Sorrel’s decision to stay on had been greeted with joy in Wiltshire and a mixture of glee and disappointment in Granite Point. Patience wasn’t surprised and Nettie was delighted, but there were three brides and a new mother who felt utterly robbed of Sorrel’s floral gifts. Patience and Charlotte Mayo teamed up to fill in in Sorrel’s absence, and Charlotte found that she rather liked getting her hands dirty now and then. The baby sat on a blanket in the shade and gnawed at Nettie’s homemade zwieback. Henry mooned around the Nursery while the sisters worked. He’d forgotten how little he saw of Patience during the high season. He, Ben Avellar, and Simon met for beers at the end of each day in the Nursery shed while the Sisters tidied up for the next one. Henry and Ben had lugged a dorm fridge over at the start of the season and filled it with local ale and Nettie’s watermelon juice. Sometimes she made them snacks, and sometimes Patience made them take some remedy or other, and the men found that they’d never felt better. All in all, it appeared that Granite Point would weather Sorrel’s time away.
THE NIGHT BEFORE the solstice, after Andrew had collected his pressed vestments from the cleaners, set out his sermon in a leather folder embossed with the Kirkwood heraldry, and made his final notes on a couple of index cards, Sorrel drew him into the garden while the sky was still pale blue and the sun above the horizon.
“I wanted to spend a little time in here alone with you,” she said as she opened the gate. “Close your eyes. I will lead you.” She took his hand and guided him in.
“Will there be bumbling?” Andrew asked.
“I believe we are all bumbled out, Reverend Darling,” Sorrel said.
“Never!” said Andrew and slipped his hands down Sorrel’s shorts, cupping her bottom and pulling her close.
Sorrel extricated herself and turned to face Andrew.
“OK, open,” she said.
Andrew didn’t need to see to know that enchantment had returned to the Shakespeare Garden. The scent was overwhelming in its beauty, but not overpowering. He could not untangle the threads of scent, so he let the whole curl around him. When he did open his eyes, he was stunned.
Gabe and Sorrel had in fact wrought a miracle within the walls. It was almost impossible to believe that anything had ever been so terribly wrong there. Anna’s corner was perhaps a little fragile still, but everything else seemed to have not just recovered but thrived. It was nothing less than a transformation from ruin to rebirth.
Sorrel looked to Andrew. “So, what do you think?” she asked.
“I am in awe, Sorrel,” Andrew said. “I am a man whose faith has been renewed by nature. Will you share that faith with me?”
“I will,” Sorrel said and found that she meant it.
“Come to me, little gardener, let me show you how much I love you.”
THERE WAS MUSIC in the garden all through the night. It came from the mouths of snapdragons, through the twining vines of the wild sweet peas Sorrel had brought from Granite Point, threading its way along the tops of the shiny boxwood hedges. The notes hung in the air above the garden as a murmuration of starlings made their final flight in the last of the light. The rampant morning glories that Sorrel had wrestled into good behavior along the outside of the walls opened long before dawn, and the roses and peonies nodded their blossoms toward one another in tribute to beauty beyond words. There was no darkness left in this garden, no sadness lingered where Anna had been so cruelly thrown away. She was gone from here and with her the sorrow that manifested as death. On this night and into the days to come, only delight would find a home here in the Shakespeare Garden of Sorrel Sparrow.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks are genuine and full of heart, as are the people who helped me plant this particular garden. Faye Bender of The Book Group is an uncommon woman who brings out the brave one in me. Lucia Macro is an editor with a gardener’s touch, planting seeds that allow my words to flower. Laura Hartman Maestro is the artist who draws my gardens to life. My writing cohorts, Anson and Yun Soo never let a weed make its way into the story. My children are my finest blossoms and they keep me walking forward on this winding writing path. My husband David makes our garden green, whether in the pages of this book or in all the years of our partnership. I am enormously grateful to him.
P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
About the author
* * *
Meet Ellen Herrick
About the book
* * *
Reading Group Discussion Questions
Read on
* * *
Excerpt from The Sparrow Sisters
About the author
Meet Ellen Herrick
ELLEN HERRICK was a publishing professional in New York City until she and her husband moved to London for a brief stint; they returned nearly twenty years later with three children (her own, it must be said). She now divides her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a small town on Cape Cod very much like Granite Point.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
About the book
Reading Group Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the role that family secrets and family legends play in The Forbidden Garden. Is it possible that the secrets of the past—real or imagined—can still affect families generations later?
2. From the outset Graham Kirkwood says that the Shakespeare Garden is cursed. Do you think it’s actually possible for a place or thing to be “cursed” or somehow tainted?
3. From the outside, the Kirkwood family appears perfect but the reality is somewhat different. How does the novel make use of the concept of appearance being different from the truth where it pertains to the Kirkwood and Sparrow families?
4. Graham Kirkwood originally approaches Sorrel by writing a letter. What does it tell you about Lord Kirkwood that he would use such an old-fashioned method of communication in this day of emails, texts, and even phone calls?
5. The Kirkwood family seems to have their own private language. How much of this do you think is used to keep strangers at a distance? How much of this is mere whimsy, or simple age-old English tradition on their part?
6. Andrew is a minister who appears to do some very unreligious things. Is this what a modern cleric looks like today? Does this startle or upset you? Why or why not?
7. Graham sometimes acts in ways that are protective of his family but detrimental to others. Do you feel he is justified in his actions? Are there ever times when protecting one’s family at the expense of others is acceptable?
8. The Sparrow Sisters have deep ties and ways of communicating that seem, at times, almost paranormal. Have you ever seen members of a family who are able to communicate in these ways?
9. How do you think Andrew and Sorrel are going to live out their futures?
10. Is it possible for one’s faith to be restored by nature? By extension, can one be a person of religious faith who is also a person of pure science?
Although there is no evidence that Shakespeare ever planted a garden, there are Shakespeare Gardens all over the United States, and naturally in the United Kingdom. They are, for the most part, open to the public—from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
If you want to plant your own Shakespeare Garden, the New York Botanical Garden has a handy how-to web page!
www.nybg.org/gardens/home-gardening/tips/shakespeare-garden.php
Read on
Excerpt from The Sparrow Sisters
Prologue
“ALL STORIES ARE TRUE. Some of them actually happened.”