The discovery of a secret garden with unknown powers fuels this tale of women yearning to become mothers and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated.
Tucked inside this story’s gothic envelope is a tale inspired by a horrific chapter in the history of obstetric medicine ... The genius of the novel is the way Beams continually intertwines fictional elements with true-to-life obstetric practices.
[A] captivating new thriller about a woman’s desperate desire for motherhood and the creation of new identities, the power of female friendship and the driving crave of success ... This is Beams’ second novel; and like her previous work, she writes with her eyes wide open, completely unafraid to embrace the macabre. Her careful writing flows beautifully as it explores the shadowy side of Irene’s thoughts and actions, examining the underbelly of every event that occurs. The influence of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s childhood masterpiece The Secret Garden also quietly echoes throughout this novel. But where Burnett’s garden was a representation of willful suppression seen through the lens of innocent childhood, Beams’ garden exists in a grown-up’s world—where life does not come without death, where light is never far from darkness. Beams is also acutely gifted at presenting the thoughts that every mother has grappled with at one point or another: After all, even the healthiest babies are not born without some measure of pain ... fast-moving, yet meticulous in its descriptions, and is a showcase for Beams’ clear talent. Her masterful depictions of presence and place are luminescent, and readers will be transfixed by the novel’s lush, gorgeous writing and the seamless flow of this relevant meditation on motherhood.
