American grad student Lucy Silver arrives in England hoping to
solve a longstanding literary mystery, write her dissertation, and finish her
graduate studies in a blaze of academic glory. But as Lucy starts to piece
together the correspondence between her late grandmother and Elizabeth Blackspear,
the famous poet and garden writer who’s the subject of Lucy’s dissertation, she
discovers puzzling coded references in the letters—and when an elderly English
aristocrat with a secret connection to Elizabeth offers Lucy access to a
neglected walled garden on his estate, the mystery deepens.
As spring turns to summer in Bolton Lacey, Lucy finds herself
fighting the Blackspear Gardens’ director’s attempt to deny her access to vital
documents in the archives . . . and trying not to fall in love with an
attractive Scottish contractor.
In the midst of this turmoil, she stumbles upon an illicit plot
to turn the historic gardens into a theme park, and becomes determined to stop
it. As she races against time to save the gardens, Lucy’s search for the truth about
Elizabeth’s life leads her to a French convent where she uncovers explosive
evidence that will change her life and the lives of everyone around her,
ultimately revealing a home—and an inheritance—more incredible than anything
she could ever have imagined.
