The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Mystery

Ratings (for the whole series):
Ease with which to read/enjoyable narration style 4.5
Suitable ending 5.0
Personal favoritism 4.0
Poetic language 3.5
Memorable 4.5
Original, creative plot 5.0
Original, well-developed characters 5.0
Probability of recommendation 3.0
Ability to "move" emotionally 4.0
Literary value and/or educational value 2.5
Total: 41.00

Final Rating: 4 stars

4-sentence summary:
Nell is told on her 21st birthday that she is not who she thought she was: she was found alone on a ship when she was 4 years old and adopted into an Australian family. Decades later, Nell's granddaughter Cassandra attempts to uncover the mystery behind Nell's appearance in Australia as a young girl, the family who abandoned her there, and the mysterious cottage that Nell gifted to Cassandra upon her death.


Critique:
Perhaps I begin reading all books with high expectations that are difficult to meet. When I began this book, I was immensely disappointed with its plot. For starters, you are told right off the bat that Nell is adopted. I felt that the mystery, in part, had already been solved. I am also not a huge fan of mysteries in general (the whole Whodunnit thing was never very appealing to me). What I failed to understand, at the beginning of this novel, was how Kate Morton was only touching the tip of the iceberg.... because this book went on to meet all my expectations- and more.

I don't know if I could say it any better than how People magazine reviewed the book: "Morton excels at creating absorbing mystery". But let me explain in brief how she does so. The author's setting for the book is only partly in modern-day. A large portion of the story is told from the perspective of characters living at the turn of the 20th century. The mystery, as it were, has not yet become a mystery at that time- thus, we understand from the modern perspective what the components of the mystery are, and then we see from the flashback perspective how those components have fallen into place.

The author also creates very compelling characters. The story is told from the perspective of a half dozen individuals (both past and present) and forces you to become emotionally invested in each of them. This book may contain characters that seem archetypal, but it's the motivation and desires of these characters that make them so compelling. This book, at it's core, is not so much a mystery as it is a character study. And a fabulous one at that.

The story uses romantic language to describe the settings of both Australia and England, yet never becomes stale or commonplace. The plot keeps you guessing until the very end, and still maintains a satisfying and unexpected conclusion. All in all, this book is full of beautiful language, intriguing characters, and captivating plot. This book earns a definite recommendation and an apology for ever having doubted it.