The Twilight Garden

The Twilight Garden
by Sarah Nisha Adams
William Morrow, 2024. 391 pages. Fiction

In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. But the garden's gate is now firmly closed. And that's exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it—anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they're not exactly neighborly. But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston's doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted ... Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community's spirit alive. Now it's time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.

This is the perfect book for aspiring gardeners to enjoy, since it covers the ups and downs of tending a garden. This is also the perfect book for people who like reading about the power of community, and about people finding their place in the world. Although Winston starts gardening as a way to annoy his neighbor Bernice, the garden becomes a passion project for both households. The book also jumps back in time, telling the story of the founding of the community garden, and the garden's original caretakers—two neighbors named Alma and Maya. In both storylines, characters deal with both happiness and heartbreak. This is an especially enjoyable story about people finding each other and building each other up.

If you like The Twilight Garden you might also like:

The Museum of Ordinary People
by Mike Gayle
Grand Central Publishing, 2022. 336 pages. Fiction

Still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, Jess is about to do the hardest thing she's ever done: empty her childhood home so that it can be sold. In the process of finding a new home for an old set of encyclopedias, Jess discovers an unusual archive of letters, photographs, and curiosities housed in a warehouse and known as the Museum of Ordinary People. Irresistibly drawn, she becomes the museum's unofficial custodian, along with the warehouse's mysterious owner. As they delve into the history of objects in their care, they not only unravel heart-stirring stories that span generations and continents, but also unearth long-buried secrets that lie closer to home.

Nosy Neighbors

by Freya Sampson

Berkley, 2024. 369 pages. Fiction

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never felt at home anywhere, and especially not in crumbling Shelley House. Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling is Shelley House's longest resident, and if you believe the other tenants, she's as cantankerous and vindictive as they come. Except there's a good reason Dorothy spends her days spying on her neighbors—a closely guarded secret that no else knows and the reason Dorothy barely leaves her beloved home. When their building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home.

Also: Our Library has been getting into gardening lately! We have a Seed Library that lives at the back of our 1st floor Reference Desk, waiting for people to come take some seeds and grow beautiful things with them. We've also been hosting seed swaps and plant swaps, with our next one happening on Saturday, May 18th.  

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