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Lucy Pepperdine

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In the Garden of Stones Kindle Edition

by Lucy Pepperdine (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 7 ratings

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Grace Dove is a borderline bipolar depressive who not only attempts to take her own life twice, but goes through the medical gallows into the dark halls of electrical-shock therapy - drugs - and psychiatric treatment. She could assign blame but instead decides to try Doctor Malcolm Petitt's unconventional treatment.

Sent into her spiritual self, Grace finds herself crossing logical borders into the profound realm of Colin McLeod's imaginary garden, finding him hiding there in a safe haven of his own making. She is drawn to him, spending more time in the spiritual ether with her soulmate than in the living world.

These two wounded hearts find solace in each other, their friendship blossoming into a physical real world connection when Grace goes to meet the war soldier suffering from catatonic post traumatic stress disorder. It's no longer a war on the battlefield, now the war is to draw Colin back into society and human interaction, before the doctors do something so drastic it may end up killing him.

Grief and pain destroy boundaries, helping Colin is healing Grace, and now she's desperate to help him heal too.

This is an intense Scottish journey into the mind of post war trauma, into a connection between two people which builds a bridge of love. The hardest action for the wounded is to surrender to hope, to dare to take the first step on the long path of recovery. Colin and Grace will immerse you into their lives, into their wounds, exposing their vulnerabilities and flaws, leaving you forever grateful for the experience.

Print length

440 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

March 11, 2015
File size

1643 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00ULV206U
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Wolf Publishing (March 11, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 11, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1643 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 440 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1500842877

Customer Reviews:
4.5 7 ratings

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4.5 out of 5

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Ian Ellis

Difficult to categorise, Hard to put down

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2014

In The Garden of Stones manages to combine a love story, a method of treatment for depression that becomes paranormal, and a critique of the care and attitudes government and society has towards serving and ex-service men and women who suffer PTSD. So putting it in a category is quite hard.

However, it is not hard to say how well the author deals with each. The development of the characters and their relationship is well-paced, and once you get used to the Scottish dialect of the male lead, the dialogue is highly entertaining. There are a few words I had to ask my (Scottish) wife to explain, but if you don't have one of those to hand, then Google will be sure to assist. The setting is also unusual, but it works. After a while you stop questioning how she got to The Garden, and believe it really exists.

And I think readers from any country will relate to the story of the wounded soldier.

All in all, a very good read.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Readingrocks

The best book I read in 2014

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2015

When I started reading this novel I thought I had the wrong book, because the cover didn't seem to have anything to do with the story. I was expecting a war story, but instead I ended up reading about a woman called Grace and her mental issues.

I kept reading because I quite like Grace, she's well paranoid, despondent, fatalistic, and so jaded she's beyond hope. But there's something about her, her complete lack of adherence to rules that made her a very likeable character. But then during her therapy meditation she can't hold onto her vision of serene, ending up instead in a garden with a very brusque man who wants her out of it, going so far as chucking her out.

Every time Grace goes to this mentally constructed garden in her meditation to find an imaginary friend (on doctor's orders), she returns with wounds, and I thought this was psychosomatic, because the mind is so very strong which is why the placebo effect works, the mind is powerful enough to control the body, physically.

Once Colin is introduced I really liked him, what a guy! He's so full of nonsense and the two of them have such a great rapport with so much humour flying between them that despite this being quite a gritty novel dealing with some very serious mental issues, the characters themselves have you smiling and feeling light-hearted about it all.

Colin is a war wounded man in a wheelchair - having lost his legs - with a huge dose of survivor's guilt. In his mental haven he is almost whole, it's his retreat from the world, from the pain, from the sheer hopelessness of his position in this world. He can't adapt to lost limbs and if it wasn't for his almost vegetative state he'd have committed suicide by now. Suicide is Grace's area of expertise, and these two walking wounded see themselves reflected in each other, this commonality is enough to forge a bond between them which defies logic and our version of reality.

Meeting in the ether, mentally, the soulmates have a connection which is spiritual, and Colin finally enjoys having Grace intrude into his mind, into the private sanctuary he created with a garden he keeps, a hut he sleeps in, and a house they never enter, until Grace finds it in the real world and goes exploring. This novel covers a lot of military red tape, the difficulty involved to reach a soldier, to cross into the military world when they are so well protected and still considered military men serving their country, that Grace runs into despair more than once. Her therapist thinks she's gone mental, the Staff Sergeant at the hospital Colin is residing in thinks she's completely batty - and all the while Colin is on the decline, hopelessness winning out, and nothing seems to be going their way.

I was so caught up in this novel I couldn't stop reading, I laughed, I cried, I felt angry more than once, and I loved the author's blatant love of having the famous Scottish sweet tooth. She always puts sweeties into her novels and I loved having OCD Grace being more interested in biscuits and chocolate than in curing her mental disorders.

The author lives in Scotland and this is very clear when reading about Colin, his accent is to die for and it made him so endearing it was transcendent. Anyone who has been in the war will love this story, anyone dealing with depression and trauma will see themselves reflected in these pages, and yet it was such an uplifting story that it felt too real, I was left happy, humbled, and more than a little teary at the end. These two characters are such a perfect couple, their imbalances serving to balance each other, the yin-yang perfection of male and female in the perfect click of two puzzle pieces fitting, that I was so happy I read it. So far this is my book of the year. Really! This should be on every to be read list, it changes you, when you finish reading it you are not the same person you were when you started. Brilliant, and I'm giving it a full star review.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Paul T.

Powerful, Moving, and Brilliant!

Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2014

This book is hard to define. A psychological thriller? A medical romance? A story about war and the effects of war? It's all of these, and with elements of fantasy as well. In truth, it doesn't fit well in any conventional slot. But I can say this for certain - it's brilliant! I have read several other books by this author, and they have never been less than very good, but this is definitely the best yet.

The two main characters, Grace and Colin, are both very damaged people. Both are trying to create an imaginary world: Grace as part of her therapy, Colin to escape from a reality that has become intolerable. Incredibly, inexplicably, Grace finds herself in Colin's world. In the Garden of Stones. The author doesn't give much attention to how this happened. That's not the point. The story is about how this meeting effects them both, how two hurting people can bring hope and healing to each other.

I'll say no more about the story - I certainly wouldn't want to introduce any spoilers! But the writing is excellent. Pace, structure, word flow - all perfectly crafted to pull the reader deep into the lives of the characters. And underlying it you can sense the authors understanding and compassion. She knows about suffering, she understands the courage of suffering people, and she shares it with us.

By turns, 'In the Garden of Stones' is moving, challenging, humorous, exciting, and more besides - but ultimately, it is inspiring. Or so I found it. I hope that many others will read it and find the same.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Soooz Burke

An unforgettable reading experience!

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2014

Lucy Pepperdine … Author of ‘In the Garden of Stones.’An author I will seek out again and again.

If you are seeking a book that will imbed itself into your memory, a powerful, inspiring, memorable, painful yet often funny emotional roller-coaster of a book … this is it.

The author has taken me on a journey with her words, a journey that was at times exhausting because it is brutally honest. The empathy that shines through this work, that connection the author has with Gracie and Colin her pivotal characters reads at times like non-fiction, the shattering expression of mental illness and its devastating effect on all those touched by it is not sugar coated.

Yet throughout the book a message of hope shines through.

I found myself invested in the characters well being, I laughed with them, cried for them and cheered them on in their quest to make sense of a senseless world.

The interaction of others is integral to the book, there are no superfluous characters. Author Lucy Pepperdine has not merely written words on pages … she has opened a window into a half-life that so many people merely exist in.

A life where all that is craved is a safe place to be. The author crafts that place with integrity, allowing the reader to become a part of that world, permitting us to visit without judgment.

This book hits at gut-level. I will not forget it.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ian Ellis

Difficult to categorise, Hard to put down

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

In The Garden of Stones manages to combine a love story, a method of treatment for depression that becomes paranormal, and a critique of the care and attitudes government and society has towards serving and ex-service men and women who suffer PTSD. So putting it in a category is quite hard.

However, it is not hard to say how well the author deals with each. The development of the characters and their relationship is well-paced, and once you get used to the Scottish dialect of the male lead, the dialogue is highly entertaining. There are a few words I had to ask my (Scottish) wife to explain, but if you don't have one of those to hand, then Google will be sure to assist. The setting is also unusual, but it works. After a while you stop questioning how she got to The Garden, and believe it really exists.

And I think readers from any country will relate to the story of the wounded soldier.

All in all, a very good read.

One person found this helpful

Paul T.

Powerful, moving, and brilliant!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 21, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book is hard to define. A psychological thriller? A medical romance? A story about war and the effects of war? It's all of these, and with elements of fantasy as well. In truth, it doesn't fit well in any conventional slot. But I can say this for certain - it's brilliant! I have read several other books by this author, and they have never been less than very good, but this is definitely the best yet.

The two main characters, Grace and Colin, are both very damaged people. Both are trying to create an imaginary world: Grace as part of her therapy, Colin to escape from a reality that has become intolerable. Incredibly, inexplicably, Grace finds herself in Colin's world. In the Garden of Stones. The author doesn't give much attention to how this happened. That's not the point. The story is about how this meeting effects them both, how two hurting people can bring hope and healing to each other.

I'll say no more about the story - I certainly wouldn't want to introduce any spoilers! But the writing is excellent. Pace, structure, word flow - all perfectly crafted to pull the reader deep into the lives of the characters. And underlying it you can sense the authors understanding and compassion. She knows about suffering, she understands the courage of suffering people, and she shares it with us.

By turns, 'In the Garden of Stones' is moving, challenging, humorous, exciting, and more besides - but ultimately, it is inspiring. Or so I found it. I hope that many others will read it and find the same.

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