Reviews

Threading the Labyrinth by Tiffani Angus

lyrafay12's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

izzysaround's review

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

neilw's review

4.0

A truly fascinating novel that gradually unwinds its story in beautifully written turns and recursions, and gifts you with glimpses of the luminous wonders that inhabit the walled garden at the book's heart. There are some truly lovely characters to be found in the historical chapters. Very much recommended.

nwhyte's review

5.0

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3646632.html

A lovely novel about an English garden that connects a its contemporary American owner with past generations. I really love any work of literature that displays a rooted sense of place, dinnseanchas in Irish. Rather beautiful and engaging.

sadie_slater's review

3.75

 Tiffani Angus's debut novel Threading the Labyrinth tells the story of a garden, and its occupants, over four centuries of history; kind of a Children of Greene Knowe or Tom's Midnight Garden for adults, or possibly a serious version of the BBC's Ghosts. In the present day, Toni, a struggling gallery owner in New Mexico is surprised to be told that she has inherited the remains of a stately home in Hertfordshire, where she finds the remains of a walled garden which seems to change while she looks at it. Toni's explorations in the present are interspersed with stories from the past: the gardeners and servants who maintain the garden; the ladies of the manor whose inheritance the house and gardens are, but whose husbands have the power to control and change them without their wives' consent; the ghostly figures glimpsed in each generation.

This is a gorgeously written book; the descriptions of the garden and the plants are wonderfully vivid and evocative, and the characters feel real and rounded. The way the novel is structured means that the plot emerges gradually from the links between the different time periods rather than following a linear structure, and I did sometimes feel that I wasn't quite managing to keep up with what was going on, but it is a lovely and rather beguiling book and a very impressive debut. 

weaverofbooks's review

5.0

꧁Ｒｅｖｉｅｗ꧂
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squaresofliving's review

4.0

I started this book, going in without knowing anything. It turned out to be a great story about a garden filled with ghosts. I loved all the flowers and garden talk, I loved how it jumped through different times (although in my kindle version it became a bit confusing at times - I've ordered the paperback and think that it'll be a bit clearer in that format), and I love the thought of time, the living and the dead, coexisting.
I got some really strong The Secret Garden vibes from the descriptions of tending the gardens, and I absolutely adored that!
I do enjoy books that kind of "just goes on" but I did think to myself at a few times that I wished it had had a clearer purpose? Compared to all the different times, the now felt a bit thin, and a bit too rushed at the end.

breq's review

Couldn't tell what was going on, wasn't interested enough to stick around and find out.

elwoodicious's review

3.0

The language was lush and pretty, the plot knotted and confusing. Read for atmosphere.