Julia Kelly’s 2021 novel, The Last Garden in England, follows the personal histories of five women living in three different eras, as their lives intersect in the garden rooms at Highbury House. In 2021, Emma Lovell has been hired to restore the gardens, originally designed by the renowned Venetia Smith in 1907; Diana Symonds owns the house and gardens in 1944, where her fate becomes entangled with that of her cook, Stella Adderton, who befriends farm worker Beth Pedley. All of the women’s lives change and grow, like the gardens in which they find love, celebrate friendship, and mourn loss. Kelly specializes in works of historical fiction with an element of romance, and many of her works, such as The Light Over London (2019) and The Whispers of War (2020) have been international bestsellers. The Last Garden in England addresses themes including Preserving Family History, Privilege and Class Mobility, and The Garden as Memory.

This study guide uses the 2021 Gallery Books paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide include depictions of war, child loss, and abuse.

Plot Summary

In the Prologue, a woman walks through a winter garden in 1908.

In the winter of 2021, Emma is hired by Sydney and Andrew Wilcox to restore the gardens at their estate, Highbury House. Despite financial worries and her mother’s disapproval, Emma looks forward to the project because the original garden rooms were designed by landscape designer Venetia Smith, whose work Emma reveres. She is especially intrigued by one overgrown behind a locked gate to which nobody has the key.

Back in 1907, Venetia is commissioned to design the gardens at Highbury House by the wealthy, arrogant Melcourts. Mrs. Melcourt’s brother, Matthew Goddard, cultivates his own roses, and Mrs. Melcourt requests that Venetia include some of her brother’s flowers in the garden. Venetia acquiesces, even though she prefers to oversee everything herself.

During the winter of 1944, Highbury House serves as a convalescent hospital for wounded soldiers. It is World War II, and Diana Symonds, the house’s owner, has lost her husband to an air raid and is determined to protect her son, Robin, from further trauma. She becomes close with the staff, particularly her cook, Stella, and Stella’s nephew, Bobby. Bobby and Robin become friends, and Diana fosters that friendship. Meanwhile, Stella struggles to raise Bobby while studying to leave Highbury House and work in London.

Beth comes to Highbury to work on a nearby farm as part of the war effort. While her roommate, Ruth, despises the hard work, Beth enjoys it. It reminds her of her childhood, before she was orphaned and sent to be raised in the city by her aunt. She learns to drive a tractor and, while out on a delivery to Highbury House, meets Stella and the charming Captain Graeme Hastings. While Beth receives letters from her hometown friend, Colin, who is off at war, she grows closer to Graeme Hastings, who understands her hopes for the future.

In the spring in the present, Emma throws herself into her work at Highbury House after learning that the job she applied for at the Royal Botanical Heritage Society has been put on hold. Sydney Wilcox discovers Venetia’s original sketches and designs, and Emma learns that the mysterious locked garden is called “Celeste’s garden.” Sydney suggests that Emma consult with Henry Jones, whose grandmother, Beth, once worked near the gardens.

In 1907, Venetia and Matthew bond over his collection of roses, and Venetia admires his skill as a gardener and his ability to understand her designs. They begin an affair but keep it secret to protect Venetia’s professional reputation.

In 1944, Beth learns that the gardens will be requisitioned for the war effort, and she rushes to tell Mrs. Symonds. Diana resists: She argues that the wounded men can find peace and healing there, and the gardens are saved. Diana thanks Beth for her intervention, telling her that she can sketch in the gardens any time she likes.

At the nurses’ request, Diana hosts a dance at Highbury House. Captain Hastings invites Beth to join him, and it is clear that they are in love. He proposes to her in the gardens, and she agrees to marry him but is taken aback when he announces that he will go back to the front now that he is healed.

At the end of the dance, a telegram arrives, informing Stella that her sister has been killed in an air raid in London. Bobby is now an orphan, and Stella must put all of her plans on hold.

In the summer of 1907, Venetia’s affair with Matthew is found out by Mrs. Melcourt, who warns Venetia to stay away from her brother. Venetia faints and soon learns that she is pregnant. She avoids Matthew, but they eventually meet, and he learns her secret. She plans to leave before the pregnancy becomes obvious, but he asks her to marry him: They will go together and become a family. Venetia agrees but still fears their secret will be exposed.

In 1944, Stella resents raising Bobby and is helped by Mrs. Symonds, who offers to help Bobby get into a good school. Mrs. Symonds values Robin and Bobby’s friendship, which has helped them deal with the trauma of the war. Beth sketches the boys in the gardens while waiting for Graeme to come back from war.

In the present, Emma discovers that Celeste’s garden is named after Venetia’s mother. Emma has grown attached to Highbury, and Henry, and wonders whether she might end her nomadic lifestyle and settle there.

In 1944, Beth and Graeme marry in Highbury while he is on leave, and Diana throws them a wedding breakfast. Left unattended, Robin dies after eating some poisonous monkshood, leaving Diana and Bobby devastated.

Diana grieves her loss. Her sister-in-law is angry with her, complaining of her selfishness, which causes Diana, at last, to think of Bobby. This, along with the urging of the hospital’s priest, Father Devlin, helps Diana find purpose again. She suggests Stella leave Bobby with her while Stella pursues her career in London.

In 1907, Venetia loses her pregnancy. Mrs. Melcourt accuses her of seducing her brother and insists that she leave. Venetia agrees and is saddened when Matthew does not come to visit her. In her depression, she finishes the winter garden, which she names for her lost daughter, Celeste.

In the present, Emma refuses a job at the Royal Botanical Heritage Society to stay and work at Highbury. She goes into business with her assistant, Charlie, and decides to explore a relationship with Henry. Sydney Wilcox, Emma’s employer, discovers that her grandfather, Robert, was adopted, when she and Emma dig up a tin box containing old photos and the missing key to the winter garden. After Graeme returns from his last tour of duty, he and Beth settle in a cottage near Highbury, and he decides to work in London. Diana adopts Bobby and returns to managing Highbury House. After discovering that Mrs. Melcourt was keeping them apart, Venetia and Matthew reunite, decide to get married, and plan to leave for America. Venetia recounts finding new purpose in her work, writing for the Royal Botanical Heritage Society’s journal, and embracing her future with Matthew, who is now known as Spenser Smith.