The Midsummer Garden in Aussie Readers

May 17, 2022 Helen rated it really liked it

What a gastronomical delight this book was, I never imagined the herbs and spices and the combinations that two woman five hundred years apart could create and meeting Artemisia and Pip was just wonderful, can they find love? Come along to a Chateau in France in 1487 and Tasmania 2014 and discover their journey.

In 2014 Pip Arnet is working on her marine biology PHD she has just become engaged to the love of her life Jack and things are deem to be good, but the pressure is on, Jack seems to want ...more

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Jan 22, 2018 Kate Forsyth rated it really liked it

Shelves: australian, parallel-narratives, historical-romance, aww2017

Kirsty Manning is an Australian journalist and author who has previously co-authored a book on gardens and cooking called We Love Food. These two passions are apparent on every page of her debut novel, The Midsummer Garden.

The novel travels back and forth in time between the stories of Pip, an Australian doctoral student in 2014, and Artemisia, a cook at the Chateau de Boschaud in 1487. The two are linked by the discovery of a small book of hand-written recipes hidden within a set of antique Fr ...more

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Mar 21, 2017 Tianne Shaw rated it it was amazing

I was able to read this via giveaways and am thankful to have the chance to read this. For a debut novel it is well written and weaves the two times and stories together. Having read other books written in this style this is a easy and enjoyable one and if you enjoyed others in this style it is best you grab this as well.

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Mar 28, 2017 Bree T rated it liked it

Shelves: australian, arc, hist-contemp-blend, aww2017

I’ve had a bit of a run lately with books where I’ve struggled a bit to sit down and write the review because they’ve been books that I just unfortunately, didn’t connect with. I end up staring at my screen for far longer than I should or distracting myself with social media, etc.

In many ways, this book was another one of those. There are two timelines and they both sounded really interesting but I just wasn’t drawn into either story. In the modern day story, Pip is working on her PhD, planning I’ve had a bit of a run lately with books where I’ve struggled a bit to sit down and write the review because they’ve been books that I just unfortunately, didn’t connect with. I end up staring at my screen for far longer than I should or distracting myself with social media, etc.

In many ways, this book was another one of those. There are two timelines and they both sounded really interesting but I just wasn’t drawn into either story. In the modern day story, Pip is working on her PhD, planning a wedding and her fiance wants to buy out his parents winery, which has just had a very generous offer from a big company. When Pip wants to finish her PhD before the wedding and rethink an overseas trip, her fiance Jack can’t understand why it’s all about her when really, everything he is doing is affecting them both as well. Both Pip and Jack want things and quite frankly, their visions seem quite different. I couldn’t really understand why, after the break up, they both kept coming back together only to disagree on something (or the same thing) and part ways again. I think that if they’d actually parted ways properly it would’ve allowed the novel to have a clearer focus instead of always weaving in the reunions and conflicts with Jack. I didn’t enjoy the constant reappearance of Jack into the narrative and honestly felt like Pip was a more focused, settled person when she was on her own. She had the freedom to explore both her academic and cooking lives without the added pressure and judgement from Jack. Their relationship didn’t really seem like an equal one, both of them had their own goals and desires and at times, they seemed to really conflict.

The other story takes place in 1487 and I was kind of ambivalent about it. It was honestly hard to really get behind a female character that had so little power and autonomy. I know that this is probably historically accurate, servants belonged to the household and were subject to their whims and orders but there’s such a unlikeable character in this section that it’s almost comical. It became almost a chore to read through each section to find what sort of unfair, terrible thing would happen to Artemisia this time. The conclusion of this also seemed to escalate rather quickly! I wanted a bit more about the love story – the letters were a beautiful idea.

One thing I did really enjoy was the food component of this novel – in fact it was probably my favourite thing. Artemisia is a cook, preparing for the upcoming nuptials of the daughter of the house and the celebration is going to be lavish. She was taught a lot about herbs by the prior Abbott of the Chateau and the descriptions of what she uses are lovingly detailed. Likewise in the contemporary story, Pip works in a restaurant whilst completing her PhD and also travels overseas to work in a Michelin starred restaurant in Spain that specialises in molecular gastronomy. The love of food the characters have and respect they have in the preparation of it is something that’s very clear on the page and I loved reading about Pip digging for Tasmanian clams or tasting tapas in Spain. The locations were also depicted really well, from the icy waters off the coast of Tasmania to the hills of Tuscany. It’s just unfortunate that I found a lot of the character’s motivations a bit puzzling and I struggled to really connect to them and their situations. ...more

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