Catherine Dunne -
The Walled Garden
Picador
The Walled Garden opens when Alice is near death and
her daughter Beth has flown home to help her brother look after their
mother. The novel charts the last days of Alice’s life, with flashbacks
to her illness and to her early life. Catherine Dunne describes the nightmare
of Alice’s gradual loss of memory through a series of small strokes
so evocatively that it is hard to believe that she has not been through
the experience herself.
There is very
little action in The Walled Garden, but I adored this sensitively
written novel, with its exploration into the subtleties of family relationships.
The final chapters, describing the uniting effect of death and a funeral
are brilliantly observed. Altogether a highly satisfying and wonderfully
written novel.
Review by Sue Leonard, Books Ireland.
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