“Just make sure you don’t stick to what’s easy or convenient. Always follow what you want. However often that changes.”
― Sara Nisha Adams, The Twilight Garden
Book Details:
- Written by Sara Nisha Adams
- Published: April 9. 2024
- Publisher: William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers
- Genres: Friendship Fiction/Literary Fiction/Coming of Age Fiction/ Urban Fiction
Jacket Cover Synopsis:
Two feuding neighbors unite to resurrect a neglected city garden in this uplifting and quietly joyful novel by Sara Nisha Adams, author of the beloved The Reading List.
In a small pocket of London, between the houses of No.77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, lies a neglected community garden. It was a beautiful thing once, a little oasis in a bustling city for neighbors by day and the local foxes at twilight. Now it’s overgrown and neglected, an empty patch of greenery lost to time.
Once a sanctuary, the garden’s gate is now firmly closed. And that’s exactly how Winston at No.79 likes it – anything to avoid Bernice, who has moved in next door with her young son. Their houses may share the garden, but they’re not exactly neighborly.
But then a mysterious parcel drops on Winston’s doormat. It contains no note, only a bundle of photographs of the garden in bloom many years ago—vibrant with flowers, filled with people from every corner of the community. Is someone trying to tell them something? The seed of an idea is planted…
Somewhere out there, a secret gardener made a decades-old promise to keep the community’s spirit alive. Now it’s time for The Twilight Garden to come out of hibernation.
Told with warmth and spirit, The Twilight Garden is a love letter to the little acts of kindness that can change a life. It’s a story of growth and community, and how when we dig in together, there’s always hope for a brighter future.
Books I want to read because of this book:
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
My Story Behind the Story:
I bought this book a good while ago, likely around the time it first came out in the spring of 2024 but I just hadn’t gotten around to reading it. This is one thing I love about books – they don’t ever expire and even if they are sitting on your shelf for years they’re still just as good when you finally do pick them up.
I may have seen this book recommended in a gardening magazine that year as well and so when I saw it at the bookstore I knew it was one I wanted to buy. I’m pretty sure I also own her other book titled The Reading List so soon, one I get around to unpacking all of my books I’ll try to read it.
Besides these details, gardening is a hobby I greatly enjoy. It is a wonderful pastime that’s very rewarding and brings a lot of healing. I remember when I first got into gardening probably around 2017, I really needed it! Every year and every season I look forward to gardening and this book captures that spirit. The sense of throwing yourself into gardening and the hope it brings with every budding flower or growing seed sprout.
All in all I really enjoyed this book and think that it would make for a great spring reading since it mostly takes place in the shared garden that connects not just houses number 77 and 79 but the greater community as a whole.
WARNING:
If you have not read this book and don’t wish to have the story spoiled please turn away now
Successful Storytelling Elements:
•Garden as Metaphor:
This book is great at using elements of gardening as a metaphor for the cycles of life and the things that the story characters are going through. For instance the garden has seasons just like life does. With Seb we see life in its early stages – spring – just beginning to break through so excited and full of energy. Then there is is Winston and Bernice, we can see them as summer, right in the peak of their life. Then there is Sal and his wife perhaps more in the fall stage of living. Finally there is Maya representing winter.
Also there is the idea of plants connected to specific humans. The large eucalyptus tree in the garden houses Alma’s mother’s ashes and Alma believes it is her mother’s spirit which has fueled the tree and helped it grow to big and strong. Then we have Prem, Maya’s husband, who loves the snowdrop flowers and who dies right as they are coming up one cold winter morning. They continue to bloom year after year once he has passed and are a reminder of his gentle spirit which brought hope and love to those around him.
There is also the banana tree that Bernice buys for Winston in honor of his mother. Then there is Alma who gets some sort of dementia later in life and who is connected to the garden in a major way. She makes Maya promise not to let the garden die. I can’t help but think of forget me nots when I think of Alma.
• Community Dynamics:
Sara Nisha Adams captures the intricacies of small communities beautifully. We have nosy neighbors, people who are overly kind, others who are little grouches and on and on. The author mentions how times have changed the way people interact in their neighborhoods and while I can’t speak for the distant past I can say I agree with her that mostly people in current times prefer to be left alone. There is a sort of cold distance sometimes and it can be sad how normal it is to live in a particular place and not really know your neighbors at all. The story shows how a garden can help break down those walls that we put up and instead bring people together.
• Past and Present:
At the beginning of the book Maya says that people are very distant and cold now in Alma and her old community but as the story goes on and we flip from the past to the present, between old tenants and new ones it’s interesting to note that in a way yes thing have changed but they have also stayed the same. Maya and Alma are the gardeners from the past while Winston and Bernice are the gardeners from the present. Both pairings had a rough time getting their friendships to bloom but one they got to know each other both pairs of people formed bonds that we can tell will last through the years.
• Theme of Loneliness:
Author Sara Nisha Adams did a great job of showing the struggle different people have with loneliness, how work responsibilities can cause couples to drift apart over the years. At the same time she shows how healing gardening can be for various troubles we all cary and how community support makes all the difference.
• Exploring Themes of Racism and Discrimination:
Sara Nisha Adams sprinkles in scenes from everyday life that show how various characters struggle with life in a big city like London. Some of her characters are immigrants struggling to fit in or be accepted by others. Topics of racism can be very polarizing, often making people uncomfortable for various reasons however, I think that Sara Nisha Adams did a good job of touching on the topic throughout the book without berating readers or sermonizing.
Conclusion:
Alright well that is all for now. I hope that if you haven’t read this book that you do one day soon. If you have read I would love to hear your thoughts. Until next time!
xoxo,
Angelica Sophia
Angelica Sophia 
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