In the Heart of the Garden

By: Leah Fleming

Narrated by: Nano Nagle

From the acclaimed author of The Captain's Daughter and The Postcard, a powerful historical novel about one garden across 1,000 years and the women who found solace within its walls.

Iris Bagshott strolls down the paths of her ancient garden, close to Lichfield in the heart of England, wondering if it is time to sell her house and land for development. She is unaware that around every corner myriad family secrets from the past unfold. From a Saxon clearing to a monastery, Tudor dwelling to the present day, this sacred plot has nurtured her ancestors. Generations of Bagshott women have found refuge and solace tending it through years of plague, civil war and beyond. This is their story.

©2019 Leah Fleming (P)2019 Head of Zeus

Critic reviews

"A born storyteller.” (Kate Atkinson)

Love anything read by Nano Nagle!

This is a lovely walk through English history as seen through the eyes of one piece of land. It follows one family from present day to the distant past and back again through the generations. It is unlike the format of standard narratives, but it has beautiful prose that are a spoonful of sugar with the darkness of the past. I enjoyed it very much. It’s a nice palate cleanser between other books. And Nano Nagle rocks.

One of my favorite books this year!

I will listen to this one again. It has everything I love: history; layers of time-in-place; a garden; stories of the people as time changes their ways of life. This is a keeper.