THE TWILIGHT GARDEN by Sara Nisha Adams
The sophmore novel of the English author of "The Reading List".
The Twilight Garden is the second novel of English author Sara Nisha Adams. Set in London between two time periods, it tells of the shared garden behind No. 77 and No.79 Eastbourne Road, the the relationships and community the garden creates across generations.
In the 1970s, Kenyan couple Maya and Prem move into one of the homes, emigrating shortly after their marriage. Next door is Alma, who despite being gruff at first, quickly becomes a beloved friend and extended family member. The garden they share is a passion they share, and quickly becomes a gathering place for their neighbours and community.
On the second timeframe, around 2018, Winston lives in the home formerly that of Maya and Prem. His relationship with his partner, Lewis, is in poor shape and his new neighbour, Bernice, is difficult to get along with. The garden remains shared, much to Bernice’s dismay, and has long since been abandoned.
Winston starts to work in the garden after receiving a mysterious package one day, containing articles and photographs of the garden in its glory years. That work attracts the attention of Bernice’s young son, Seb, and the two strike up a friendship (much to Bernice’s concern). However, over time, the neighbours learn to live more harmoniously, in no small part due to the modelling of good behaviour of the child.
The Twilight Garden moves between the two times and tells the story from Maya, Winston or bernice’s perspective. As the stoy goes on, the pieces start to fall together regarding how the two stories interrelate and why one cannot occur without the other.
Adams’ first novel, The Reading List, was well received. Here is my review from late 2022.
The Twilight Garden was, perhaps, not as compelling as The Reading List but it is still a lovely book. It took me a little while to really get into it, but once I did, it flowed well.
The character development was generally good and the story wove together beautifully. I think the weakness may have been Bernice’s story and the shift in her attitude towards Winston - that did not feel as fleshed out to me. However, I think the story still worked well and as the novel played out, the reader can identify why (to some extent) she was the way she was.
One thing I did love was the garden itself - the descriptions of the plants and food that was sown. Until the 2020 pandemic, I was not a bit interested in gardening but I now have a thriving potted garden on my balcony and several indoor plants too, and the idea of the community garden really appeals to me. I also loved the stories of the shed and furnishings that remained in the garden.
The Twilight Garden made for an easy read. Adams is a good writer and her stories often have many layers that reveal themselves, which keeps the reader engaged. While it may not go down as an all time memorable read, ff you want an easy holiday novel, or one for a long plane ride, this would be a great choice.
