title: The Lost Garden: A Novel
author:  Helen Humphreys 
description: Evocative, if occasionally clunky, Humphreys's third novel (following Afterimage) is the story of an Englishwoman's search for her place in a world permeated by war. The narrator, 35-year-old Gwen Davis, is a horticulturist who flees bombed-out WWII London to manage a team of "land girls"-women who grow vegetables as part of the war effort-at a country estate. She struggles to manage her wayward charges, who are more interested in the Canadian soldiers billeted in the main house than in cultivating potatoes, and writes letters in her head to her idol Virginia Woolf, whose recent death has left her feeling bereft. She also tries to seduce the world-weary, hard-drinking Captain Raley, who has a secret of his own that dooms their relationship. Though her conflicts pale next to those of the soldiers waiting to be posted to battle and even those of her new friend, Jane, whose cousin is a casualty of war and whose fiance is missing in action, it is Gwen's quiet self-discovery that is at the center of the novel. Humphreys renders convincingly her first, fleeting experience of deep friendship and love. Unfortunately, the story is sometimes marred by overwrought or cloying prose, though Humphreys's language also has its moments of elegance (during the blitz, "houses become holes. Solids become spaces. Anything can disappear overnight"). Humphreys doesn't quite have the narrative energy of Pat Barker and Jane Gardam, but fans of those authors may enjoy this exploration of the impact of WWII on English life.<br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: The Return of the Long Lost Earl
  
  By
  
  Kate Carteret
  
  Copyright : Kate Carteret 2019
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  
  Published by : Dashing Dandies Publishing
  
  Cover Design : Melody Simmons
  
  Editor : Elizabeth Williams [Alareon Media LLC](http://alareonmediallc.com/)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  “If nothing else, it is perfect weather for a garden party, Geraldine.” Diana
  Sutcliffe took her friend’s arm and the two began to walk down the winding and
  pretty path to the camelia garden.
  
  “Perhaps,” Geraldine laughed. “But it is three days from now and we are in
  England. We could quite feasibly be pounded with rain or even hailstones by
  Saturday.”
  
  “That is a very defeatist sort of attitude. Are you feeling a little low, my
  dear?” Diana turned to look at Geraldine without breaking her stride.
  
  Before answering, Geraldine looked over her shoulder. There was not a soul to
  be seen, save for the gardener, Soames, who was not only clear across the
  lawns from them, but so deaf that they could have secret