The Lost Garden (29 page)
Authors: Kate Kerrigan
Johnny Ferguson
1963–2013
The Irish screenwriter Johnny Ferguson died while I was writing this book and I want to acknowledge the contribution he made to my work in general and this book specifically. As well as a gift for writing, Johnny had the screenwriter’s nose for structure and plot and the copywriter’s gift for ‘snap’. He was generous with his advice and time, and as a writer as well as a dear friend, I will miss him dreadfully.
References
If you are interested in learning about Kate’s references and inspirations, you can go to her
The Lost Garden
Pinterest page.
All online links to Kate’s social media sites and books are available through her website,
www.katekerrigan.ie
E
LLIS
I
SLAND
by
KATE KERRIGAN
She was living the American dream in the 1920s
but her heart was still at home . . .
Ellie and John are childhood sweethearts. Marrying young, against their families’ wishes, the couple barely survive the poverty of rural Ireland. When John is injured in the War of Independence, Ellie emigrates ‘for one short year’ to earn the money for the operation which will allow him to walk again.
Arriving in Jazz Age New York, Ellie is seduced by the energy and promise of America. When the year is up Ellie chooses to stay, returning to Ireland only when her father dies. A trunk full of treasures helps fuel Ellie’s American dream, but as the power of home and blood and old love takes hold she realizes that freedom isn’t the gift of another country, it comes from within.
Praise for Kate Kerrigan
‘Kerrigan is a lovely writer and her book breaks from the traditional mould’
Sunday Tribune
‘Wholesome and satisfying’
Heat
C
ITY OF
H
OPE
by
KATE KERRIGAN
An uplifting, inspiring and heart-warming story
of a woman truly ahead of her time. Of loves lost
and found, of courage and determination.
It is the 1930s and when her beloved husband, John, suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York. She hopes that the city’s vibrancy will distract her from her grief. But the Depression has rendered the city unrecognizable – gone is the energy and party atmosphere that Ellie once fell in love with, ten years before. And while she is used to rural poverty back home in Ireland, the suffering she sees in New York is an entirely different proposition.
Walking around the neighbourhood, Ellie sees destitute families and hungry children on every street corner. The horror of it all jolts Ellie out of her own private depression. Pushing thoughts of her homeland and her dead husband firmly out of her mind, she plunges headfirst into her new life to try and escape her grief. All her passion and energy is poured into running a home and refuge for the homeless. Until, one day, someone she thought she’d never see again steps through her door. It seems that even the Atlantic isn’t big enough to prevent the tragedies of the past catching up with her . . .
Praise for
City of Hope
‘A top read recommendation . . . I loved it’
Claudia Carroll
‘I devoured this book in one sitting – I LOVED IT!’
Marian Keyes
L
AND OF
D
REAMS
by
KATE KERRIGAN
1940s Hollywood.
A new life. A new love.
A mother’s love, a woman’s ambition and a Hollywood romance in a time of war.
Land of Dreams
is the stunning third novel in the Ellis Island trilogy.
Ellie’s idyllic and bohemian family lifestyle on Fire Island is shattered when her eldest son, Leo, runs away to Hollywood to seek his fame and fortune. Ellie is compelled to chase after him, uprooting her youngest son and long-time friend and confidante Bridie as she goes.
Ellie fashions a new home among the celebrities, artists and movie moguls of the day to appease Leo’s star-studded dreams. As she carves out a new way of life, Ellie is drawn towards intense new friendships. Talented composer Stan is completely different to any other man she has previously encountered, while kindred spirit Suri opens Ellie’s eyes to a whole new set of injustices.
Ellie sees beyond the glitz of 1940s Hollywood, realizing that the glamorous and exciting world is also a dangerous place overflowing with vanity and greed. It is up to Ellie to protect her precious family from the disappointments such surroundings can bring and also from the more menacing threats radiating from the war raging in Europe.
Praise for
Land of Dreams
‘A book with heart; warm, enjoyable and gently compelling’
Daily Mail
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The Lost Garden
London-reared of Irish parents, Kate Kerrigan worked in London before moving to Ireland in 1990. Her books have been widely acclaimed –
Recipes for a Perfect Marriage
was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelist of the Year Award and
Ellis Island
was a TV Book Club Summer Read. She is now a full-time writer and lives in County Mayo with her husband and sons.
Praise for Kate Kerrigan
‘This story is written with so much heart’
Cecelia Ahern
‘A feel-good story about love, freedom, belonging and the meaning of home’
Stylist
‘An enjoyable romantic tale that you’ll want to devour in one sitting’
SHE
‘This book is one to keep. Anyone who reads it will return to it, time and again, either for the story or to seek out one of the many old recipes’
Ireland on Sunday
‘Both wholesome and satisfying’
Heat
Also by Kate Kerrigan
Recipes for a Perfect Marriage
The Miracle of Grace
Ellis Island
City of Hope
Land of Dreams
First published 2014 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2014 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
Pan Macmillan, 20 New Wharf Road, London
N
1 9
RR
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-5172-9 EPUB
Copyright © Kate Kerrigan, 2014
The right of Kate Kerrigan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The Macmillan Group has no responsibility for the information provided by any author websites whose address you obtain from this book (‘author websites’). The inclusion of author website addresses in this book does not constitute an endorsement by or association with us of such sites or the content, products, advertising or other materials presented on such sites.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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