Gardening Novels: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, & Classic

By Viola Shipman
Setting: Michigan, 1940s & early 2000s

After losing her husband in WWII and her daughter to illness, Iris walled herself off from the world. She’s spent many decades hiding behind the tall fence around her home. In place of human connection, Iris has surrounded herself with a family of flowers - propagating her daylilies and roses and tending to a garden that helps her keep alive the memories of those she loved.

Abby is a young mother whose husband has recently returned from military service in Iraq. When Abby’s family rents a cottage along Lake Michigan, next door to Iris’ property, the older woman can’t help but view the young family as a window to the life she once had.

As Iris and Abby’s family are drawn together by their shared love of flowers, the friendships that blossom between them are a testament to the healing power of both gardening and human connection. Through this book, we get to see Iris’ life both in the past and the early 2000s. In both timelines, her garden plays a vital role in her happiness and in her relationships.

Book Girls' Say... Melissa read this book for the Lifetime of Reading Challenge last year and loved it so much that her husband gifted her the hardback for Christmas. It's a beautiful testament to the healing power of digging into soil and creating beauty outside. While her daylilies aren't blooming yet (only the snowdrops shown above), she'll think of Iris when the flower stalks emerge for the first time this year.

by Julia Kelly
Setting: England

In 1907, Venetia Smith was a rising star in the world of garden design. Bankers, industrialists, and solicitors hired her to help show off their wealth through their elaborate gardens at their country homes, including Highbury House.

In 1944, the Highbury House cook is desperate to pursue her own dreams. Widow Diana, the mistress of the grand house is trying to cling to her own life despite her home being used as a convalescent hospital. But now the war is threatening her home's treasured gardens.

In the present day, Emma has a career restoring long-neglected gardens. She’s just being given the opportunity to bring the famed Highbury House gardens back to life. But as she dives deeper into the history of the home, she begins uncovering secrets.

by Tan Twan Eng
Setting: Malaysia

Yun Ling grew up in northern Malaysia, among the plantations and jungles, before studying law at Cambridge (like the author himself, who grew up in Malaysia and studied law in England).

In 1949, Yun Ling discovered the only Japanese garden in Malaysia and tried to engage its creator, the exiled former gardener to the Emperor of Japan. She wants him to create a garden in Kuala Lumpur in memory of her sister. He refuses to design the garden for her, but agrees to take her on as his apprentice to teach her the art.

As a survivor of Japanese brutality during the war that claimed her sister’s life, Yun Ling holds anger toward the Japanese. But inside the Garden of Evening Mists, she is drawn to the story of the gardener. The garden is a place of mystery: why did the gardener leave Japan? Why does Yun Ling’s host seem immune to the depredations of the Communists? And what is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war?

The Book Girls Say… This Booker Prize-nominated novel will immerse you in the Malaysian highlands with its poetic descriptions that vividly describe the landscape, the mist, the smells, and flora and fauna.

by Rhys Bowen
Setting: England

In 1918 during the Great War, Emily fell for an Australian pilot who convinced her she could do more to aid the war effort. After they become engaged, he’s sent back to the front, and Emily volunteers as a “land girl”. She’s assigned to tend to the grounds of a neglected Devonshire estate.

At the estate, she discovers the journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. When tragedy strikes, she stays on at the estate and learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs. The journals provide both a path forward and a journey to the brink of disaster.

This book is included with Kindle Unlimited as of 3/28/23.

by Posy Lovell
Setting: 1916, England

Inspired by real events, this novel tells the story of the women who kept the Royal Botanic Gardens alive in London amidst a war.

Ivy & Louisa enlist as gardeners to replace men who have gone to fight, but not everyone is ready for women to work at Kew. However, under their care, the gardens flourish and become a place of solace within the city.

The Book Girls Say…This light read also has storylines of women’s equality and the suffragettes. If you enjoy the book, there is a highly-rated sequel called The Kew Garden Girls at War.

by Kayte Nunn
Setting: Australia, England, & Chile

In 1880s England, Elizabeth takes over her late father’s search for a rare and miraculous plant. Her quest leads her on a perilous voyage across the sea that will endanger not just her, but her whole family.

In present-day Australia, Ann comes across a box filled with miscellaneous items, including a sketchbook of watercolors, a photograph with “Spring 1886” noted on it, and a small bag of seeds. This jumpstarts her own botanical odyssey.

The Book Girls Say… Readers say that the descriptions of this book are so vivid that you’ll be able to smell the flowers as you read about the adventures of these two women across three continents and two centuries.

by Kate Khavari
Setting: 1923, London

Saffron is a rare female research assistant with a vast knowledge of poisons. While at a dinner party, her professor’s wife drops to the floor. She expected to spend the night talking about an upcoming expedition to the Amazon, but now her mentor, Dr. Maxwell, is the main suspect. He’s always been more supportive of her than others in the all-male, very old-school department, so she wants to help.

Saffron must work to clear his name before the departure date to Brazil. She’ll need her extensive knowledge of botany as she partners with fellow researcher Alexander to investigate greenhouses and dark gardens looking for the deadly poison.

The Books Girls Say… This book has been described as a cross between a historical thriller and a cozy mystery, so it’s perfect if you’re looking for something a bit deeper and more detailed than the typical cozy mystery, but still enjoy amateur sleuth stories.

Also, be aware that there is a lot of talk about botany/plants, so it’s perfect if that’s your thing, but it may be distracting if you’re less into scientific details.

by Amy E. Reichert
Setting: Door County, Wisconsin

Fifth-generation cider-maker, Sanna, is devoted to her family’s struggling orchard. However, her brother is pushing their father to sell the land.

Single dad Isaac packed up his son Sebastian and headed across the country to keep him safe. When chance leads him to Sanna’s orchard, his help with the apple trees becomes essential and it feels more like fate that he arrived when he did.

However, Isaac and Sebastian’s arrival also complicates Sanna’s life, especially when an outside threat comes to the farm.

The Book Girls Say…This contemporary romance also includes a dash of magical realism.

For a look at life in a California orchard, try The Lemon Orchard by Luanne Rice.

by Loretta Nyhan
Setting: Illinois

This short (248 pages) contemporary fiction novel is about Paige, who was widowed two years earlier.

Now, her trusted boss of 22 years is also gone, and his son has taken over the company. He’s radically changing everything at the advertising firm, including an announcement that he’s getting rid of 2 employees at the end of the summer. Paige is trying to hold on to her job and her sanity for the sake of her teenage son, but her formerly perfect house and yard are both a mess.

As she tries to escape her new work problems on her back porch over a glass of wine, her nosy neighbor gives her a lecture about the dandelions in her yard. In frustration, she pours another glass of wine and begins yanking out the dandelions one by one…and it feels GOOD. Before long, she was looking for a shovel for more yard therapy.

Paige creates a bigger and bigger hole in her yard, much to the chagrin of her fancy suburban neighbors. But it’s helping her cope with the ongoing craziness at work and her lingering grief. Despite her inexperience in gardening and pushy neighbors, she finally begins to feel fully alive again.

This book is included with Kindle Unlimited as of 3/28/23.

by Namrata Patel
Setting: California

Poppy’s parents are Napa Valley hoteliers, but she left home to become a perfumer in Paris. However, when her heightened sense of smell disappears, her career is in danger, and she retreats home to California. She hopes that tending to her grandmother’s aromatic garden will restore her gift.

However, when she arrives, the garden has been uprooted and destroyed. It’s a visceral reminder of how her ties to home have been weakened while she was away. Now to heal, she must juggle family drama, old friendships, and a former love.

This book is included with Kindle Unlimited as of 3/28/23, however the expected publication date is 6/13/23.

by Falon Ballard
Setting: Brooklyn, NY

When Sadie doesn't get the promotion she both needs and expects, she immediately adds three things to her to-do list - a drink, a one-night stand, and a new place to live. Unfortunately, she tackles these tasks in the wrong order. The drinks turn into Sadie mixing up a dating app and a roommate app. Whoops!

Jack has been dealing with the unexpected death of his parents by escaping into movies and video games alone. After hearing her story, he offers Sadie the spare bedroom in his gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone at an excellent price.

The cheap rent lets her grow her former-side business creating flower arrangements into a full-time gig. But how long can these polar opposites happily co-exist in one house?

The Book Girls Say…If flower arranging is your favorite part of gardening and you enjoy contemporary romance, this is a great choice as you watch Sadie develop her floral business. We both read this one last year and enjoyed it!

For another rom-com featuring a flower shop with a cutting garden, try Dream On by Angie Hockman. Angela rated it 4 stars and enjoyed that the male lead owned the flower shop.

by Robin Farrar Maass
Setting: England

Grad student Lucy travels to England in an attempt to solve a literary mystery and finish her dissertation about Elizabeth Blackspear, a famous garden writer. Lucy has a stack of letters between her grandmother and Elizabeth, and the letters seem to include coded references. Things get interesting when an elderly aristocrat with his own secret connection to Elizabeth lets Lucy into his neglected walled garden.

However, the Blackspear Gardens director refuses to give Lucy access to the archives. As she continues her research, she uncovers a plan to turn the historic gardens into a theme park, and she must race to save the beautiful land. All the while, she’s trying to determine her grandmother’s connection to Blackspear and trying not to fall in love with a Spanish contractor.

by Diane Wilson
Setting: Minnesota

Long before we could place orders for seeds through gardening catalogs, the Dakhótas relied on their strong seed-saving traditions for survival. While this book will teach you about that seed-saving heritage, it also covers so much more.

Rosalie Iron Wing grew up learning about plants and her ancestry as a Dakhóta from her father. However, when he goes missing, she is sent to live with a foster family in Mankato. Decades later, Rosalie is now both a mother and the widow of a farmer. She still takes solace in their land, although it has been threatened by both nature and man.

When Rosalie returns to her birthplace to search out more of her family history, she learns about the trauma of boarding schools, the war between the Dakhótas and the government, and the cache of seeds that survived through generations.

by Abbi Waxman
Setting: California

In this novel, it’s been three years since Lili’s husband was in a car accident that unexpectedly made her a single mom of two young children.

Lili works as an illustrator and has been chosen for a prestigious boutique vegetable guide. But that means she’s also been assigned to attend a 6-week vegetable gardening class for some real-world veggie experiences.

Despite convincing her kids and sister to join her in the class, she’s still not overjoyed with this required course. However, one patient instructor and a cast of quirky classmates later, she’ll realize the class wasn’t so bad and that gardening can be healing.

The Book Girls Say…While there is a minor romance thread, this is not a romance novel. Instead, it’s somehow both funny and emotional, with themes of sister relationships, family, and healing.

by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Setting: California

Victoria Jones spent her childhood bouncing around between no fewer than 32 foster homes, but in one of them, she met a woman named Elizabeth who instilled in her a love of flowers and their meanings.

At age 9, Victoria wanted nothing more than to be adopted by Elizabeth, but something went terribly wrong. Nine years later, having aged out of the foster care system at age 18, Victoria finds herself homeless on the streets of San Francisco.

While Victoria is unable to get close to anyone, she finds that she can communicate through flowers, which allows her to get a job working for a florist named Renata. When Victoria meets a flower farmer named Grant, her past and present begin to collide and she is forced to confront some painful secrets for a second chance at happiness.

This novel is beautifully written and hard to put down! The book also includes the author's own flower dictionary, modeled one from the Victorian-era.

The Book Girls Say…There’s a beautifully illustrated flower dictionary called Floriography that you should pick up to accompany this book if you love learning about the Victorian associations of each flower.

by Jessica Francis Kane
Setting: United States

As a botanist, May prefers spending time with plants over people. She’s a gardener for a local university and likes to observe the lives of others while minimizing her interactions with them. However, in her younger years, she had a group of four close friends.

While it’s not feasible to get the group back together in one place, May sets out to reconnect with them one by one during an unexpected hiatus from work. Part tale of self-discovery and part story of female friendship, this book also explores themes of life’s offline simplicities vs. images of perfection online.

The Book Girls Say…Fans of The Odyssey might catch the ways this book parallels the Greek epic. Except in this modern re-interpretation, Penelope is the one traveling instead of Ulysses. You may also enjoy the references to classic literature and gardening, although you can still understand and enjoy the book without a passion for those topics.

by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Setting: 1910, Yorkshire, England

The Secret Garden is often considered one of the best children's books of the twentieth century, but it appeals to both young and old alike.

Mary lives in India with her uncaring parents when they are both killed in a cholera epidemic. She is sent to live with an uncle at his house in England, where she meets and helps her uncle's sickly son, Colin, recover his health.

If you haven’t read this classic literary garden story, add it to your TBR list ASAP!

by Jane Austen
Setting: England

Pride and Prejudice follows the turbulent relationship between Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. Many of our readers dubbed this classic love story the original rom-com and Mr. Darcy the original dark and broody male love interest.

Elizabeth is one of five daughters living on a country estate, and her mother is aggressively trying to matchmake for her and her sisters. When Darcy, a wealthy, aristocratic landowner, arrives in the village along with a group of other wealthy bachelors, the Bennet family is immediately put off by his cold and arrogant manner. Ultimately Elizabeth and Darcy two must overcome first impressions and prejudices if either of them is to find love.

Gardens play an essential setting in the book, and Elizabeth sees Mr. Darcy’s garden as a reflection of his character.

by Oscar Wilde
Setting: England

This play is a short, witty read full of secrets and romance. Cecily and Gwendolen are both in love with the same mythical suitor. Jack pretends to be “Ernest” to win Gwendolen’s heart, while Algernon has posed as "Ernest" to woo Jack’s ward, Cecily.

When Cecily, Gwendolen, Jack, and Algernon all arrive at Jack’s country home the same weekend, there’s a pandemonium that only a senile nursemaid and old handbag can calm.

The garden serves as the backdrop for both comedy and romance, while Cecily uses the garden as her escape, which is still relatable to gardeners today.

by Reginald Arkell
Setting: England

This 1950 British classic is a comic portrayal of a crotchety head gardener at a British country house. Bert, AKA “Old Herbaceous,” is an esteemed flower show judge & horticultural wizard. Though he was an awkward orphan as a child, his time spent alone picking wildflowers pays off in his career.

Throughout the book, you’ll find nuggets of gardening wisdom that are still relevant 70 years after the book's original publication.