Apologia Planning

Reasons to pay attention to this novel and author:

• the novel is historically accurate, time line with everything that occurs in the novel is on track


• her writing style is beautiful as it is very poetic and the imagery used is unbelievable


• the development of characters within this novel are perfect for the story because they are believable


• the conflict that the characters witness is relateable as people often go through nearly the same events

I want to get across in this that when I read this book, I felt like I was there. I felt Gwen Davis's emotions whenever she approached a situation. The effect the war had on the girls, and soldiers a like, was heartbreaking. This book should be considered a great Canadian novel for these points alone, and I will discuss them further in the actual Apologia.

Question #5

This blog was made to summarize the links I have found to answer Question #5.

Biography of Helen Humphreys (Wikipedia)

Helen Humphreys was born March 29, 1961 in London, England. She has written both novels and poetry. She now lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Book Review (Canadian Books and Authors)

In the book review I found, the reviewer mentions that, "It's obvious that Humphreys is a poet. Her writing is lyrical, beautiful, and her characters leave a lasting impression. The book itself has an old-fashioned feel, antique even, with its smaller size and gorgeous cover. This is a book about longing and it is definitely worth reading" (Canadian Books and Authors).

Britain During WWII - Britain Alone (BBC)

This section of the website explains what Britain went through during the war.

For Example, "The story of the Battle of Britain resounds through the years as one of the defining moments of recent British history. Dr Chris Bellamy examines what happened, and explodes some enduring myths concerning this crucial conflict"(The Battle of Britain).

Devon, England (Wikipedia)

This website explains what Devon (or Devonshire) in England is like as this is where the book takes place. There is a geological section of Devon on this site that would explain the conditions for growing various plants. "[B]ecause of the occasional presence of a soft, sooty coal, which is known in Devon as culm. This formation stretches from Bideford to Bude in Cornwall, and contributes to a gentler, greener, more rounded landscape" (Wikipedia).

Helen Humphreys Official Website (Helen Humphreys)

As the title of this link explains it is the author's official website. On the home page it discusses many of her accomplishments as well as use of her books by others (i.e. film production). You can click on links that will further explain her other works as well.

Interview with Helen Humphreys (January Magazine)

Again, this is as the title claims, an interview with Helen Humphreys. This goes through everything from her inspiration for The Lost Garden as well as her writing career. The inspiration for this novel was taken from her own parents' lives, "The Lost Garden opens during the time of the blitz in London, an event both of Humphrey's parents lived through. A lost RAF [Royal Air Force] pilot figures prominently in the story and one of Humphreys' grandfathers disappeared in 1941 and was never found again. The other grandfather found a lost garden on the English estate where he was living at the time. He worked with the garden: brought it back to its own fullness and, after his death, the estate was sold to a condo developer and the garden was lost again: this time forever" (January Magazine). She is also asked how she got into writing when she was kicked out of school, and how she is taking a break from poetry right now so her writing can evolve from the "I" poems.

Summary & References (Lorenzo Reading Series)

This site goes through all of her accomplishes following each of her books and summarizes The Lost Garden.

The Flower Encyclopedia (Flower Possibilities)

This is just a website that I felt I should include as you could search from a variety of different flowers and learn their origins, specified handling techniques, colours, etc. This is one of the better sites I found, but it does not contain every flower as it would be much larger.

The London Blitz, 1940 (Eye Witness to History)

This site discusses the London Blitz that were described as the goings-on and what the population witnessed. There is also a witness account on this site from Ernie Pyle a key correspondent, describing one of the attacks he witnessed.

The Women's Land Army (Spartacus Educational)

This site explains the women's land army, in The Lost Garden the main character Gwen Davis leaves her home in London to head a group of girls for the women's land army."During the First World War the government established the Women's Land Army. The severe shortage of labour persuaded the government to reform the organization and by 1944 there were 80,000 women volunteers working on the land. The majority already lived in the countryside but around a third came from Britain's industrial cities" (Spartacus Educational).

The Final Quarter

As I previously mentioned in my prior blogs Gwen Davis has grown as a character. In this section of the book you can really see how much she has grown since the first page. She took chances that I was really hoping she would take.

In the third section, Gwen realized that she had feelings for a Canadian soldier, her friend, Raley. A chapter later, the Land Army girls were holding another dance for the soldiers. And Gwen spent the entire time with Raley. She felt a special tie to Raley so in order to show him how she felt she took him to her special place, the lost garden. She led him through the fog filled garden explaining that, "It's a garden of love" (194). They have a conversation about the blooms that are left in the garden, white roses. How he had dreamed of them the first night he was at the house. He confessed that he was terrified of war. Here is where Gwen took a leap of faith. She comforts him. Humphreys writes: " I touch his lips, gently, so gently, and then I kiss him. I kiss him and he lets me. Then he kisses me back. We push against each other and topple off the bench onto the grass... He kisses me and I feel as if I have never breathed before now" (195-196).

As if that wasn't a large enough step for Gwen she also said, "I love you"(196). This is where conflict comes into play. Raley is extremely close to Gwen for the amount of time that they have known each other, but not in the means of companionship. These two characters have shared so much of each other that Gwen is shocked to find out that Raley doesn't care for as she'd hope for as his lover had died three weeks before he was stationed in Devon at the house known as Mosel. The conflict in this case is that Raley's lover was male, so the way that they felt for each other was difficult to deal with. Just after her confidence boost, Gwen feels as if she has just ruined her only chance.

Even after this slightly awkward moment with Raley, Jane has learned many things about her self. One of those being that she had never felt more at home anywhere else than she did at the house called, Mosel. The foundation of this revelation is also the theme of this section, love. Love is the one thing that keeps everyone going. Raley works for the love he lost. Gwen works for the love she has discovered in her new environment. Gwen's friend Jane, she works for the love she misses.

After finishing the book I have taken a look at the writing style that Helen Humphreys uses. As this was a wonderful novel, you can tell that Helen Humphreys is also a poet. Her writing flows smoothly and freely together. The way she phrases her thoughts - the characters thoughts - it sounds like poetry. You can tell she is comfortable in this writing style. Humphreys writes: " The roses burn white in the darkness behind us. White as ashes" (198).

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was intrigued by the growing relationships between characters. As you can probably tell from the title as well as the blogs that I have written you can tell that it focuses on flowers, but I don't think you need to like or even know about flowers to enjoy this book. You'll learn as you go.

"Dead flowers hold their fragrance. That is one truth. Sometimes our passion is our ruin. That is another" (209).

A Mix of Aspects

In the third section of The Lost Garden you can see a difference in Ms. Davis’ character, this is expressed in many ways. First off, the girls that live in the house with Gwen Davis have created a mixture of life stories on the black out sheets that cover the window, everyone has their own section. Gwen being the horticulturist that she is pins a variety of flowers to the sheet each day, "Some days I make a garden for colour-say, a garden of yellow with dahlias and lilies, snapdragons and yellow geums."(170) The girls look forward to this and on one occasion even gets the help of one of the girls. This shows that she has indeed gotten over most of her insecurities and has bonded with the girls through gardening, sharing life stories, and preparing for dances.

As her confidence builds, a conflict rears its ugly head. Ms. Davis' conflict is with herself and her feelings. She has discovered that her feelings are stronger than that of friendship towards the Canadian officer named Raley, "Will Raley come? I would be a fool to think he would ever dance with me... Raley does come. He looks lovely. I know this is not the sort of thing one thinks about a man, let alone says to him, but he does. He looks lovely."(151-152)

In this section I would like to say that she is tempted by Raley and imagines loving him, physically. She has a book The Genus Rosa, that weighs a 'ton' imagining Raley on top of her instead of a book that names and classifies roses. She wrestles with the idea of doing anything about it as she believes, "Sometimes our passion is our ruin."(146)

After reading this section and seeing how Ms. Davis has bonded with other characters, including Raley it is easy to determine she is already out of her comfort zone and is experimenting a new life. Taking a chance in order to discover love should be next on her list. Go for it, Gwen (Davis)!

Theme

In the second section of my book Gwen Davis has discovered the lost garden for which this book is named, but she doesn't call it this. There is a rock in the middle of this garden that has the word "Longing" etched on it. As it turns out, this is the theme of this book.

Ms. Davis longs for many things, one of which is love. She craves this because with her insecurities that formed when she was a child she has never been terribly close to anyone other than her abusive mother. She becomes attracted to the Canadian officer named Raley in this section and longs to come closer to him. She longs to find the perfect fit with the girls in the house where she is stationed, and towards the end of this section they do grow closer to one another. They form a bond while trying to overcome the obstacle that is the rock-hard soil in on of the larger gardens.

What Ms. Davis doesn't realize though is that she has already grown attached to someone through a friendship, Jane. And what Jane longs for is for the return of her fiancée who has been missing in action for what seems like an eternity to her.

Every character in this novel that I have been introduced to thus far longs for one thing more than anything else; their old life before the war. As London is being ravaged by German bombings, they are taking care of an unfamiliar land in order to supply potatoes for the soldiers. They know that things will never be the same as they were before the attacks started but they can't help longing for the comfortable something they once knew.

They long for change, an end to war.

Character

The lead character's name, in the book I have chosen to read, is Gwen Davis. She is a British Horticulturalist that voluntarily leaves her home in London for a position in growing crops for soldiers in Canada.

(In Canada) She is faced with a group of stubborn, and rebellious women that were forced to take part in her gardening adventure.To deal with this bunch she had to rediscover how to deal with others in a respectful manner, as she had been holed up by herself in a laboratory and strayed away from people in her spare time. Based on this fact, the development of her character is well played out.

Her insecurity shows through when trying to order the girls into completing the tasks at hand, this is of course met by refusal on their part as they could care less about gardening and just want to have fun with soldiers up the road. In respecting their needs for social activity she and the soldier’s captain (Raley) plan to hold dances and picnics in order to keep them satisfied. This shows that she is able and willing to keep them happy as she understands that most of them did not get the chance to decide to take part in this as she did herself. She is caring, and very passionate about gardening which is very apparent in regards to her career and how she carries on with the girls.

In regards to having allies in this new land, that help her deal with the group of girls she has two: the Canadian officer, Raley, and Jane, a woman who is awaiting the safe return of her fiancée. Jane continuously attempts to help Gwen overcome her insecurities by helping her deal with the group of girls who refuse to work under her (Gwen's) instructions.

I'm sure that as the book progresses Jane will have tapped into feelings that Gwen never knew she was capable of dealing with in regards to her insecurity.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog...
The purpose of this blog is to analyze a novel by a Canadian author and present it to my fellow English students, as well as my teachers. The novel I have chosen to read is The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys. Through this blog I will present my opinions and views on various aspects of this novel by discussing character, theme, conflict; and style.
*Remember I'm a student, not a professional so any description presented in this blog is to be taken lightly.