Jo Bellamy, holding a degree in horticulture, has been hired by the very rich Graydon Westlake to recreate a White Garden as the original one at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, England. He actually has ulterior motives towards Jo. After Jo informs her grandfather Jock of her intention to travel to England, he commits suicide, leaving behind writings of an "unknown" woman. Jock originally came to New York from his home in England, where he had also worked as a young man at Sissinghurst Castle. This mystery drives Jo to investigate her grandfather's ties and his suicide to the events of 1941.

Upon arriving at The White Garden, head gardener Imogen Cantwell allows Jo to tour it and acquire information and photos in order to reproduce Mr. Westlake's garden. Jo finds an old manuscript in the tool shed portraying events of 1941 during the war with missing pages. Suspecting this could be a long-lost original work by the famous Virginia Woolf about her friend/lover Vita Sackville-West, owner of Sissinghurst and The White Garden, Jo convinces Imogen to allow her to borrow the manuscript to check the authenticity. Jo, together with manuscript expert Peter Llewellyn, become embroiled in a search and chase for information as other experts are trying to steal the manuscript. During their race to King's College Library archives at Rodmell and back, Jo finally uncovers the tragic events that weighed heavily on her grandfather all those years.

THE WHITE GARDEN is an exciting mystery; did Virginia Woolf actually write the manuscript, since it's dated after her recorded death? Jo is a dedicated granddaughter who loves her grandfather enough to pursue her search at the risk of losing her job. Finding the missing pages is very creative of the author, Stephanie Barron, and made the reading go quickly. History of the garden itself and the time setting during the war is most interesting. I found the novel good reading with lots of surprises.

Book Summary

In March 1941, Virginia Woolf filled her pockets with stones and drowned herself in England’s River Ouse. Her body was found three weeks later. What seemed like a tragic ending at the time was, in fact, just the beginning of a mystery. . . .

Six decades after Virginia Woolf’s death, landscape designer Jo Bellamy has come to Sissinghurst Castle for two reasons: to study the celebrated White Garden created by Woolf’s lover Vita Sackville-West and to recover from the terrible wound of her grandfather’s unexplained suicide. In the shadow of one of England’s most famous castles, Jo makes a shocking find: Woolf’s last diary, its first entry dated the day after she allegedly killed herself.If authenticated, Jo’s discovery could shatter everything historians believe about Woolf’s final hours. But when the Woolf diary is suddenly stolen, Jo’s quest to uncover the truth will lead her on a perilous journey into the tumultuous inner life of a literary icon whose connection to the White Garden ultimately proved devastating. Rich with historical detail, The White Garden is an enthralling novel of literary suspense that explores the many ways the past haunts the present–and the dark secrets that lurk beneath the surface of the most carefully tended garden.