It’s 1946 and in the village of Oakbourne the men are home from the war. Their bodies are healing but their psychological wounds run deep.
Everyone is scarred — those who fought and those left behind.
Alice Rayne is married to Stephen, heir to crumbling Oakbourne Hall. Once a sweet, gentle man, he has returned a bitter and angry stranger, destroyed by what he has seen and done, tormented by secrets Alice can only guess at.
Lonely and increasingly afraid of the man her husband has become, Alice must try to pick up the pieces of her marriage and save Oakbourne Hall from total collapse.
She begins with the walled garden and, as it starts to bear fruit, she finds herself drawn into a new, forbidden love.
The Walled Garden by Sarah Hardy is published in paperback on 25 April, 2024. It was longlisted for the 2023 Gold Crown Award.
There’s much more historical fiction in our round-up of over 150 books coming out this year.
