Iris Maynard lost her husband in World War II, her daughter to loneliness and, finally, her reason to live. Walled off from the world for decades behind a towering fence surrounding her home and gardens, Iris has built a new family…of flowers. Iris propagates her own daylilies and roses while tending to an heirloom garden filled with starts—and memories of her own mother, grandmother, husband and daughter.
When Abby Peterson moves to Grand Haven, Michigan, with her family—a husband traumatized during his service in the Iraq War and a young daughter searching for stability—they find themselves next door to Iris, and are slowly drawn into their reclusive neighbor’s life where, united by loss and a love of flowers, Iris and Abby slowly unearth their secrets.
In her inimitable heartwarming style, Viola Shipman’s brand-new novel follows two women, separated by a generation but equally scarred by war, who find hope, meaning and friendship through a garden of flowers.
Watch for The Heirloom Garden, coming soon from Graydon House.
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“Every now and then a new voice in fiction arrives to completely charm, entertain, and remind us what matters. Viola Shipman is that voice.”
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Dorothea Benton Frank, New York Times bestselling author, praise for the author