The Next Chapter Book Club – Vancouver continues to go strong. Our latest book was The Night Garden by Polly Horvath. It takes place on Vancouver Island around the end of WWII.
The story is about a girl named Franny who has her vacation interrupted when her guardians take in 3 children temporarily while their mother tries to prevent their father from doing something drastic. They all live in an old house with an enchanted garden looked after by a hermit. A person is allowed one wish when they go into the garden. When the father of the 3 children gets in trouble they have to decide whether or not to enter the garden and use their wishes.
The books starts out slow but gets more exciting. There are lots of characters to like: the guardians Old Tom and Sina; or the mother of the 3 children Crying Alice; or Miss Macy who wears gold-sequinned underwear; or the cook, Gladys who helps save the day. We liked how the family comes together for everyone. One of the book club members really liked the character named Zebediah. He is one of the children who are visiting and he is full of beans. Many of the readers liked the mystery parts of the book: Who is the hermit? Did the father of the children really steal the Argot, a spy plane? Where is the missing plane?
Everyone gets one wish from the night garden. Some of our wishes include:
- To live with my mother
- To be taller and an enchantress
- To travel around the world
- To have a happy life with someone special
- To have a talent that gets me a good job
We would recommend this book to anyone who likes magic. Some of us have already given the book to other people to read.
To celebrate finishing the book we went to Glow Night at Van Dusen Garden In Vancouver.
We have already picked our next book. It is Street Shadows by Claire Gilchrist. There is a connection to Stanley Park in Vancouver. And in November the author is coming to town and some of us are hoping to meet her and get our books signed.