Product Description

Althea is the mother of three strong-minded children - one of whom is a Buddhist - and owner of a finicky dog named Bozo. Saddled with too large a house (albeit in a beautiful Cotswold village), worrisome mortgage payments, a bossy younger sister and irksome ex-husband, Althea still manages to muddle through life comfortably enough. Until she loses her job. Seeking solace in her borrowed greenhouse, Althea decides to develop her passion for gardening. And when she wins the opportunity to design a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show with the unexpected help of gorgeous architect Patrick Donahugh, it looks as though Althea may have unearthed a new man as well as a new career...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10271 in Books
• Published on: 2003-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Mail on Sunday
‘Joanna Trollope crossed with Tom Sharpe’

Sunday Mirror
‘The romance fizzes along with good humour and is a good, fat, summery read’

Sunday Times
‘Old-fashioned romance of the best sort…funny, comforting’ Elle‘Delicious’

Customer Reviews

1 of Ffordes Best - and it's not about 20-somethings!
Somehow Katie Fforde can take characters that in another's hands would be unrealistic and makes them believable and down-to-earth. Fforde always turns a good tale, but I found this especially wonderful - maybe it's because the herione is pushing 40 with kids. (I've pushed 40 over!) And she still gets a fabulous romance! Another thing I love about Fforde is that the books are more about women finding themselves and their own place in the world than they are about finding love. (But they always get that, too - OK, maybe these are fairytales, but they at least seem realistic!) Althea is especially heartwarming, dealing with an insufferable ex, losing her job, kids that are good but demanding and self-centered (like all kids). Along comes Patrick to disrupt her life - the most disruptive threat being the fact that he's bought the property with the greenhouse that she's been using without permission. Soon, he threatens her peace of mind, his girlfriend runs off with her ex, she has to find a way to support herself - well, it all works out. The supporting characters are wonderful (as always) and I loved the description of all that goes into the Chelsea flower show. In my opinion, there's not a clunker in Fforde's collection.

A happy book about good people doing positive things.
Katie Fforde is one of my favourite authors and this book fulfils all my expectations from reading the other novels. I guess I enjoy her writing because although her main characters have usually had to cope with difficult times they are usually good people doing positive things with their lives, who look out for others. Unlike so many modern novels which leave you unfulfilled or even depressed, Katie Fforde's do the opposite. They leave you hopeful that there are some good people left in the world and enthused to get on with whatever life may have thrown at you. In "Wild Designs" she identifies so well with the battles of a mother of teenagers and yet you feel her kids are good kids. As a gardener her descriptions of real life gardening on a budgetr are so true and her wry humour about food, (spaghetti again?!) and fashion are wonderful, but she still gets her man!! Highly to be recommended.

I think this is my favorite Katie Fforde book
And that's saying alot. Somehow Katie Fforde can take characters that in another's hands would be unrealistic and makes them believable and down-to-earth. Fforde always turns a good tale, but I found this especially wonderful - maybe it's because the herione is pushing 40 with kids. (I've pushed 40 over!) And she still gets a fabulous romance! Another thing I love about Fforde is that the books are more about women finding themselves and their own place in the world than they are about finding love. (But they always get that, too - OK, maybe these are fairytales, but they at least seem realistic!) Althea is especially heartwarming, dealing with an insufferable ex, losing her job, kids that are good but demanding and self-centered (like all kids). Along comes Patrick to disrupt her life - the most disruptive threat being the fact that he's bought the property with the greenhouse that she's been using without permission. Soon, he threatens her peace of mind, his girlfriend runs off with her ex, she has to find a way to support herself - well, it all works out. The supporting characters are wonderful (as always) and I loved the description of all that goes into the Chelsea flower show. In my opinion, there's not a clunker in Fforde's collection.