The Garden of Memories: A charming and uplifting novel for 2024 about community, friendship and the healing powers of gardening!

This book brought me so much joy. It was like a warm hug wrapping itself around you. It made me want to rush out to the garden centre and find a mock orange plant. I want to visit the garden and smell the sweet peas. It was a beautifully written story of love and friendship and how the simplest of things can make a difference. I could imagine myself in the garden with all those women who have a story to tell. This is my absolute favourite book that Amanda has written.

It’s good to read about older women for a change. I am one of these older women.This is a delightful story and it has an uplifting ending.It was a little slow at the start and there is a large cast but the story works well and the characters are lovable.The garden in the title is gorgeous.

Each book I read from Amanda James is totally different but thankfully still with the same location.Her writing is so descriptive and the story is totally unpredictable . I’ve loved reading this book, whilst its one of those books to curl up with and lose yourself in it’s also empowering and encourages the reader to take stock of their life and actually think about what they’re doing and where they want to be going.Thought provoking….

I read this book purely because it was written by the wonderful Amanda James. I’ve read all her books so couldn’t miss this one even though it didn’t strike me as my kind of book.In theory it wasn’t but I found it charming, gentle and uplifting.I admire Amanda’s ability and flexibility to write in so many different styles.Always looking forward to the next one!

I loved this book. All the characters were real and their connections and experiences filled with hope. I will be reading more of Amanda's work

This book is about friendship and links to the healing powers of nature but I found the characters a bit shallow and two dimensional. The characters have problems in their lives but are miraculously healed by a quick visit to the saintly Rose’s garden. The book starts in spring when the daffodils are in bloom but that same week Rose is walking in a wood full of wild garlic and bluebells ! An ok book for a light read .

This story is one of the most beautiful, uplifting stories I’ve read for a long time.The wonderful descriptions that this author uses brought both the characters and the location to life. Each person’s story overlaps perfectly with the others. It’s a story of community, friendship, love, trauma, and loss... and this wonderful group of characters support each other through it.The very final scene left a small cliff-hanger, which would be the perfect place to start the sequel… one I’m already looking forward to.This is such an amazing, beautiful, and well written story and I absolutely recommend it to each and every one of you.5 stars from me!

Member ReviewThe Garden of Memoriesby Amanda JamesPub Date: Jun 20 2024This is a beautiful book about love lost and honouring memories.Rose who is a widow and a retired nurse decides to remember her husband by having a garden of memories.The garden becomes a place for lost and lonely souls and each person who visits dedicates a plant to the garden of memories. The place becomes a sanctuary, a safe place, a place of hope. Replacing negative memories with positive ones and no longer feeling lonely. Rose has managed to do something once again that she has spent her whole life doing, caring for other people.I received a copy of this book from One Chapter through Netgalley and I really enjoyed it, thank you so much! It's a real feel good book!

Goodness me, this is absolutely gorgeous! I was ready for an uplifting life-affirming read and this one pushed all the buttons, ticked all the right boxes, and touched my heart in all the right places. What a beautiful story of how people can come together, heal rifts, soften hearts, give comfort, grieve alone and together, provide friendship - all with a beautiful rambling garden at its centre. There are so many stories here, so many of these characters could have a whole other book written about them! All is not always rosy in this garden but oh my to these strong female characters with beautiful names who show the world that positivity and helpfulness and caring for others even when in dark times themselves, is the true nature and wonder of life. A wonderfully entertaining read full of exceptional life messages. Loved this!

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this book as I was hoping to find something to read that was positive for a change. Over the years I've read books from just about every genre but in the past fee years I've wandered into the nature books, partly because they don't dwell on anger, physical confrontation, the evil side of life. What makes this book so lovely is that the author doesn't rely on any of those things to tell her story. Her book is about friendship, about the ways that people deal with growing older, about the love and language of flowers. I am hopeful that I will find another similar book to read next.

Rosy, Rosy, how does your garden grow? I love gardening and I do believe it is a balm to our souls. Rose’s garden of memories makes me want to come experience it also. This is a happy feel-good story and sometimes, maybe most times, that’s exactly what we need! Thank you Amanda.

As a recent widow this book was comforting to me, yes I cried but I also sympathized with so many of the characters. This was a cozy comfy book!

I didn’t want to put this down. Great book with great message of sharing, growing, and learning to love yourself.