What is 'The Winter Garden' by Nicola Cornick about?

'The Winter Garden' is a novel split between the modern age and the years before and after the historic Gunpowder Plot of 1605. It follows Lucy, who while convalescing from pneumonia at her sister's property, sees a woman from the seventeenth century and begins a historical search to understand who she is and what she wants.

How does the novel 'The Winter Garden' blend historical and modern elements?

Nicola Cornick skillfully moves between the centuries, allowing the reader to accept that the people of the past were not very different from those in the present. This creates the aura of a very unusual detective story.

What sets 'The Winter Garden' apart from other time-slip novels?

'The Winter Garden' avoids the usual mystical and magical elements often found in time-slip novels. Instead, it presents a sensible, enjoyable, and compelling story.

What is the length of 'The Winter Garden' and how is the pacing?

'The Winter Garden' covers about 355 pages, which feels just right. The writing is smooth and engaging, making readers eager to read more without realizing how many pages they have read.

What are some key themes in 'The Winter Garden'?

Key themes in 'The Winter Garden' include historical mystery, gentle romance, and the connection between past and present.

How are the characters portrayed in 'The Winter Garden'?

The characters in 'The Winter Garden' are vivid and compelling. Their presence is a solid and telling existence in the story, making them as potent and compelling as any well-developed characters in literature.

What is the reader's experience like with 'The Winter Garden'?

Readers find 'The Winter Garden' to be a beautifully written, interesting, and compelling story. It leaves readers with a smile because they enjoyed it, but also with a sadness that the book has ended.

What is the price of 'The Winter Garden' paperback?

The paperback version of 'The Winter Garden' is priced at £8.99.

The Winter Garden by Nicola Cornick – Review

Fiction

By On: Yorkshire Magazine

01/11/2022

1499

By Sandra Callard

Nicola Cornick’s novel is split between the modern age and the years before and after those of the historic Gunpowder Plot in the year 1605. I have a great partiality for history, and am unsure about the strength of novels based on it for enjoyment, so I began this book with some misgivings – but the author really knows her stuff.

Lucy is convalescing from the grave illness of pneumonia at her sister’s beautiful old property in the Berkshire Downs and is very happy there, when she sees a woman, apparently from the seventeenth century, looking sadly and hopelessly at her. The woman quickly vanishes but, amazingly, Lucy is not afraid, and so begins her historical search for this woman to try and understand who she is and what she wants. There is, thankfully, no sense of the occult or the supernatural in the search, and as the centuries fall away the tale develops the aura of a very unusual detective story.

“Beautifully written”

I was particularly impressed by Nicola Cornick’s skill as she moves between the centuries and allows the reader to know and accept that the people of those long ago times were very hardly different from those of us here at this moment. Her writing ebbs and flows with a silent ease that makes the reader unaware that they have read so many pages, whilst still eager to read more. I also like the way the author introduces a gentle love theme into the story. It is particularly apt as it blends so well with that of the long-dead, loving characters from centuries ago that appear.

It is also good to read a story concerning timeslips that is still a sensible, enjoyable and compulsive read. Stories of that category usually verge on the mystical and magical and downright crazy, but, thankfully, The Winter Garden escapes all of these calamities. It is a beautifully written, interesting and compelling story which makes you close the book with a smile because you have enjoyed it, but with a sadness that you have finished it.

The Winter Garden is not a long book, it covers some 355 pages, which seems just about right, but every page is totally readable and apt. The characters in this book are as potent and compelling as any I have known, and their presence is a solid and telling existence to the story. I feel I have left a huge gap in my reading as this is the first time I have read Nicola Cornick, but it will obviously not be the last.

‘The Winter Garden’ by Nicola Cornick is published by HarperCollins, £8.99 paperback