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Summary: LOVE WHILE "NIGHT GARDENING"
Review: Maggie Flaherty Welles is a 61 year old widow who is recovering from a stroke. Tristan Mallory, 60, is a landscape architect who has been hired by Maggie's next door neighbors to put in what is known as a white garden -- a rendition of Vita Sackville-West's white garden at Sissinghurst. The third character in this book, and possibly the most prominent, is Maggie's garden. Prior to her stroke, gardening was her passion. She was married to Adam Welles, from a respected Massachusetts family, who was also a borderline alcoholic. To compensate for her loneliness, Maggie sought refuge in her garden with her flowers. Now it breaks her heart to look outside and view her beloved garden in its most unkempt state. Maggie can no longer derive any pleasure from something that was once so beautiful.Through a hole in the wall, Maggie is able to view Tristan at work in the neighbor's garden and is able to relive some of the glorious days of the past in her own garden. Tristan immediately sees Maggie as a kindred soul and is drawn to her both for her sheer beauty and the love of gardening they both share. The attraction fills a void left in both of their lives and together they forge a more than satisfying and beautiful relationship. The author's descriptions are sincere and the passion between the two is evident. E.L. Swann throws in some controversy between Maggie and her two adult children as well as the nurses and aides hired to help her through the day. Although it was nice to read a love story between two people who felt that love was gone for them at this point in their lives, I think I would have had a greater appreciation for this book if I shared the love for gardening that Tristan and Maggie shared. For the utmost enjoyment of this book, I would suggest reading it in the Spring, while on your patio, with the flowers in bloom all around you.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixture of Tender Love and poignant circumstance
Review: My curiosity was aroused as I listened to the Author tell of his book "Night Gardening." Night Gardening is about an older woman who loves gardening but has had a stroke and can no longer tend her precious "friends." As a result, her garden has fallen into a sad state - perhaps a reflection of her circumstances - a recovering stroke victim. Without giving out too much of the story, a professional landscaper next door notices her and her garden and decides to fix up the garden. That's not all the fixing up that gets done. What follows is a tender love story with a poignant end - I'll leave it at that. It's a triumph of the human spirit over old age and disability with a wonderful sweetness of new-found love. Some erotic content will take away from the story for some, I fear, but it is a love story! An older woman - a stroke victim having an affair - what will they think of next. I love it.
Rating: 
Summary: a romance for gardeners
Review: Nice, old fashioned romance set in a garden. But not just set in a garden. It's about gardening and romance combined. A feel good book!
Rating:
Summary: a romance for gardeners
Review: Nice, old fashioned romance set in a garden. But not just set in a garden. It's about gardening and romance combined. A feel good book!
Rating:
Summary: Lovely read for a spring afternoon
Review: Night Garden was a lovely read for a spring afternoon, especially for those who love and live in their gardens. The story was gentle and crafted nicely to incorporate the changes in the garden to the changes in Tristan and Maggie's lives. It was also nice to read about mature people having a mature relationship. The brief garden quotations for each chapter added more depth for those who enjoy the garden discussions. The addition of the plot turns of Maggie's children, especially her son, Adams, were intrusive to the main story. I realize that the story needed some conflict for the characters but either the author needed to use some other means or have incorporated the characters more deeply through better characterizations. As the book is now, I consider it more of a lengthy short story than a real novel. If one were to remove the garden descriptions and quotations the story and characters would never stand on their own any more than the basic outline would. It is the incorporation of the garden as a character that ties this story together and really is the story.
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Summary: One of the best!
Review: OMG! It is 8am and I have been up all night reading this book. It is tender and loveing as well as painful. I am still in tears. You must give this book a try. It will fill your heart so full that all you can do is cry. If you liked the Notebook or Bridges, this is the book for you!
Rating: 
Summary: It could have been so much more...
Review: This book was a big disappointment to me because I had expected to be completely immersed in a beautiful love story. But it ended without ever becoming complete or ever proving that it was a thing of beauty. What is more disappointing is that it had such great potential, but it was never realized. Much of the text is consumed with lengthy descriptions of gardening, and while I realize that their love of gardening is what brought Tristan and Maggie together, the majority of that text should have been used in developing the story and deepening the characterizations. I found myself by the second half of the book trying to skip over the tedious descriptions of flora to try to dig out where the story was. What I was left with was precious little story. Oh, for the realization of potential! Sadly, it's not seen here. I found the storyline's developments after Adams' unpleasant plans became known to be disappointing and poorly developed. Love didn't seem to triumph at all in this book, despite what I see reviewers saying. I read the book all in one night because I kept trying to get to the part where it would get better. Long before I read the last word on the last page, I realized it wasn't going to happen, but still I had hoped. Such an opportunity to do something wonderful with a plot line, and such a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely love story
Review: This book was just lovely! Even though it didn't end the way I would have wanted, it made me believe both Maggie and Tristan had a wonderful experience in the garden, and that they had never experienced this feeling with any other. The way Swann describes the garden settings. I was there through the whole book. What a disappointment Maggie must have felt with her son but what wonderful emotions she felt with Tristan. Please write another E.L. Swann!
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Summary: The new "Bridges of Madison County".
Review: This book would make a great movie starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Makes the process of getting older much more exciting. The author has captured the beauty of love. flowers, and life.
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Summary: The Restorative Powers of Love & Nature
Review: this is a lovely book about a woman and a man who learn that even late in life, and under the most improbably circumstances love can happen. Maggie Welles is the widow of a Boston Brahman, who is recovering from a stroke and mourning the deterioration of her garden from lack of care. Tristan mallory is a renowned landscape architect who has been hired to "recreate Sissenhurst" by the neaveux riche neighbors next door. through a chink in the garden wall they view each other until Tristan sees Maggie struggling to do her rehab exercises on the uneven gravel garden walk. He secretly builds her a new walk the next night, and from there their relationship grows. The book is a testament to the restorative powers of both love and nature. Just make sure to have a box of Kleenex nearby for the last chapter.
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