A Secret Garden Affair: From the Sunday Times bestselling author comes the most captivating new historical romance and family drama of 2023, perfect for fans of Sally Page!

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Ellen has been living on her own in a picturesque if damp cottage in Cheshire since her husband abandoned her for the pleasures of another woman in Provence.

So she flees to the Suffolk countryside to get away from it all and finds herself at Larkspur House where she hopes the glorious gardens will help heal her soul.The author lives in Suffolk and is a keen gardener and this is clearly reflected in her descriptive writing. A multi layered dual time line story with a grand old manor house and of the people within and the secrets they keep. From Erica James, bestselling author of Summer at the Lake , comes an enchanting tale of one family coming together and finding their way. Through steps back in time, we learn of Elfrida’s and Bess’s relationship and how events and secrets changed them from employer and employee to lifelong friends.

But Libby's arrival stirs up secrets between the two older women and their families, as the author takes the reader back to the 1920's . Running to Larkspur House, where Bess works, and a place filled with happy memories for Libby, she tries to make life easier for the two older women who mean so much to her but unearths truths and secrets she had no idea about. There were sections set in the very early 1980s when Bess’s great niece Libby has come to stay following her fiancé’s betrayal just before their wedding. In addition just because you got a viewpoint from say 1926 does not mean that the next one would be from a later year, as the flashbacks did jump around to allow for a better novel.They come across many adventures there and take their friendship to adulthood, thereby including their partners and kids as well. The story is set in 1981, as Libby flees London to spend time with her great aunt Bess and friend Elfrida, in Suffolk. Therefore, when Libby’s engagement ends along with her self-employed business share with her ex-best friend, she finds herself drawn to Bess and Elfrida, the constants in her life. I wonder if it is because it is a little similar to a recent book I have read: following a family over decades with secrets being revealed along the way.