October 1836

Dear Rosa,

I am beginning my search for the garden by seeking out the flora, fauna and animals I remember seeing there. I am also speaking to as many local people as I can along the way, in the hope that someone may have heard of the garden, or visited it themselves. I have already been rewarded by one child who claims to have been there, and whose account bears remarkable similarities to my own.

When Mr Sheppard attended Half Moon House for my wedding, he mentioned the Winter Garden to me, and said that he had heard rumours about it in auction houses. Of course I denied all knowledge of the garden, but I have since been making enquiries in auction houses myself and it turns out he is quite right. Many establishments have what they call ‘shadow auctions’ that are not open to the public, but to private collectors only. I have managed to gain entry to a few. They offer up only the rarest and most unusual of items, all of which are supposed to be vetted for authenticity, but I have my doubts as to whether all of these items are genuine. In India, for example, there was a mermaid’s comb in the lot, as well as a haunted clock. Hardly likely to be real, I am sure you will agree.

But in Thailand I attended one such auction and found two items that I am sure did originate from the Winter Garden. There was a silver teaspoon stamped with the garden’s crest, and a napkin from one of the midnight picnics. They both looked just as I remembered them. It seems there is quite a mania that surrounds these objects from the Winter Garden and much lore that has built up around it.

Please don’t say anything to Mr Sheppard about the garden. Indeed, I would like to ask that you don’t mention it to anyone at all. I have kept it a secret these past years and think it best that it remains that way for now. Unscrupulous people might try to raid it for profit, and I could not stand to have that upon my conscience. The garden appeared to me at the unhappiest time of my life and I owe it a great deal.

As you cannot send me the children’s book, and I cannot spare the weeks it would require to return to England, perhaps you could do the next best thing and simply describe each page? I wonder if you would also be good enough to provide me with the details of the publishing house and the year it was printed, any distinguishing marks or inscriptions within the cover, etc.

Your grateful friend,

Beatrice