The Garden : A haunting feminist historical novel for fans of Shirley Jackson

Author: Beams, Clare

Fantasy

Published on 1 August 2024 by ATLANTIC BOOKS in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 304 pages
223 x 146 x 29 | 446g

From the critically acclaimed author comes an eerie, psychologically thrilling novel about womanhood and bodily autonomy'Pet Sematary meets Rosemary's Baby with a literary sheen' NEW YORK TIMES'A feminist voice for the 21st century' JOYCE CAROL OATES'Prepare to be haunted' RACHEL YODERIt's 1948, and Irene Willard has had five miscarriages. She's desperate to give her beloved husband the child he desperately desires and, now pregnant for the sixth time, checks in to an isolated house-cum-hospital run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure, they say, to 'rectify the maternal environment'.

There, she befriends Margaret and Pearl, women who are also yearning for motherhood, and together, they undertake the doctors' examinations, both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own impenetrable powers and pulls. As the doctors' plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves - and must face the incalculable risks associated with such incalculable rewards.

Haunting, uncanny and unforgettable, The Garden exhumes private griefs and mysteries in a stunning gothic that explores the ways that women's bodies are policed and manipulated. More praise for The Garden'Truly original' DAILY MAIL'Page-turning, horror-infused' LITHUB'A dreamlike chiller' OBSERVER'I'm in awe if this book' JESSAMINE CHAN'A shimmering, strange, important novel' RUFI THORPE