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'A haunting story of the search for identity...is packed with memorable characters and evocative settings. '

I don't even know where to start in reviewing this book. I can't quite remember when a book drew me in and kept my attention for the duration of the novel like this one did. It was a long book but it was so engrossing I read it within a couple of days, I literally couldn't put it down. It was absolutely magical. Well done Kate Morton!

The story begins in 1913 with a very little girl who lands in Australia apparently without any history, even to the extent of not remembering her own name, only that a lady called 'the Authoress' is supposed to be looking after her and she has disappeared. She is taken in by the harbour master and his family and when no one comes forward to claim her they decide to keep her and call her Nell. Nell settles into the family so well that she forgets all about her previous life and is given a dreadful shock on her 21st birthday when her Father tells her the truth of how she was found. This bolt from the blue consequently changes the course of Nell's life and later she decides find out 'who she is'. Consequently her Granddaugher Cassandra takes up the search in 2005 after Nell's death and uncovers many secrets and stories some of which Nell had already come across on a secret visit to Cornwall in 1975. Ultimately this book is very much the story of several women, and everyone of them interesting, unique and anything but one-dimensional. There are also many other fully rounded characters on the side-lines of the story and you don't get the feeling that there's any padding involved to stretch out the story. Every chapter is not only essential but interesting and you feel like you're trying to put together a complex jig-saw puzzle along with our heroines. In a compliment to the author - I never once got confused with the story changing from person to person and different time-lines. It was very skillfully done.

I can't praise this book enough. I've never read The House at Riverton but will be taking it on holiday with me in a few weeks and I can't wait if it's anywhere near as good as this!

What a fantastic book. I read it while on holiday in Cornwall so the Cornish theme was very real and I could imagine all the descriptions vividly. This was a great tale about a misplaced girl. It makes you think the whole time; "how would I have felt if I was that girl?", "who would lose their child?". It is not until two thirds of the way through that you start to make your own conclusions. But never knowing for sure what happened right until the end. It was very gripping and I could not put it down.

I'm an avid reader and loved The House at Riverton so when The Forgotten Garden was published I bought it anticipating another great read. Oh dear. The plot leapt about from era to era with several apparently unrelated characters who had no link between them or the dates written about. I never got as far as the garden part but just gave up at Chapter 3 because it was impossible to get into. I passed the book on to a friend with more persistence than I have, and she got no further, so this confusing book has ended up on a charity shop shelf and I hope someone else gets more pleasure from it than we did. One star out of five is being generous.

I had read-----and enjoyed---Kate Morton's first novel, as a light, romantic read, but I found 'The Forgotten Garden' deeply disappointing. I had the impression that this was an apprentice work, written before 'The House at Riverton' and rushed out by the publishers on the back of her first success----it begins as a romantic page turner and then---horror of horrors---there is a chapter ostensibly set in the London of 1900 which is riddled with irritating anachronisms. From here onwards, the novel---which could have been superb, descends into confused, clunky melodrama and glaring implausibilities. The triple time narrative is a distraction and really doesn't work. And yet---in the pastiche of the early twentieth century fairy tales---just 20 odd pages out of the total 600 plus of the whole book, the reader can perceive that Kate Morton is a sensitive, imaginative writer. With judicious editing and a careful redraft, this could have been a book to rival Daphne du Maurier at her best---sadly, it's not.

Superbly crafted. Superbly written. Fabulous story that hooks the reader at the start and never lets go. Best bit? It doesn't even fade towards the end.