After the death of his wife, Audrey, Jonah is in consolable. He sits on a bench in Kew Gardens and reflects on their life together as the world passes him by. Chloe is an artist who focuses on origami but her personal life is chaotic and less focused. Milly wanders the gardens at will but seems to have no homeland no family. Harry is passionate about plants and committed to Kew. Audrey seems to be the link between them all but how is her life and death linked to Kew.

For the first half of this book I was entranced by the story of Audrey and Jonah, and the budding romance between Jonah and Chloe. However the story of Audrey, Harry and Milly just didn't seem to fit. Of course as the book went on it was revealed and unfortunately my enjoyment of the book went down. The premise felt a little too fey and forced, the supernatural pushed a little too much. Having said that there is some beautiful writing here, the emotional and sensitive way that loss and grief are dealt with is heartfelt. ( )

I can't quite explain why I ever downloaded this audiobook as it's just not the kind of thing I usually read. Maybe it was the fact that it interweaves the stories of five different characters (a frame that I enjoy), or maybe it was because it's set mainly in Kew Gardens, a place that I loved visiting. Had I paid more attention to comparisons to Audrey Nifffenegger and Curtis Sittenfield, I probably would have passed on it. Tor Udall's first novel focuses on the interrelated stories of five people, each of them drawn to Kew, and each of them suffreing from some kind of loss. There's Jonah, a recently widowed musician/music teacher; Chloe, an emotionally damaged young artist and master of origami; Milly, a little girl who seems to wander aimlessly through Kew with no parents in sight; Harry, an introverted gardener who seems to trust no one; and Audrey, Jonah's wife, whose life has been blighted by a series of miscarriages. Audrey is the link that eventually brings them all together. Initially, I thought the book was relying a lot on flashbacks, but I came to realize that only some of the characters were on "this side"--or, perhaps more rightly, that some of them had not yet let go and passed over.

As stated, this isn't exactly my usual fare, but there were some things to admire. Udall did create empathy for each of the suffering characters, and there are glorious descriptions of Kew through the seasons and the effects of nature--particularly plants--on the human psyche. This line from Amazon's blurb may say it best: "This novel is a love letter to a garden and a hymn to lost things." ( )