Beginning ~ with memory loss

THE BEECH WOOD

"She has forgotten what
she saw long ago, what
she found.  Daily she walks
in the wood, a woman now,
who walked beneath our
boughs as a child.  Alone
then; alone now."

The Memory Tree ~ by Linda Gillard, 2019 (revised edition), fiction

Can the power of love overcome life’s darkest memories and deepest losses?  When her favorite beech tree is felled in a storm, Ann feels as if someone has died.  But when long-hidden seed packets are found inside the trunk, Ann realizes there are more memories than her own lurking within the ancient tree.

A century earlier, head gardener William Hatherwick and Hester Mordaunt, mistress of Beechgrave, share a love for the mighty estate — and an undeclared love for each other.  When war breaks out, William is sent to the battlefields of France, and as the conflict rages on, Hester grieves beneath the tree.  Can she and William ever find happiness once he’s witnessed the horror of the trenches?

In the present day, historian Connor Grenville wants to understand why his late grandmother tried to destroy Hester’s archive before she died.  Who was she trying to protect — and why?  His findings bring long-suppressed memories back to Ann’s mind.

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