At the end of the nineteenth century, single twin sisters Evelyn and Claire move to a small cottage on the Yorkshire moors after the death of their parents.
Obsessed with Branwell Bronte, Claire is convinced that his spirit visits her, but practical Evelyn is not so sure that the ghost is benevolent.
When a mysterious game appears in their cottage, both sisters are in danger of being caught in its dangerous web.
Cavendish excels in creating a spooky atmosphere in her books. I felt I was living in 1895 and I loved the characters of Evelyn and Claire.
The high point of the book was the titular Garden of Bewitchment. It reminded me a little of Jumanji, but it was a beautiful model garden and stately home, with exquisitely detailed trees, flowers and animals. Even knowing the negative sides to the game, I wouldn’t mind it appearing in my house!
Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the resolution of the story. One plot point was obviously intended to shock, but I didn’t find it surprising, and I was puzzled by some of the plot threads that weren’t explained to my satisfaction.
I award The Garden of Bewitchment…
The Garden of Bewitchment is available for $8.64 ebook on Amazon.
Click here to read my review of Malan Cottage by Catherine Cavendish.
Iseult Murphy 
Good review, Iseult! This is my favorite Cavendish novel. Oh, I loved it! I even liked the bit of ambiguity at the end because I was hoping Cavendish wouldn’t take an easy route and tie things up in a neat bow. Four stars is fair; every reader won’t like the same book equally.
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Thank you, Priscilla. I remember you blogging about this. It’s a great book. I loved the sisters, and their cottage, and the garden of bewitchment is so magical.
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Sounds wonderful. Just a shame it gets scary – which I’m not good at coping with!
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Better skip it then, Bruce. Don’t want to give you nightmares.
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