The Winter Garden
Dec. 27th, 2021 09:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearThe Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell was a Christmas present that I read in just over 24 hours, something I haven't done in a while (especially since there've been no reading retreats since March 2020).
It's set in an alternate 19th century England, where there's (totally unexplained) magic that some of the characters seem to be able to utilise in their creative pursuits. The two protagonists are Beatrice and Rosa, who both suffer major regrets from choices they make or actions they take at certain points in their lives, and are then offered the chance to win a magic wish by taking part in a competition to create a wondrous pleasure garden.
There were aspects of the book that reminded me of The Night Circus (in a good way), and it's beautifully written, with some very powerfully emotive parts, and well-portrayed relationships. It's darker in places than I was expecting, and very sad in some ways, and I got annoyed by the behaviour of some of the characters (but then, if they'd been sensible about things, there wouldn't really have been a story!). But the story was compelling, I got totally invested, and I was largely satisfied by the ending.
It's set in an alternate 19th century England, where there's (totally unexplained) magic that some of the characters seem to be able to utilise in their creative pursuits. The two protagonists are Beatrice and Rosa, who both suffer major regrets from choices they make or actions they take at certain points in their lives, and are then offered the chance to win a magic wish by taking part in a competition to create a wondrous pleasure garden.
There were aspects of the book that reminded me of The Night Circus (in a good way), and it's beautifully written, with some very powerfully emotive parts, and well-portrayed relationships. It's darker in places than I was expecting, and very sad in some ways, and I got annoyed by the behaviour of some of the characters (but then, if they'd been sensible about things, there wouldn't really have been a story!). But the story was compelling, I got totally invested, and I was largely satisfied by the ending.
