June can name every flower species. She finds it much harder to cultivate an understanding of people.
After her mother’s unexpected death, June sets out to find her father, whom she knows only from an old photograph. When she arrives at his door, he panics and turns her away. With nowhere to go, she secretly moves into his yellow garden shed. But when her father’s twelve-year-old son discovers her, June must decide whether to stay or run.
This joyful and humorous debut novel is also a thoughtful celebration of difference. Readers will fall in love with June, as she searches for the two things she is missing—a family and a garden. June in the Garden lets us see things afresh.
andJune in the Garden
‘June in the Garden is the book we all need right now. It’s heartwarming, witty, and ever so wise. Eleanor Wilde deftly weaves some serious themes into this perceptive and uplifting story about family and finding a place in the world. It’s a tender celebration of differences and of allowing people to blossom. June is a delightfully unique, endearing protagonist who sees the world differently, and through her eyes, you’ll see things differently, too. June in the Garden is an absorbing, poignant, and wholly original read. June will remain firmly embedded in your heart, long after the final page. I loved it.‘
‘Essential and beautiful. June in the Garden is a primer in empathy and compassion. We all live, perhaps unconsciously, by our own rules. June’s rules aren’t all that different; they’re just clearly stated and at the very forefront of her thinking. Over time, they’ve been her anchor and her scaffold, how she learned to climb through the world. But when life presents her with a new and different kind of landscape, we learn that those around her bear more than just a little responsibility for helping her find the next foothold. There’s a little bit of June in each of us, waiting anxiously for the rest of the garden to bloom.’
‘June in the Garden is a story that will weed its way into your heart. June is a lovely character you can’t help but root for, and her journey is at once a story of grief and coming of age, while also exploring independence and what it means to be a person. I cried; I cheered; I wanted to get my hands into the dirt alongside June, if she would let me.‘
‘One of those books that compels you to turn the page to find out what has happened, what will happen next, and what lies ahead for June. All the while, you’re captivated by a winning voice that makes you root for her from the very first line to the very last.’
‘June in the Garden is an exquisitely touching, gently humorous tale of love, loss and renewal. The character of June, with all her vulnerabilities and differences, is so sensitively and lovingly drawn that I felt deeply invested in her mission to find a new place to sink her roots. June has her own particular way of interacting with the world, which might initially come across as rigid and self-centred, but her nurturing of the plants that surround her presents us with a window into her deeper, more complex feelings. Both compelling and thought-provoking, June in the Garden is a novel packed with compassion, warmth and wit. I loved it.’
