The Pleasure Garden
The Pleasure Garden is a contemporary novel set in an English country house and its 18th century park. The present-day owner, Ben, falls in love with a young artist, Ruby, and soon she moves into the Hall. There she becomes smitten with Ben's gardener, the mysterious and beautiful George. Meanwhile Ben's lodger, Charlie, has his cynical eye on Ruby.
A visit by the maverick Professor Lal sparks an obsessive race to uncover the dark story behind the creation of the historic park, and the scene is set for a series of affairs and betrayals that are reminiscent of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Peter Greenaway's film The Draughtsman's Contract. The Pleasure Garden is a clever, intriguing and erotic love story, in which the past haunts the present.
'Intelligent and compelling.'
Elspeth Barker
'…it is a remarkable book; beautifully structured, well-researched, impeccably detailed and wonderfully imaginative.'
Frances Wilson
'This novel is steeped in romance, myth, sexuality, fertility and secrets with a dash of history which makes for a heady, page-turning mix…A pleasurable midsummer night’s dream.'
Historical Novels Review May 2006
Published by Piatkus 2006