Book Review: Garden Spells

Hi everyone!  I'm new to the Patch blogging cycle.  I write my own book review blog at Books Distilled.  This summer I'm participating in the s summer reading club, and Garden Spells is one of the books I recently devoured.

Several weeks ago I read and raved about Sarah Addison Allen’s newest novel, The Peach Keeper.  Like any book junkie, I went back for more and started with Allen’s first novel, Garden Spells.  Once again, I couldn’t put this novel down.  A few late nights and a beach trip later I was sad to see it end. Luckily, Allen has two more novels I can check out.

The whimsical element of Allen’s writing is the most charming, bewitching aspect of both novels I’ve read.  In Garden Spells, Claire Waverley is a successful caterer in Bascom, North Carolina.  Claire loves her hometown; her mother brought her there after six years on the road in order to give birth to Claire’s sister, Sydney.  Thrilled to have a home at last, Claire’s grandmother taught her the secrets of being a Waverley.

Enchantments

The Waverleys’ enchanted garden produces flowers that, when cooked in food, bring about certain curious side effects.  Lavender tea cakes served at Ladies Aid meetings help the members to keep secrets.  Honeysuckle wine served on the Fourth of July allow children to see in the dark.  The Waverleys’ apple tree wants people to eat its apples so badly that it throws them.  (If you eat an apple from the tree, you will have a vision of your life’s most significant event.)

Changes, Conflicts, Charms

Into Claire’s perfect world returns Sydney, who had left Bascom at eighteen and hadn’t returned in almost as many years.  Sydney and her six-year-old daughter, Bay, are fleeing Bay’s violent father.  With Sydney’s arrival, things begin to happen.  An artist, Tyler, moves in next door to the Waverley house and immediately shows a romantic interest in Claire.  Claire struggles as people enter her life and disrupt her routine.  Her mother left her as a child; Sydney left her as a teenager; her grandmother died when she was a young adult.  Accustomed to people leaving, Claire must learn to love in spite of her fear and inability to control circumstances.

As she and Sydney begin to reconcile their past and teach each other about what they do best–Claire teaches Sydney about her family heritage, and Sydney teachers Claire how to let go and live a little–they become more and more comfortable.  But when an outside force threatens their happiness, they must stand together to face down the danger.

Truly, this book is fun!  Other Waverley gifts surface:  Sydney can tell things about people by their hair: for instance, someone with short, shiny black hair doesn’t tolerate mistakes.  Their cousin Evanelle has the urge to give people things they might need later:  fifty cents a few hours before you need to use a pay phone, a Band-Aid before you skin your knee, a box of Pop-Tarts the night before you sister and niece arrive on your doorstep.  Bay can sense where things and people belong:  she knows without being told where the silverware drawer in Claire’s kitchen is; when she meets her mother’s old friend, she is sure her mother belongs with him.

Pick up this book only if you have a free afternoon in front of you.  Happy reading!