Apologia

Helen Humphreys' novel, "The Lost Garden" tells the story of a young horticulturist who leaves London, England during "a period of intense bombing" (Johnson) to work in the gardens of an old estate in the Devon countryside. There she forms two very close bonds with a man and a woman, both of whom become more important figures in her life than her own mother. This novel has been named "The National Bestseller" of its time, won itself a spot in the Canada Reads selection of books of 2003, and has been named A New York Times Notable Book of the Year (Chemin). A significant book in the canon of Canadian literature, “The Lost Garden” would quite possibly improve the impression all its readers have of Canadian literature.

Much attention should be paid to this novel and for certain, it would be an enjoyable to read for many ages. It appeals to all Canadians in a heritage sense with regards to the Second World War and though it is fiction, it displays very realistic situations that many people would have experienced first hand in the war. Today, one is taught in school about the war, what battles occurred and what they were like, but one does not learn much about how lovers of the soldiers were affected or how personal struggles their families would have experienced. This novel so brilliantly describes how relationships formed because of the war as well as how they were broken or lost because of it. Also, it is quite interesting how Helen Humphreys' uses many of her own relatives' experiences in the war in the novel. In an interview with Linda Richards, Helen says "Both my parents were in the Blitz in London...[and] my father's father was in the RAF and he disappeared in 1941 and they never found him again" (Richards) which parallels Jane's situation in the novel. So not only does Helen use "a lot of details from [her] parent's life,"(Richards), but she tells us of the same experiences many Canadians' would have some relation to whether it was their own experience during the war or a relative's. The book is a part of all Canadians' history which makes it so significant to all of their lives. More so, because Humphreys researched while she wrote (Richards), the history is so accurate and as a result, it makes her novel seem even more realistic that readers are able to take so much more from the book. As well, her descriptive writing helps readers to feel the emotion of the characters and the love, but also heartache they feel in their lives.

Disregarding history completely, this novel would still be most worthy of its high ranking in Canadian literature. The New York Times Book Review describes her work as "A finely wrought novel...Meticulous, lucid prose" and The Kingston Whig-Standard said no worse when describing it as "an ivory carving,...delicate and almost mythic in its symbolism and strength" (Humphreys). Helen's use of symbolism is so developed and well placed within this novel one could read her beautifully written, almost poetic story many times and discover more deeper meanings and decode more symbols each time. For example, each seasonal garden represents different themes within the novel such as faith, loss and longing(Humphreys 206) and even more symbols lie within each of those gardens, hiding amongst the peddles of the sad, drooping peonies or the white roses Raley dreams of which represent reverence and humility (Symbolism). Rhetorical questions about the many different themes in her novel and the extensive use metaphors make for more interesting writing to read and they reveals a tone which heightens the emotion in the novel and the emotion within the “sharply drawn” (Richards) characters. Overall, Humphreys describes the lost and forgotten gardens in her novel as "a very human metaphor...a metaphor for the generation of people that go to war" but also for the people that are left behind (Richards). Another huge symbol in “The Lost Garden” is The Genus Rosa. Gwen, the main character, often lies on her bedroom floor beneath the two volumes of this encyclopedia, "one of the definitive and most beautiful works on roses" (Willmott), "imagining that the weight of the books is that of the lover she has never had"(Livesey). Stuffed full of symbolism and poetic writing, “The Lost Garden is an almost impossibly beautiful book…with so strong a charge (Richards).

A story connected to Canadian history as well the author's family history, it is no wonder why this novel has become one of Canada’s favourite reads and so significant in the canon of Canadian literature. Helen Humphreys has created this "beautifully crafted and bittersweet coming of age story" (Humphreys) with such poetic sensibility. “The Lost Garden” should be on every Canadians’ ‘list of books to read’. Wonderful!