The Garden

A Novel

By: Clare Beams

Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan

"Genius."—The New York Times Book Review • “A teeming gothic.”—Vanity Fair • “Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as The Garden."—The LA Times

An eerie, masterful novel about pregnancy as a haunted house and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated, from the award-winning author of The Illness Lesson (“A masterpiece”–Elizabeth Gilbert)

In 1948, Irene Willard, who’s had five previous miscarriages in a quest to give her beloved husband the child he desperately desires, is now pregnant again. She comes to an isolated house-cum-hospital in the Berkshires, run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure for her condition. Warily, she enlists herself in the efforts of the Doctors Hall to “rectify the maternal environment,” both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she also discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own powers and pulls. As the doctors’ plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves—and face the unthinkable risks associated with such incalculable rewards.

With shades of Shirley Jackson and Rosemary's Baby, The Garden delves into the territory of motherhood, childbirth, the mysteries of the female body, and the ways it has always been controlled and corralled.

©2024 Clare Beams (P)2024 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Clare Beams is a master of fiction…Born in the literary legacy of Angela Carter and Stephen King, THE GARDEN is, like every child, utterly itself in the end—miraculous and beautiful and strange.”—Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth

"The Garden renders beautifully the uncanny, haunted space that pregnancy both occupies and creates. Beams’s glancing, needle-prick prose reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s work in its ability to conjure up women--their histories, their fears, the complexity of their desires, and their power. I loved this novel.”—Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

“THE GARDEN is a shimmering, sinister jewel of a novel, with an aching, Shirley Jackson like heart. Highly recommended!"—Dan Chaon, author of Sleepwalk

had me hooked right away

Great story and the experience of pregnancy. The supernatural elements didn't go far enough in my mind but was still very enjoyable book. Great performance. I recommend this one!

Great book!

Well written and wonderful narrator. I found myself pulled into the lives of the women and their intense longing for the birth of their babies. Old house, creepy garden and the long game the women were made to play in the hopes of a birth of a child. One of the better books I have listened to. The writing is creative and thoughtful.

Boring

Boring. Could not wait for it to end and it went on and on and on.

The sublimeness of motherhood

This tale Beams (author) weaves so expertly. Drawing on our knowledge of gardens: the garden of Eden, the Secret Garden where the sick children are squirreled away when really they need sunlight, of Frankenstein and what we sometimes create when we try to play God, of wanting that something, that put deep within, to feel complete that you’ll do anything. Anything.

The reader does a wonderful job at capturing the women making the MC (main character) Irene’s voice clipped and bristly,forthright, and abrupt when she speaks but kinder or rather softer when she is her interior self. Irene is someone who is always on guard and is very astute. A child she knows is necessary for her husband but for Irene keeping one to term is a puzzle she can’t figure out. She will do anything for her husband even if it means living in a gothic-like mansion worthy of the English moors that is the eerie, fairy tale like atmosphere of the obstetrics residential clinic.

Beams excels at setting, at atmospheres, and unearthing questions re: maternity, motherhood, and pregnancy loss with the shame, anger, and disappointment that accompanies such a loss. She considers the godliness of doctors, the power of absolute control corrupting absolutely, and how we need draw deep within ourselves not to be lost in the current.
The imagery is so vivid, so visceral, so evocative, and so nuanced that you’ll find yourself marveling at this story and all its wondrous threads pulled into a magnificent tapestry. Bravo!

Disappointing

So many main story lines left without conclusion. It was a waste of my time