This women’s fiction story is on a theme I’ve read a few times recently; a woman has shut herself away from a world which seems to have harmed her or taken those she loved. In this case, Iris Maynard has been part of the extensive dig for victory movement during WWII. The pleasure she gains from growing good food on the former baseball park is cut off when word arrives that her husband won’t be returning. THE HEIRLOOM GARDEN of her own home becomes her retreat.

Abby Peterson, her husband Cory and young daughter Lily arrive to rent a house backing on to Lake Michigan in 2003. The wide views and abundance of natural play space provide an ideal setting for Lily to spread her wings and Abby to work developing marine paint for boats. Cory is not so easy to suit; he’s traumatised by his Iraq War experience and can’t work, relate to neighbours or care properly for his daughter. Despite herself, the now elderly Iris becomes drawn into Lily’s orbit, as an adult presence for the little girl.

I enjoyed particularly the descriptions and scents of the flowers, such as lilac and peony, and the care which went into growing them. If you want to surround yourself mentally in summer flowers, this is a good book. We see the characters’ lives develop in two time periods. Cory’s trauma and Iris’s continued grief are parallel, both continuing to live in a past which is destroying their present. The author’s respect for servicemen in both wars comes across strongly, and at the end she relates a real-life case which helped her write this story.  Cory sets himself a quest, and on the way, he is working towards a recovery, so we can see him as a hero.   

I’m not the only one to have felt recently that the enforced lockdown and reduced social contact had made me less inclined to socialise, especially among strangers. Imagine, then, a lockdown which lasted years, behind personally chosen high fences, surrounded by what seemed a worthwhile garden but was giving pleasure only to one person. Viola Shipman has created a surprisingly timely tale, and we need to pay attention to how we value and spend time with our senior members of society. THE HEIRLOOM GARDEN is finally shown to be of benefit to the wider community, but we have to first put in the effort. We have to want to understand the gardener.

Book Summary