinnamon buns, doughnuts, cookies, muffins, lemon and apple pies, you name it). My family is Ukrainian and the songs that she sang to herself were those that she used to sing when she was part of a mandolin choir. Imagine the sweet smell of the goodies she was baking and her songs filling the air at home.
As I grew older I started to take singing lessons and ended up performing at a Ukrainian festival. She came to hear me sing and at the end she came up to me with tears in her eyes. She told me that the song that I had just sung was an old song that she used to sing in her choir as well. Years later I recorder her and I singing the song and to this day this is my favourite song.
I would spend a month in the summer at the cottage with my grandmother and grandfather.
She taught me how to cook fish in 300 different ways for every meal! She never raised her voice, kept everything neat. I remember her teaching me how to make bread. We would wrap the dough in blankets at the end of the bed before we went out. Then return to find a huge mound of yeast smelling dough when we checked on it.
My favourite memory though of her was when my grandfather had a dr’s appt. The night before when he fell asleep, she painted every one of his toe nails a different colour, put his socks back on and kept quiet. The next day at the dr’s he took off his socks and was amazed to find rainbow toes!!! She got a good giggle out of that one.
I miss her.
My fondest memory of my grandmother was when I was about six or seven years of age and I was so sick with a fever, I remember her not leaving my side, making sure I was comfortable but most of all her smell, which was a mixture of warm sunshine and sandalwood.
My fondiest memory of my Grandmother is that I always felt loved and safe with her. I always remember being with her in her garden which had beautiful gladiolus flowers.
I met my Grandmother later in life since my parents divorced when I was one. I was nervous and doubtful of any good intentions of an adult in my life let alone a relative. She proved me wrong by driving across the country to meet me and my newborn son and husband for the chance to finally connect with me in person. She is gone now but her true love changed me that day of our first meeting.
My grandmother (Nonna) as we called her was always the hub of the house: cooking, baking and sewing. I was never into being a domesticated housewife and my nonna always laughed at me and said: “One day you will change your mind.”
So one day I did change my mind. I was inbetween jobs and decided to spend one day each week with my grandparents. After lunch, my Nonno (grandfather) would take a nap and after my Nonna and I cleaned up the kitchen, she would sit me down and teach me how to knit. She would tell me about Italy and stories of my mother when she was little.
These were very special times for me and after 2 years, I finished that scarf and she was so proud of me. Recently, she died of cancer and before she passed, she asked me to finish a scarf for the church that she started. On her death bed she still managed to remind me to take it easy, don’t make the knots too tight and get it there in time for Christmas, not in 6 years.
Knitting became our thing. A time to talk and laugh, sometimes bring out pictures and have her teach me something. She doesn’t know how much it changed my life, but it did and I am very grateful for that time I spent with her.
My fondest memory of my grandmother is spending time with her during the summer. All my cousins would be there and she would make us fresh tortillas with butter and apple pies. Sitting at her kitchen table was the best place to be.
My fondest memory of my grandmother is of a caring, sweet woman. She was a strong, hardworking woman who watched me and my siblings when we were young. She also watched a number of other children in the neighbourhood…most from families who couldn’t afford daycare. My grandmother would just ask them to pay what they could, so she often worked for very little but she enjoyed having a full house and helping people in need.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful memories, our grandmothers truly are special people in our lives.
I have had the pleasure of reading this book, and so thoroughly enjoyed this read I could not put it down!
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