The Garden of Lost Secrets
Publisher: Usborne
While her father is recuperating from gas poisoning after fighting in the First World War, Clara is sent to live in a cottage on a country estate with her uncle and aunt, who are head gardener and housekeeper at the big manor house - but her aunt is cold and enforces strict rules, and Clara soon discovers she’s staying in a house full of secrets.
Worse, Clara has a dark secret of her own – the unopened letter from the War Office she kept back from her parents, which she’s sure holds bad news about her older brother.
With the help of a boy who works in the boiler room under the big greenhouse, Clara tries to discover exactly what her aunt is hiding and unravel the mystery of the strange goings-on at the estate.
The Garden of Secrets is a gripping story set against the background of the Great War. With themes of loyalty and friendship, family and loss, the book transports the reader back to a world of class hierarchy and the dangers of wartime Britain, and will appeal to readers who enjoyed Emma Carroll’s Letters from the Lighthouse and Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse.
