The Midnight Garden
The Midnight Garden
By: Elaine Roth
“Tessa’s casual use of the word ‘we’ makes me wince. Her life is full of ‘we’… I didn’t realize the joy of ‘we’ until I became just me.”
The Midnight Garden is similar to The Lonely Hearts Book Club in that it’s about finding how to live life when grief has kept you still and isolated. But instead of a book club, this story is set in a small town like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls with a Hallmark movie-esque plot and characters.
This story alternates POVs between our main characters and love interests— Tessa and Will— who both grew up in the small town of Kingsette, Rhode Island.
Tessa is a young widow whose husband had died in a car accident a couple years ago.
Will left town for L.A. straight out of high school and has been forced to come back and take care of the family inn after his mom disappeared without word.
Will would like to get things in order and go back to California, but when he and Tessa find themselves alone together on the roof-top of the inn there is an unseen force drawing their lives closer and closer.
Now many say they love the magic of this story. The ‘magic’ was probably my least favorite part.
We have this character named Maeve. She lives in an old cottage by the lake with a big garden. She hosts late night ‘gatherings’ where she sometimes connects with the dead. Classic of a small town, there are mixed reviews on Maeve’s presence there. She’s a scam artist. She’s a kook. She’s breaking up engagements. The rumor mill is loaded.
Tessa is interested in her because she wants to connect with her deceased husband to tell him she’s sorry. She has been holding on to a lot of guilt about the night he died.
Will is interested in Maeve because Maeve is wearing his mother’s ring that she never took off and would never sell or give away. Maeve must know where she went and can make her come back.
I like books with the fanciful type of magic. Magic in the form of a medium like this I don’t view as magic. Too often in real life people believe it’s real. And it is not.
In the book Will feels like Maeve is manipulating Tessa and others. I agree with that. Even if she wasn’t a scam artist with ill intent, I do believe what she was doing was wrong and manipulative.
I’m not sure what message Roth was attempting to send in this book, because there were elements that eluded to Maeve’s magic just being that she was helping people see that they already had what they needed to move forward with their lives. They didn’t actually need magic, they just needed to believe that they had courage and hope and confidence to make such and such decision.
It’s unclear whether Maeve actually thought all her little teas held any sort of power or if it was the placebo effect. Either way, it wasn’t MY cup of tea.
What I did like was the message of living life. And not letting grief keep you from moving forward.
“You didn’t die, Hope. You lived, and it’s okay to live.”
I think this exchange resonated with me when I think of my own times of grief:
“What do you want, Hope?” - - “I want impossible things.”
It’s really hard when our deepest longings are impossible things. It can be paralyzing to move forward as if we’re giving up on that. But we can’t get ourselves trapped and chained to our impossible wants. We can trust that God has good things for us. There is more life to live and good things yet to come if we’re willing to open our hands from clutching impossible things and seeing what things ARE possible.
I’m not a fan of the ‘follow your heart’ message, but I believe in the message that we can’t live a ‘safe’ life and avoid relationships. Relationships are a mess worth making. We need people. And yes, that opens us up to loss and grief and hurts. But we can’t live life in a bubble, impervious to the touch of others.
“Maybe it was never about building a life safe from loss.”
The love story aspect of it was good. I liked Tessa and Will and their friendship. And I liked the Stars Hollow feel of the town with the inn and the bicentennial. And of course we have Annette who was the Taylor figure. And the gossip channels with the coffee shop and whatnot fit with the Gilmore Girls vibe as well.
“This is the problem with returning home, returning to Kingsette specifically— too many people know too much. They can weaponize your past.”
There were bluebirds all throughout the story so I figured it had to mean something. I looked it up and sure enough: blue bird is “a symbol of hope, love, positivity, and renewal.” I don’t buy in to the New Age-y stuff, but I respect some well-placed symbolism.
Recommendation
This is a Hallmark-type of feel good romance novel with a smidge bit of mystery surrounding our Maeve character that may or may not be ‘magical.’
It’s not going to knock your socks off, but it’s a quick and enjoyable read.
I think those who have experienced a loss like Tessa especially might find they connect with it really well. Elaine Roth is a young widow herself so I imagine Tessa’s character and feelings are based on her personal experience and may resonate well with other widows who know that ache and guilt and the difficulty in moving on.
[Content Advisory: handful of f- and s-words; one sex scene that fades to black, not overly descriptive; several gay/lesbian couples pop in here and there but aren’t the main characters]
**Received an ARC via MB Communications in exchange for an honest review**
You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
Share this book review to your social media!