THE SEA GARDEN (Marcia Willett)

I like Marcia Willett's writing.  She reminds me of Rosamund Pilcher, who is one of my favorites, and I always love any novel that involves Cornwall.  Sometimes I get a little confused, though, because, although Willett's novels are stand-alone, she often refers to or recycles characters from past novels.  It can be like stepping into the middle of someone's life and being expected to remember everyone's name and back story when you have only met them briefly years ago!

That being said, The Sea Garden is an interesting novel.  Young Jess Penhaligon is the winner of a prestigious award for her botanical painting.  She travels to Devon and is welcomed by Kate, widow of David Porteous, who established the award.  Jess is soon part of Kate's extended family and discovers connections to her own grandparents that gradually unfold throughout the novel.  Lady Trehearne, the 92-year-old matriarch whose favorite son, Alistair, died in an a boating accident years ago, believes that Jess may actually be Alistair's granddaughter and is single-mindedly pursuing this theory.  Lady T. is definitely one of the most aggravating and unlovable characters in this novel!

Willett is wonderful atmospheric writer.  The reader can almost see and smell the Tamar River and hear the sounds of the sea.  I kind of wish she would leave the old characters in the past and start fresh with  a brand new family, though.  Sometimes the effort of trying to recall how everyone fits together is a little bit too tedious, but it was still worth it.