"Love requires effort, exertion and will...Love is not purely a feeling but an act of will. The man in the bar who neglects his family will tell you with tears in his eyes that he loves his wife and children. Love is as love does." Jean- Paul, The French Gardener
Garden. Gardener. These are words that call me to the bookshelves in search of realistic romance. Descriptions of transient beauty unfolding kept my eyes strolling the book's walkways with character's pulled as people are through life. Tugged at in a battle by want and will. Sometimes rising to the occasion, sometimes not. I seek words to nourish my soul: stories that are like a life in a garden, replete with anticipation that compels staying for one more page, one more chapter. I crave literature that hurl the reader to the last delicious bite of typeface.
The French Gardener is not a landscape design picture-book. But the magic of the words create the illusion that it is. Desire is symbolized by the beauty of the rainbow. Is its beauty in its presence or in its ethereal impossibility?
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| Rainbow by Gene Sasse |
In her novel The French Gardener, Santa Montefiore planted a beautiful garden of wisdom laid out in garden rooms, some wildly intimate, others stiflingly grand. Scenes are scented with love, orange blossoms and gardens both wild and manicured, the pages are filled with personalities that exchange energy with the garden, and a few that are like weeds or poison ivy- to be avoided or yanked out.
Gardens and love are mutual metaphors. Each has the power to heal and restore the human spirit. Even when the surface appears dormant dirt, through active participation, beauty can be restored.
Linking late to Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.
Linking late to Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.
I love that last sentence, Lydia...Live plants and rich dirt---Restore me, too...! I am 'in love' with my Garden, which as you know is all Cacti and Succulents---there are so many beautiful things right now---Not being able to go down into my Garden below anymore, I look even more closely to what is happening on my Deck and my Patio. I took about 130 pictures yesterday and the day before---You will see some of them on my blog, in a few days....!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like it is right up my alley....!
In regards to "DEXTER"....NO! I cannot make it. The premise alone has always turned me off---and whatever I have had to watch for 'business' reasons is so bloody and cruel....OY VEY! So I'm with you on that one!
Very tempting, Lydia. Very.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. The cover alone makes it look like an interesting read. Your description makes me want to run to a bookstore right now!
ReplyDeleteOOLH- You will LOVE the book. The writing is muscular and visual. Almost like watching a movie.
ReplyDeleteNikki and Joan- Give in to the temptation. We go through life as imperfect people- and still beauty exists in every garden.