Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Garden Spells


Sarah Addison Allen's first novel, Garden Spells, is Southern fiction in a nice way - nicer and gentler than any Southern fiction I've ever read. To be sure, there are odd and quirky characters, but they're odd and quirky in charming ways. The only really awful character is from Seattle.

This is the story of the Waverley sisters, Claire and Sydney. Claire lives in the old family home and has a magical garden which she uses in her catering business. Claire is single, craves constancy and order, and fears being left by those she loves. Sydney has a young daughter from an abusive relationship and is running from trouble. The two sisters were never close, but when Sydney's trouble brings her back to North Carolina and the family place, Claire and Sydney begin anew and find they have more in common than they thought when they were younger. They begin to love each other as sisters.

This really is a sweet book and I'm looking forward to reading Ms. Allen's second book, The Sugar Queen, and hoping it is as good as the first.

Labels:

5 Comments:

Blogger BubblesandMoney said...

I enjoyed the second book as much as the first. The author uses very clever devices to move her stories along.

9:42 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

Thanks for letting me know!

10:05 PM  
Blogger Mo said...

Ive heard so many compare her to Alice Hoffman - I've had "Garden Spells" on my wishlist for some time, and you're review just makes me want to read it all the more!

7:08 AM  
Blogger Beth F said...

I've been thinking about this one for a while. Thanks for the review -- sounds good.

7:15 AM  
Blogger Framed said...

I just bought this book. Glad to know it's a good one.

2:02 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home