The Winter Garden
Contents ( 46)
- Prologue
- Knightstone Manor Winter, 1598
- One
- The Present Late July
- Two
- Ashby St. Ledgers, Northamptonshire November, 1592
- Three
- The Present
- Four
- Ashby St. Ledgers, Northamptonshire Christmas, 1598
- Five
- August
- Six
- Stoneleigh, Warwickshire Spring, 1593
- Seven
- Eight
- Ashby St. Ledgers, Northamptonshire April, 1595
- Nine
- Ten
- Knightstone Manor December 1597
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Ashby St. Ledgers, Northamptonshire 1598
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Knightstone Manor September, 1598
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Knightstone Manor Autumn 1598
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Ashby St. Ledgers, Northamptonshire Spring, 1600
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Rushden, Northamptonshire October, 1605
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- London October 26, 1605
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Ashby St. Ledgers, Northamptonshire November 5, 1605
- Twenty-Five
- Epilogue
- November 5th
- Author Note
- Acknowledgments
Select praise for the novels of Nicola Cornick
The Last Daughter of York
“What a fascinating story. I enjoyed every moment of it.”
—Barbara Erskine, Sunday Times bestselling author
“Well researched and stylish, full of emotion from past and present, this is an engrossing mystery to keep the reader turning the pages.”
—Anne O’Brien, author of The Queen’s Rival
“An engaging, beautifully crafted romance that weaves together several intriguing mysteries, both ancient and modern.”
—Alison Weir, author of the Six Tudor Queens series
The Forgotten Sister
“Fascinating... Cornick’s rich mystery will serve readers well on a rainy day.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A gorgeous novel, so fresh and original. And the tension! I was on the edge of my seat.”
—Jenny Ashcroft
The Woman in the Lake
“I was hooked from the first pages.”
—Gill Paul
“You just can’t put it down. Brilliant!”
—Katie Fforde
The Phantom Tree
“There is much to enjoy in this sumptuous novel.”
—Sunday Mirror
“A brilliant time-slip novel with a great twist in the tail!”
—Woman magazine
House of Shadows
“Fans of Kate Morton will enjoy this gripping tale.”
—Candis
“A gripping read.”
—BBC Radio
The Winter Garden
Nicola Cornick
In memory of Ashurst Sky Angus MacLeod.
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Author Note
Acknowledgments
“Winter Garden
The moon thinned to a thread.”
Matsuo Basho
Prologue
Catherine
Knightstone Manor
Winter, 1598
They awoke that morning to snow. The garden was cloaked in it. It fell in huge flakes the size of rose petals from a sky as soft and white as down. Catherine, who had mourned the loss of the summer shapes and colors, who had disliked the bare bones of the garden in winter, was enchanted. Here was her creation transformed into something magical and new.
The children were desperate to play outside. The nurses wrapped them in winter flannels and thick woolens; it was astonishing that they could move, let alone run. Robert went with them as they shrieked and tumbled in the snow of the labyrinth, their excited cries echoing in the crisp winter air.
Everywhere she walked, the garden beckoned her on. The clipped hedges of the knot garden were stiff with tiny spikes of frost bristling on each twig. The pebbles of the path glittered with ice. The lake was lost beneath a covering of snow like a flat, blank mirror. The summerhouse—a winter house now—had icicles hanging from the eaves. She wandered along the bank, wondering whether when the snow had cleared there might still be ice for skating. The boys would love that. She was sure there was an old pair of wooden skates in a chest somewhere. Robert would know; the house had been his grandmother’s before his.