The Girls in the Garden: A Novel

The Girls in the Garden: A Novel by Lisa Jewell was originally published in 2015. It was selected as one of the Best Reads of Summer by People, Glamour, and BuzzFeed. Jewell is known for her #1 New York Times bestsellers None of This is True and Then She Was Gone. Jewell has published 19 novels, and None of This is True is soon to be adapted as a Netflix film. The Girls in the Garden is a mystery thriller about the community surrounding a fictional private park where a teenager died in the past and another teenager is assaulted in the present. Jewell draws upon her personal experience growing up near a real version of the fictional Virginia Park and dedicates the novel to her neighbors near the C&C Gardens. In this novel, Jewell explores the themes of Relocation as Escape or Exile, The Dual Nature of Green Spaces, and Generational Trauma Within a Community.

This guide refers to the 2022 Simon and Schuster Pocket Books paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text includes the assault and death of a minor, drug overdose, suicide, and depictions of a schizophrenic episode.

Plot Summary

The Girls in the Garden focuses on two families, the Wild family and the Howes family, who live in apartments that surround a private park in London. The novel moves back and forth in time, but the main narrative takes place between January and July. The Wilds move into the community in January, and in July Grace Wild, a 13-year-old, is assaulted in the park. The Wild family moves into this community because Chris Wild, a documentary filmmaker, set fire to their family home during a schizophrenic episode. He relocates to a psychiatric hospital for treatment while his wife, Clare, and their two daughters, Grace and Pip, move into the Virginia Terrace apartments and live there for most of the novel.

Pip misses Chris and writes letters to him that describe meeting other children in the park. Tyler, a blond girl, is immediately rude and aggressive when she meets Grace and Pip. Both Grace and Pip have a crush on a cute boy in the neighborhood, Dylan. They also meet the Howes children: Willow, Fern, and Catkin. Adele Howes, their mother, invites the Wild family over for dinner. Adele homeschools her children and allows them to run free in the park. Her husband, Leo, grew up in the Virginia Park community, and his father, Gordon, comes to stay with Leo, Adele, and their children while he has surgery on his foot. He usually lives in Africa but didn’t want to have his medical procedure there.

It is revealed that when Leo was a teenager, he dated two sisters, Cecelia and Phoebe. Cecelia gave birth to Tyler, and Phoebe died of a substance overdose in the park when she was 15. For many years, Cecelia lied to Tyler, telling her that Leo is her father but, in the year that the Wilds move into the community, Cecelia introduces Tyler to her biological father. Another long-term resident, Rhea, witnessed the love triangle between Leo, Cecelia, and Phoebe and wrote about it in her memoir. In the present, Adele helps Rhea edit her memoir and discovers details about Leo and Cecelia’s relationship that she didn’t know before. Rhea suspects Gordon had something to do with Phoebe’s death. Grace and Clare both find Leo charming, but Pip doesn’t like him.

Grace begins spending a lot of time with the Howes family, as well as with Dylan. Pip prefers to spend time with Rhea’s giant pet rabbit. Chris is released from the hospital, but Clare refuses to allow him to come home. With Leo’s help, Clare discovers that Chris is living with Roxy, a woman who worked with him on one of his films. Chris sends his daughters birthday presents when Pip turns 12 and Grace turns 13. Grace and Dylan’s romantic relationship develops, which makes Tyler jealous. Tyler tells Pip about Grace’s love life. Clare eventually sees Grace sitting on Dylan’s lap one day and figures out they are dating.

In July, on Grace’s birthday, there is an annual summer party in Virginia Park. Clare, who has a low tolerance for alcohol, becomes heavily intoxicated. Tyler steals a bottle of cheap champagne, and Dylan gives it to Grace for her birthday. They split the single bottle with Tyler and the Howes children. Dylan and Grace hang out in Tyler’s house while Cecelia is out with her boyfriend. When Dylan is in the bathroom, Tyler and Grace argue about him. He comes out, and Tyler tells him to leave with Grace. As Grace and Dylan take the elevator down, Grace stops it and performs oral sex on Dylan between floors. Tyler witnesses this, watching from above. Later, she hears Clare drunkenly declaring that Leo should be Grace’s new father and sees Grace hug Leo while he is out walking his dog.

After Leo goes home, Grace waits in the garden for Dylan. Meanwhile, Tyler steals some of Gordon’s prescription sleeping pills and puts them in one of his hypodermic needles. She injects Grace with the drugs, and Grace falls, injuring her nose. While she is unconscious, Tyler moves around Grace’s clothes, exposing her body. However, Tyler is interrupted by her neighbors before she can do anything else to Grace. Pip finds Grace and puts her clothes back on before getting help. Grace goes to the hospital in a drug-induced coma.

Clare contacts Chris after being reassured by Roxy that he is taking his medication and continuing other treatments. Chris comes to the hospital to be with Grace. She is examined for sexual assault and the nurse discovers evidence that Grace performed oral sex. Two police officers investigate Grace’s assault, and Adele starts her own investigation by asking questions around the community. Adele suspects Leo at first, but she eventually figures out that Tyler used Gordon’s drugs to harm Grace. Adele suspects that Catkin and her sisters helped Tyler. Overall, Adele blames Cecelia and hides clues, like the needle’s packaging, that would cause Tyler to get in trouble.

When Grace wakes up, she never tells the police that Tyler drugged her but refuses to return to the Virginia Terrace apartments. The Wilds find a new apartment nearby. Grace and Dylan continue to date. After Gordon goes back to his home in Africa, Adele gives his room to Tyler and takes over her parenting. Adele runs into Clare one day, 10 months after Grace’s attack, near the Tate Museum. They catch up on their lives; Clare assures Adele that Grace didn’t say anything about her attacker to the police, and the women go their separate ways.