The Sea Garden

July 15, 2014
A satisfying multigenerational noveltying long-ago friends, family and secret lovers to the present. Willett constructs a tangled web ofpast loves, lies and infidelities and then slowly straightens the threads, revealing how past events impact family members three generationslater. The truth of what happened decades ago on the bank of the Tamar inCargreen, England, begs to be released when Jess Penhaligon, just out ofuniversity, travels to London to receive an art award. Kate Porteous, the widowof the artist for whom the award is named, offers Jess a place to stay. WhenJess mentions her grandparents, Kate realizes she knew them and introduces Jessto others who knew them as well, and a family truth slowly comes to light-withall its potential to bring happiness to some, sadness and regret to others, andeven death. Readers may think they have things figured out, and just when itseems the story should have ended a chapter ago, Willett adds a twist. Thestory plods a bit, slowed by the many side stories-albeit interesting-of othercharacters. The prologue is front-loaded with names. Supporting the characteroverload with a family tree...or three...would have been appreciated.New Willett readers may find ittaxing to keep the names and relationships clear, but her loyal readers willfare better, recognizing many in the cast of characters, and everything fallsinto place as the story progresses.

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July 1, 2014
When Jess Penhaligon wins the prestigious David Porteous botanical-painting award, she's grateful for the validation of her budding talent and for the financial cushion the stipend will provide. She's saddened, however, by the realization that, with her father dead and her mother remarried, she's essentially alone in the world, with no one to share her joy. So when Porteous' widow, Kate, generously invites her to spend time with her at her Cornwall cottage, Jess eagerly accepts. Her arrival stirs both a deep and uncanny sense of belonging in Jess and a pronounced state of d'j vu among Kate and her long-standing coterie of friends, for Jess is the spitting image of her grandmother, Juliet, who once captured and broke the hearts of many of the young men in Kate's crowd. As Jess draws ever closer to Kate's companions, she unwittingly becomes the catalyst for an unnerving and ultimately fatal trip down memory lane. With agile inventiveness and cunning insight, Willett (Christmas in Cornwall, 2012) delicately explores the ephemeral nature of time and its effect on love and friendship.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)