132,957
edits
Changes
Gardens of Delight by Erica James (view source)
Revision as of 14:23, 11 May 2018
, 14:23, 11 May 2018no edit summary
Confused? Well, these are not the only characters who are introduced in the first four chapters of this novel by Erica James. But by the end I had realised they were the most important ones. Unfortunately, that wasn't clear early in the book and the rapid switch of situations and viewpoints left me rather bewildered, forgetting from day to day who on earth I was reading about.
On the whole, I enjoy this author's novels. Her earlier ones were light village sagas that I thought above average; she then produced a dreadful book, [[''The Holiday]] '' which read like a Mills-and-Boon, but followed that with one of my all-time favourites, ''Precious Time''. Three or four more of her novels since then have also been moving, thought-provoking and well-written, and I looked forward to her latest offering.
Alas, I was disappointed. There was almost no character development - perhaps it would have been difficult with such a huge cast! - and no real overall plot. There was a point at which almost everyone went on a short holiday to Italy for guided tours of some gardens, and I suppose that was meant to be the main point of the book, given its title. But it was almost irrelevant to the various relationships and events that took place at amazing rapidity in the lives of the characters, both major and minor.