THE GARDEN JUST BEYOND

A family begins a new chapter in the story of their mysterious garden.

Fourteen-year-old Magnolia “Maggie” Gartner lives on the farm that’s been in her family for generations, ever since her tenth-great-grandfather, a Hessian soldier fighting for the British, settled in the New Jersey forests in 1776. He and his wife planted a linden tree that formed the heart of a magical garden. Pragmatic Maggie has meticulously chronicled her family’s recipes, anticipating her turn to cook her first dinner. The extraordinary harvests each cook finds in the garden create unique emotional responses among guests. Once shared with friends and townsfolk, the dinners have become a family business, with tickets sold to the wealthy. But when the garden is finally revealed to her, Maggie is devastated to find decay and rot. After all, the garden “showed you what you needed to see. And who you needed to become,” so what does this mean for her? Especially since her new friend, Graham Flores, finds the key to the garden gate and discovers the abundance Maggie hoped for. Their destinies are intertwined, it seems. In this page-turning story, Leavitt adroitly balances comedic and poignant elements, classical allusions, and contemporary diversions (like the local cryptid, the Jersey Devil). Convincing journal entries add historical context and character development as German American Maggie and those around her confront the challenges converging on the farm and neighboring town.

Richly detailed and imagined; will invite repeat visits to harvest all the delights.