Nightfall In The Garden Of Deep Time: My Review
My Review:
Nightfall In The Garden Of Deep Time by Tracy Higley
Introduction:
I’d never heard of this book before last week, but when one of the Infiniverse Explorers from my reader group dropped the cover into one of the threads before proceeding to tell me this little gem was on sale for 99c, I couldn’t resist. She told me this book was seriously enchanting, and boy was she right!
About The Book
NIGHTFALL IN THE GARDEN OF DEEP TIME BY TRACY HIGLEY
SYNOPSIS
What if you stumbled into a timeless party, in a secret garden only you could see?
Kelsey Willoughby doesn’t have time to pursue her writing dreams. Imagination doesn’t pay the bills, and she’s busy saving her beautiful city bookshop from online competition, hotel developers, and the sneaking suspicion that nobody reads anymore.
Not to mention all those voices telling her she doesn’t have talent.
But then the vacant lot of weeds next door starts to shimmer.
When Kelsey stumbles into a luminous nighttime garden party, larger than the vacant lot that holds it and filled with enigmatic guests, she suspects they hold the key to saving the bookshop, and perhaps even to her own mysterious origins.
But answers aren’t forthcoming, not until Kelsey is willing to confront her past, step into her potential, and push deeper into the unknown edges of the garden, where an unexpected journey takes her into a world of dangerous revelation.
MY REVIEW
Rating: ★★★★★
This book was outside of my usual genre, as I tend to favour thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi and literary fiction mainly, though as a mood reader I make exceptions fairly often. This novel did have a fantasy element, but to be honest it came across as more magical realism when all was said and done.
We enter the story of Kelsey at a point in time when her life seems to be falling apart. Her adoptive Grandmother’s indie bookstore isn’t doing well, her own creative spark is sputtering out, her relationship isn’t really that knock-your-socks-off fantastic, and her Grandmother is in assisted living, basically waiting to die. To top it all off, in the first few chapters we learn that Kelsey will soon most likely be made to give up the bookstore she loves so much entirely as a large company is buying out business owners all along the street to make way for their new hotel.
Enter the Garden of Deep Time, or simply ‘The Garden’ as it is referred to in the novel, where all the literary and creative greats such as Agatha Christie, Vincent Van Gogh, Pavarotti, T.S. Eliot, Charles Dickens, and more seem to hang out in this gorgeous and seemingly timeless setting, a garden party happening at twilight. Kelsey originally finds this garden by wandering into the empty lot beside her grandmother’s store at twilight after thinking about a story she wrote and had mocked during her time at college. She’s never quite given up on her writing in the back of her mind, but it’s been years since she’s put pen to paper.
Anyway, to cut a long story, a novel in fact, short, the narrative follows Kelsey as she explores and enjoys The Garden of Deep Time and finds answers to questions and problems that have plagued her for years. For me particularly the way the author tackles her creative block is beautifully done, and the story finds an enchanting rhythm as we follow Kelsey learning what it takes to be creative, and what an author must accept in order to share their gift, or work, with the world. I loved watching her gradually realising that writing a book is not something which should come solely from the desire for income, or for fame, but was an act of generosity, an act of radical faith in oneself. I myself have felt this way, struggled with these same problems and doubts, and so seeing another go through it, even fictionally, was incredibly refreshing.
I also thought the subplot involving the bestselling fictional manuscript- The Starlight Folio, was genius and extremely well executed by Higley, as well as finding the romance storyline with Samuel to be moving and exciting to follow. The end of this novel was a swift one, but it tied everything up so beautifully it was hard not to appreciate the way the story had progressed to lead to such a perfect endpoint. The description of the garden blew me away, and the feature of Ancient Egypt was also a nice change of pace once I made it to about 60% of the book.
So, not my normal genre, or my normal type of story really, but that didn’t stop me rating this one five stars and finding it enchanting from beginning to end. It showed how fantastical solutions can be applied to mundane problems and spoke deeply to me as a writer in regard to the creative process. Tracy Higley really delivered in this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a sweet, cosy read, with surprising depth of character and craft explored within its pages. Thanks to Suzie Queen from the Infiniverse Explorers for the recommendation, you made big promises about this book, but it definitely delivered on every single one and I’m really interested to read more from this author in the future!
Nightfall In The Garden Of Deep Time Aesthetic Board
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