The Unfinished Garden, Reviews
Reviews
“I learned so much about myself from this story–that fear doesn’t have to hold me back, but rather, it can move me forward. The Unfinished Garden is a touching and accomplished debut.”
—Diane Chamberlain, bestselling author of Necessary Lives
“The Unfinished Garden is a mesmerizing tale of fear, loss, and love. Tilly and James are richly drawn and wonderfully flawed characters who embody the contradictions and imperfections that exist in all of us. Barbara Claypole White has created a novel as beautiful and complex, dark and light, sweet and sensuous as Tilly’s beloved garden.”
—Joanne Rendell, author of The Professors’ Wives’ Club
“The Unfinished Garden is a tender novel about embracing imperfections, facing fears, and coming to terms with the past.”
—Therese Walsh, author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy
“The Unfinished Garden is a beautifully written debut about healing the past and finding the future.”
—Laura Spinella, author of Beautiful Disaster
“A complex and beautifully crafted tale of lives interwining through extraordinary people coming to terms with the choices they have made (and some that have been made for them).”
—Traci Foust, author of Nowhere Near Normal: A Memoir of OCD
“Barbara Claypole White gives us a moving story about the challenges of OCD and grief combined with the power of the human spirit to find love in the most unlikely of places.”
—Eye on Romance
“A fabulous debut novel, The Unfinished Garden easily earns Romance Junkies’ highest rating of five blue ribbons and a recommended read status for its unpredictable originality! So good!”
—Romance Junkies
“Tilly and James are incredible characters and we root for them the entire time.”
—Good Girl Gone Redneck
“The Unfinished Garden is a powerful story of friendship and courage in the midst of frightening circumstances… I highly recommend this wonderful love story.”
—Bergers’ Book Reviews
“White…conveys the condition of OCD, and how it creates havoc in one’s life and the lives of loved ones, with style and grace, never underplaying the seriousness of the disorder.”
—Romantic Times
“Filled with fascinating characters and a great deal of love for the natural world, White’s novel explores the untilled regions of the psyche, and we are richer for it.”
—Anne Barnhill, The Pilot Newspaper
“Expect tears when reading this story, it will tug at your heartstrings.”
—Lisa’s World of Books
“And if there’s one thing local author Barbara Claypole White does right, it’s creating characters in Tilly and James you want to root for, who make you laugh or even bring tears to your eyes. Of course, there’s more that makes her debut novel, The Unfinished Garden, so compelling, but it’s the characters and the emotion she has brought to life that made the book impossible to put down.”
—The News Of Orange County
“The garden is the perfect metaphor for the change, growth potential and obstacles the characters within The Unfinished Garden encounter.”
—My Bookshelf
“The Unfinished Garden is The Secret Garden for adults, particularly those with OCD or who are mourning. Since I am a card carrying member of Club OCD and recently joined the My Mom is Dead T-Shirt Committee, this book recommends itself to me in its entirety. I wish I knew James, and you will probably wish you did too by the end of the book. Shoot, if you just want to read a good book and are as normal as normal be, read The Unfinished Garden!”
—ocdbloggergirl.wordpress.com