The Garden

Starred review from December 1, 2024

This is a gripping yet emotionally suffocating story of the apocalypse, following aged sisters living off an ancient garden and their deceased mother's commandments. Evelyn, in true older sibling fashion, does her best to make sure the rules are followed even though her sister, Lily, prefers games and art. Lily seems content to remain in an unrestrained little sister role while begrudgingly completing her chores and questioning their ways. The walls of their property protect them from a world too dangerous to look at without protection, but the arrival of a boy reveals the frailness of their security. What should they believe? What rules can they break? Each disagreement damages their trust and summons old hurts. Newman cleverly uses the mysterious boy as a catalyst to change readers' perceptions of Evelyn, Lily, and their late parents, layering personal tensions over the mysteries of a world that may have ended. VERDICT Newman's (The Undying of Obedience Wellrest, under the name Nicholas Bowling) adult debut is a stiflingly beautiful blend of the personal apocalypse of Paul Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World with the mysterious introspection of Susan Fletcher's The Night in Question.--Matthew Galloway

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2025
Newman's first work for adults (he writes children's books under the name Nicholas Bowling) is the story of two elderly sisters, Evelyn and Lily. The women have an easy pattern to their days, dictated to them by their deceased mother's almanac. They tend to their garden, cook, play games, and go to bed at a strict hour. However, one day, the wall around the garden is breached, and the sisters realize that the outside world--the one their mother taught them to fear--is coming for them. The Garden is a gorgeous tragedy of a book, highlighting the fear of loneliness and the toll self-sufficiency can take on a family that has no other choice. Evelyn keeps secrets from her sister, and Lily hides longings for more from Evelyn. Both sisters must reckon with their haunting past, and Newman explores this with a deft hand, leaving the reader with a melancholy yet tender story of a broken family trying to stay together despite the weight of terror that threatens to drag them down.

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