{"product_id":"the-garden-isbn-9780385548182","title":"The Garden","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Genius.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e • “A teeming gothic.”—\u003ci\u003eVanity Fair \u003c\/i\u003e• “Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as \u003ci\u003eThe Garden.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe LA Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn eerie, masterful novel about pregnancy as a haunted house and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated, from the award-winning author \u003ci\u003eof The Illness Lesson \u003c\/i\u003e(“A masterpiece” – Elizabeth Gilbert)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1948, Irene Willard, who’s had five previous miscarriages in a quest to give her beloved husband the child he desperately desires, is now pregnant again. She comes to an isolated house-cum-hospital in the Berkshires, run by a husband-and-wife team of doctors who are pioneering a cure for her condition. Warily, she enlists herself in the efforts of the Doctors Hall to “rectify the maternal environment,” both physical and psychological. In the meantime, she also discovers a long-forgotten walled garden on the spacious grounds, a place imbued with its own powers and pulls. As the doctors’ plans begin to crumble, Irene and her fellow patients make a desperate bid to harness the power of the garden for themselves—and face the unthinkable risks associated with such incalculable rewards.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith shades of Shirley Jackson and \u003ci\u003eRosemary's Baby, The Garden\u003c\/i\u003e delves into the territory of motherhood, childbirth, the mysteries of the female body, and the ways it has always been controlled and corralled.“A truly original piece of storytelling” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A richly gothic setup…The genius of the novel is the way Beams continually intertwines fictional elements with true-to-life obstetric practices…Make no mistake, this is a serious story, even an angry one… Beams leaves us purposefully, chillingly in doubt.  Is the power of the garden real? Is it a delusion brought on by Irene’s fear and isolation?.. Some readers are going to miss getting answers to this novel’s questions, but the ambiguity floating freely through it is perfect for Beams’s intentions.” \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNYTBR\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as The Garden, let alone given its sadly relevant retro setting, a 1940s country-estate obstetrical program.” \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe LA Times, 10 Books for April\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “A teeming gothic.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Luminous and disturbing...While this book is well-grounded in its historical setting, the way the book explores medical and societal control over women’s bodies feels incredibly contemporary.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eCrimeReads\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Beams' second outing is a taut, tense, absorbing Gothic tale that deftly explores the complexity of women's inner lives.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e (Starred Review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Beams’ writing sets her apart, shimmering against the dark subject matter...Like an overgrown garden—untamable, lush, and wild in ways lovely and terrifying.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eKirkus \u003c\/i\u003e(Starred Review)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“No one writes feminist historical fiction like Clare Beams. With her singular lyricism, elegance, and candor, \u003ci\u003eThe Garden \u003c\/i\u003epowerfully illuminates what is, for many women, a private and isolating grief. Ingeniously using elements of the gothic and weaving in today’s most pressing questions about female bodily autonomy, Beams captures the magic, strangeness, terror, and all-consuming pressure of pregnancy, as well as the desperate desire for certainty and the abiding hope. I’m in awe of this book.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Jessamine Chan, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe School for Good Mothers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The Garden renders beautifully the uncanny, haunted space that pregnancy both occupies and creates. Beams’s glancing, needle-prick prose reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s work in its ability to conjure up women--their histories, their fears, the complexity of their desires, and their power. I loved this novel.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Kelly Link, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eGet in Trouble\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “THE GARDEN is a shimmering, sinister jewel of a novel, with an aching, Shirley Jackson like heart. Highly recommended!\"  \u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eDan Chaon, \u003c\/b\u003e author of \u003ci\u003eSleepwalk\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Clare Beams is a master of fiction…Born in the literary legacy of Angela Carter and Stephen King, THE GARDEN is, like every child, utterly itself in the end—miraculous and beautiful and strange.”\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eJulia Phillips, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eDisappearing Earth\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Deliciously eerie and brilliantly written, Beams explores motherhood and gestation in a way that feels new and trailblazing, but that will also ring true to the lived experience of every woman who has ever been pregnant. A shimmering, strange, important novel— I couldn’t put it down.” \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Rufi Thorpe, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Knockout Queen\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “Clare Beams casts an intoxicating spell with \u003ci\u003eThe Garden\u003c\/i\u003e, a gothic tale about nature’s dark whims and the unknowable chaos of matrescence. Prepare to be haunted.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Rachel Yoder, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eNightbitch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"The Garden is a novel to devour whole. It is a page-turner, a puzzle, an assembly of piercing insights into womanhood, ambition, and autonomy, in language as bewitching as it is exact.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Megha Majumdar\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003eA Burning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “THE GARDEN's gender politics, barbed wit, moral complexity, and genuine sense of unease recalls the best of Shirley Jackson's work…This swirling marvel of a novel cements Clare Beams as a read-everything-she-ever-writes writer.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Paul Tremblay, \u003c\/b\u003eauthor of\u003ci\u003e A Head Full of Ghosts\u003c\/i\u003eCLARE BEAMS is the author of the novel \u003ci\u003eThe Illness Lesson \u003c\/i\u003eand the story collection \u003ci\u003eWe Show What We Have Learned\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Bard Prize and was a Kirkus Best Debut of 2016, as well as a finalist for the PEN\/Robert W. Bingham Prize, the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, and the Shirley Jackson Award. With her husband and two daughters, she lives in Pittsburgh, where she teaches creative writing, most recently at Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.","brand":"Doubleday","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302945378533,"sku":"NP9780385548182","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780385548182.jpg?v=1757964737","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-garden-isbn-9780385548182","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}