Twins Separated at Birth: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards

First, let me say that I enjoyed both of these books immensely.  If I hadn’t read them back to back, I would not have experienced the déjà vu of trying to keep the two stories straight.  Both books deal with multi-generational mysteries surrounding abandoned girls. In both, a granddaughter investigates to solve a mystery.  Both are set in about the same time period, although Morton’s deals with Australia and England and Edwards’ with upstate New York with just a bit of England.  Both books even contain a pivotal character named Rose. 

The Forgotten Garden tells the tale of four generations of spirited, rebellious women.  Cassandra is surprised, upon her grandmother Nell’s death, to learn that Nell had purchased property in England when Cassandra was just a child.  She begins to investigate her grandmother’s roots.  Abandoned on the docks in Brisbane, Australia, Nell was taken in by a dock master and his wife who loved her dearly and raised her to the best of their ability.  Still, she was haunted about what had become of her real parents.  Cassandra picks up the investigation, uncovering a number of surprises.  Interwoven with the tales of Nell and Cassandra are those of Rose and Eliza, the previous generation of the family.  Also interwoven are Eliza’s fairy tales, which offer clues to what happened so long ago.

In Lake of Dreams, Lucy is haunted by the accidental death of her father during her senior year in high school.  After his death, she travelled across the country to attend college and has traversed the world in her career as a hydrologist.  She returns home to check on her mother, who has been in an accident, leaving her boyfriend in Japan, where earthquakes and changes in him have left Lucy unsettled.  She is dismayed and perplexed to find all of the changes at home when she returns after a two year absence.  The serendipitous discovery of some notes, old newspaper articles and pamphlets sets Lucy on a quest to discover who Rose was and how she is connected to the family.  

Both novelists use descriptive language to create beautiful natural settings and to bring alive long-ago places.  Both have likeable main characters, and, although each is unique, both provide satisfying mysteries.  I would highly recommend both of these novels, but I would not recommend reading them back to back!