Home
/
Fiction
/
A Secret Garden
A Secret Garden
Apr 22, 2025 10:24 PM

Author:Katie Fforde

A Secret Garden

_________________

‘Thank goodness for Katie Fforde, the perfect author to bring comfort in difficult times. She really is the queen of uplifting, feel good romance.’ AJ PEARCE

_________________

FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Will opening the door lead to love and happy endings?

Lorna and her friend Philly work together in the grounds of a beautiful manor house in the Cotswolds.

But even though they are surrounded by family and friends, the door to true love remains resolutely closed - until the day they discover a beautiful secret garden deep in the manor's grounds.

Could this be the sign that their luck is about to change?

_________________

The whole world loves Katie Fforde's work:

'Like a good wedding, it will leave you wiping away the tears' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Modern-day Austen. Great fun' RED

'Katie’s writing is life-enhancing and, like the love affairs, delicious. I enjoyed every minute!' ELIZABETH BUCHAN

'Top-drawer romantic escapism' DAILY MAIL

'Warm, brilliant and full of love' HEAT

'Delicious - gorgeous humour and the lightest of touches' SUNDAY TIMES

'Effortlessly lovable, warm and fun' CLOSER

'Curl up on the sofa with this book and dream ... delightful' THE LADY

'Deliciously enjoyable' WOMAN AND HOME

'Uplifting and delightful' HOT BRANDS COOL PLACES

Reviews

Escape to romance and happy-ever-after in this lovely tale

—— Prima

An absolutely delightful read

—— Bookworms and Shutter Bugs Blog

A good, light read, ideal for travelling

—— LibroFullTime Blog

A Secret Garden would be a great holiday read for romantic fiction fans; something to leaf through while sitting in a sunny spot, enjoying some peace and quiet

—— Art and Soul Blog

Katie Fforde’s books, for me, are like curling up by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate. It’s so easy to slip between the pages to that familiar world of sweet, but not sugary, funny and romantic. A Secret Garden is a real joy to read

—— The Book Whisperer

I'm a huge fan of Kinsella . . . Highly enjoyable

—— Sara Lawrence, Daily Mail

A hilariously funny, yet emotionally deep, novel

—— Sunday Express

Enchanting and clever . . . whip-smart and brilliantly done, with a lightness of touch that disguises a lot of real wisdom.

—— Amanda Craig

Sophie Kinsella writes with a warm wit and this clever, funny and emotional novel will make you laugh and cry. *****

—— Daily Express

A funny, addictive story that shines with real emotion

—— Fabulous Magazine

A delight . . . Joyful, great fun and with quite a few twists along the way

—— Catherine Alliott

This book . . . has a touch of real wisdom [and] will satisfy Kinsella diehards as well as new readers.

—— Washington Post

Fizzingly fresh and can't fail to lift your spirits

—— Sunday Post

What an absolute treat – sheer joy from start to finish.

—— Lucy Diamond

Fast, furious and fabulous fun

—— Woman & Home

Another heart-warming story from the Queen of feel-good fiction

—— The Lady

A joy to read

—— USA Today

This fun, super-readable breath of fresh air had us completely hooked

—— Fabulous magazine, Sun on Sunday

An enjoyable read, funny and moving

—— Sunday Post

A fun, frothy good-hearted read

—— Sunday Mirror

A tale of long-term love and friendship told with Sophie’s blend of warmth and humour

—— Sun

More than a book about sport it is a book about a young man struggling to find his groove in the rough and tumble of fairly unforgiving, male society.

—— Liam Heylin , Irish Examiner

In A Natural, Raisin delves into the life of a lower league English football team – a subject never covered before, as far as I know, in literary fiction. Perhaps it doesn’t sound an immediately appealing prospect. But he makes it wholly absorbing.

—— Theo Tait , London Review of Books

[A] gripping, well-written and moving story, which should interest anyone curious about enclosed worlds and hidden lives… Raisin captures both the sweat and the glory of football. He has mastered the register of manager-speak, with its urgently shouted clichés, and the earnest banter on fans’ messaging boards.

—— Sameer Rahim , Prospect

A Natural makes a conceptual leap that most old-style football fiction laboured to achieve: in the end its characters are as important as the milieu that tethers them and what emerges is an exceptionally good novel, which just happens to take place on a football pitch.

—— DJ Taylor , Guardian

Raisin provides an authentic portrayal of life in the lower divisions both on and off the pitch. The fine details are present in the pre-match nerves in the changing rooms, the neatly laid out kit and the smell of Deep Heat, but it is the unchecked laddishness, the fake camaraderie and the close scrutiny from supporters on social media that Raisin wants us to feel… This is a rare novel about the challenge of being a gay professional footballer and hopefully it will go some way to help changing perceptions in a sport that has still got a very long way to go.

—— Ian Aspinall , Late Tackle

Ross Raisin’s book about a gay footballer, demands about 200 pages of patience, but you won’t regret it. In the vertiginous second half of this rich, wise study of masculinity, Raisin demonstrates with extraordinary sensitivity how difficult it can be to attain E.M. Forster’s dictum, “Only connect!”

—— Claire Lowdon , Times Literary Supplement

The virtue of devastatingly simple storytelling was also felt in Ross Raisin’s A Natural…one of my favourite novels of the year, about a gay footballer hiding an affair with the groundsman at his struggling lower-league team.

—— Anthony Cummins , Daily Telegraph

A deeply moving portrait of fear and acceptance.

—— John Boyne , Irish Independent

This seems like one of those books designed to fold straightaway into contemporary liberal conversation.

—— The Skinny

Cause for jubilation . . . This proves her to be the reigning queen of British chick lit . . . insightful, funny and poignant

—— Daily Mail

Praise for Marian Keyes

—— -

Gloriously funny

—— The Sunday Times

Funny but poignant

—— Marie Claire

A total triumph

—— Daily Mail

Not only is it a great story with funny, loveable characters, it made me laugh out loud

—— Stylist

A beautifully written modern love story from Britain's best contemporary female author

—— Sun on Sunday

Wonderfully written and completely engrossing, with exquisitely drawn characters in a brilliantly plotted narrative. It will make you think long after you finish the final page

—— Daily Mail

A tender, funny and hopeful look at love, grief and life. Bumper box of tissues required

—— Stylist

A beautiful read

—— Hello

Funny, heart-warming and extremely wise

—— Prima

A deeply satisfying book full of big emotions

—— Good Housekeeping

A laugh-out-loud, rollicking good read and a very touching love story

—— Sunday Independent

Moyes is the queen of the classy weepy

—— Elle

A delight

—— The Daily Mirror

A sparkling novel of hope and sacrifice’

—— Glasgow Herald

Magical, heart-warming and time-bending story.

—— Mslexia
Comments
Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdbook.com All Rights Reserved