The French Gardener - Press Release

The French Gardener

By Santa Montefiore

“Intricate and well written – perfect for a rainy bank holiday.” – Company Magazine (UK)

“A love story from a consummate storyteller and a blissful portrait of Dorset.”–Southwest Trains (UK)

“Goodness, this is romantic. Shameless it twangs on every heartstring, presses every button and is utterly irresistible…you’re spellbound by the sheer charm of the enterprise.” – Daily Express (UK)

“Like its predecessors, it is an entertaining look at love in its many guises – romantic, familial, platonic.”
– Financial Times (UK)

In The French Gardener (A Touchstone Paperback Original; June 2, 2009; 1-4165-4374-0; $15.00), International bestselling author Santa Montefiore weaves a captivating story intertwined with unrequited love, tumultuous relationships, and life lessons of joy and sorrow.  From the first pages Montefiore captures the reader’s attention with the lives of two families and their impalpable connection through a secret journal, a magical garden, and unraveling family ties.

Meet the Claybournes:  David and Miranda are a high society couple from London with two children who recently left a life of dinner parties and charity fundraisers for Hartington House in the countryside.   David is a strikingly handsome and successful banker at Goldman Sachs.  His wife Miranda is a posh, beautiful, freelance writer who manages the couple’s country home while David works in London during the week. But turmoil lurks beneath the appearance of this picture perfect family. Miranda’s life dramatically alters as she transitions from her usual social circle of girlfriends, Prada coats, and Anya Hindmarch handbags to the dull simplicity and domestic nature of country life. In an attempt to fill the void of separation from his family during the work week, Miranda’s husband begins an affair with Blythe –Miranda’s best friend. The children struggle to adjust as well: seven-year-old son Gus constantly starts fights at school and four-year-old daughter Storm is melancholic without her school friends.   Each hides in their loneliness and despair, unwilling to open up to the love of their family. 

When Miranda begins restoring the estate, an enigmatic Frenchman named Jean-Paul arrives volunteering his gardening services.  Jean-Paul begins work at Hartington House, transforming and restoring the gardens to their past beauty. Slowly he teaches the children and Miranda about the pure enjoyment of nature, repairing the broken ties and isolating pain of this family. While exploring the cottage by the garden, Miranda stumbles upon a journal dated from almost twenty years ago. As Miranda reads the journal, she learns that Jean-Paul is interlinked with its contents. Will the wisdom and knowledge that Jean-Paul learns from his past be enough to save Miranda’s family and the problems that lurk beneath the surface?

The French Gardener is a novel that touches you to the soul, the characters springing alive, and the story resonating long after you finished the last page. Wise and winsome, poignant and powerfully moving, The French Gardener is a contemporary story laced with old-fashioned sensibility, the strength of family, and the power of love.