Rachel’s Garden

Can something so perfect really be poisonous?

When Rachel and her husband, Adam, move to Maple Cottage in remote Cheshire, it should mark the beginning of the life they’ve always wanted — a quiet home, a fresh start, and the chance to finally build a family.

But the past has a way of following.

As their marriage fractures, the cottage becomes a place of tension rather than refuge. Isolated and desperate for comfort, Rachel turns to the only person who seems to understand her — the gardener — and soon finds herself pregnant with a child that could save everything… or destroy it.

Seeking peace, Rachel begins to transform the wild grounds surrounding the cottage into something beautiful: a series of secluded garden “rooms,” each planted for someone she has loved, lost, or wronged. A mother remembered. A father mourned. A love hidden. A future hoped for.

But gardens preserve more than memories.

As the rooms take shape, so too do buried secrets. Old wounds reopen. New dangers emerge. And Rachel begins to realise that what she has planted may not be grief at all — but guilt.

Because in this garden, nothing grows by accident.

And some plants only flourish when fed by darkness.

Can Rachel nurture the life she longs for, or will the toxic past she tried to bury finally bloom — with deadly consequences?

Perfect for fans of Louise Doughty’s Apple Tree Yard, Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes, and Susan Hill’s psychological suspense.