September 1836

Dear Rosa,

You may believe me or not, but I tell you plainly that the garden was real and I visited it more than once. Nothing anybody says will ever convince me otherwise. In fact that is the true purpose of my travels abroad. I mean to find the garden.

My father refused to believe me and even threatened institution if I didn’t abandon my claims, but I had hoped you might be more open to the idea, especially given the fact of the book. Surely the black apple trees within its pages are proof of what I am saying? I brought one of the apples back from the garden one night and planted the seeds in the grounds. How else can anyone explain their presence at Half Moon House?

Your friend,

Beatrice

September 1836

Dear Beatrice,

I confess I am more confused than ever and hardly know what to think. The book does contain some pictures of apple trees, and I suppose the fruit does look rather dark, but that could simply be because the garden is shown at night, with only lanterns and candles to illuminate it, and many of the pictures are in the form of cut-out silhouettes. Certainly there is nothing to indicate that the trees in the book are at all like the strange trees at your home. I cannot see that they have any teeth, for a start, and there’s no suggestion that they move about at will, or gobble up rabbits, or unfurl peculiar blossom at dusk.

Really, my dear, extraordinary as those trees are, it seems far more likely that their appearance – together with this book and, of course, all the grief over your mother’s death – caused you to dream up the magical garden when you were a child.

Having said that, no one would be more utterly delighted than I if such a garden actually existed and I’m sure the world is full of an abundance of things that we do not, and cannot, understand. So I am quite prepared to maintain an open mind on the matter.

How exactly are you planning to try to track down this elusive magical garden? Where on earth does one start on such a fantastic quest?

Your friend,

Rosa