The Night Gardener

Product Information

The Night Gardener was a buddy read between my son and myself, and the periods of dark and creepy mystery/suspense made it a fun experience for the most part. Although the ending was a bit of a let down after all of the build up, we enjoyed this novel overall. My son verbalized his feeling that The Night Gardener contained quite a bit of "filler" content and could have ended a lot sooner, especially in light of the resolution Mr. Auxier chose. Since he is in the targeted age group for this novel, I thought it was important to note this. Overall though, we are both glad we read this. My son said he personally wouldn't recommend it to others quite as strongly as it was recommended to him but he could appreciate the moral of the story and learning life lessons through reading always holds value. So proud :) When I write it out like that, I realize just how much Jonathan Auxier managed to fit in his story for young people, and how well he pulled it off; The Night Gardener is chilling, moving and, at times, heartbreaking. All proper scary stories require a spooky, menacing atmosphere, and Auxier (Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes) delivers the goods with his precise descriptions of the gothic setting and teasing hints of mystery and suspense." If you like creepy Victorian tales, this novel is for you. The Night Gardener immediately grabs you and refuses to let the reader go. It's a spooky tale of two young kids, Kip and Molly-- a brother with a crippled leg and a storytelling sister who occasionally lies. They visit and eventually work the mysterious at the Windsor home. A home with tree built around it. This was something remarkable. I went into it not knowing what to expect and I came out with a new favorite. Those are by far the best books to read.

As a middle grade book, it is outstanding. It does require a strong reader though, one that is ready to move past stories whose characters are either heroes or villains, and start to understand and appreciate motivations and increased complexity. Hester, for example, brought tears to my eyes, although I’m not sure she would have the same effect on a child. Be warned, though, this book be very disturbing for the very young. For example, a sinister man walking around the house at night, sometimes peering over their beds, may cause nightmares for the weak, like me. The Windsors: they could so easily have just been “the awful family Kip and Molly have to serve”, but they were given complexity and were some of the strongest characters in the story.One more thing I found very interesting was how the story kept raising one question: what is the difference between a story and a lie? The entire story seems to be built on this foundation and it is sustained to the very end. Molly & Kip: these two are wonderful protagonists for young readers to read about. They have depth and discover things about themselves though the story. There are some great messages in what these kids go through. Auxier achieves an ideal mix of adventure and horror, offering all of it in elegant, atmospheric language that forces the reader to slow down a bit and revel in both the high-quality plot and the storytelling itself."

And add to that the characters (ahhhhh, the characters)! Molly and Tip are one of my new favorite sibling sets in books. They love each other so much that they're willing to sacrifice everything for the other. In most of the situations, what keeps Molly going is thinking about Tip and vice versa for him. And each member of the Windsor family is so fleshed out and explored, and their downward spiral is fascinating to watch and so well written. Most trees cast an air of quiet dignity over their surroundings. This one did not. Most trees invite you to climb up into their canopy. This one did not. Most trees make you want to carve your initials into the trunk. This one did not. To stand in the shadow of this tree was to feel a chill run through your whole body. You asked me for a story; now you call it a lie. … So tell me, then: What marks the difference between the two?”Molly, our main character, is the older sister of Kip. As orphans, they struggle to get by. They're Irish, and face xenophobia and discriminatory remarks from people in England, which is where the book takes place. When we meet Molly and Kip, they are traveling to the Windsor estate where they are to work as servants. The estate is surrounded by "sour woods"; the local villagers refuse to enter the woods and go to the estate, which legend has it is cursed. The Windsors are Bertram and Constance, who are parents to six year old Penny and young teenager Alistair. When Molly and Kip get to the house, however, Constance does not want the children to stay. Molly is able to convince Constance by telling her a story - Molly is quite talented in that regard. And so they stay, although they recognize that something is odd and sinister about the place. There's a tree growing alongside the house, as if its become one with the house: If you aren't afraid of a good spine-tingling mystery featuring stories and lies and hurdy-gurdies and hills and glowing midnight flowers, this is a book for you. I also want to mention the awesome storytelling aspect of this book. As readers, I imagine most of those who read this book will appreciate the emphasis on how magical stories can be, how important they are. I loved how it was such a big part of the book and Molly’s character. The branch was dark and smooth and slightly curved. It wasn’t a branch at all— It was the handle of an axe.”

Written beautifully, nicely paced, and pollinated by a rich group of believable characters—well done! The book falls in the horror-fantasy genre, and probably is the same level of spooky as Neil Gaiman's Coraline. As the title warns you in advance, you know there will be someone/something called a Night Gardener in the story. But when the story brings him up, you cant help being chilled and thrilled simultaneously. The action moves pretty fast and though there are a few medium-paced scenes interspersed in the story, they don't drive you away but keep you hooked. I discovered about a quarter into this book that I should have saved it for Halloween. If I had to describe it's vibe in a word it would be unsettling . For most of the book there's nothing truly scary, but it's just... off. But that, in my opinion, is a compliment to the author. I was so immersed in this story and these characters that I couldn't pull myself away, no matter how freaked out I was. I figured out certain plot points about 70% in and, my sister can attest to this, I shivered from the chill that ran down my spine. It was perfection.Lots of creepiness, memorable characters, a worthy message, Auxier’s atmospheric drawings and touches of humor amid the horror make this cautionary tale one readers will not soon forget."

The story is a bit spooky, but if you’re looking for something that is just slightly on the creepy side, this one would be an awesome read. The manor’s Son and Daughter are oblivious and affected slightly. The husband, who fled the place as a child when his parents disappeared, desperately seeks business in town, with unsavoury associates. Spending nights away clearly helps. It is the wife whose health is being leeched by.... something. A secret she harbours indicates that she is permitting the toxicity, with whatever self-awareness she has left, to sustain that secret. The Night Gardener is a middle-grade fiction novel written by Jonathan Auxier. Apparently, this is a follow-up to Mr. Auxier's debut novel ( Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes), but I read this as a standalone and enjoyed it as such. A word of caution: for an adult, the level of creepiness is quite mild, but for a 9 to 12 year old, it’s clearly Gothic horror. Tempered by humour here and there, but horror nonetheless. Not gratuitous though, as there is a moral to the story, foreshadowed by the opening quotations. The first one is from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the other one - my favourite - from Aesop: “We would often be sorry if our wishes were granted.” There’s no better place for writing than on a rooftop—the fresh air makes your words come out like songs.”This book reads like a dark folktale or fairytale. It feels like a story I could have grown up with, something straight out of the Brothers Grimm, but coupled with just fantastic storytelling. Da named it "Courage", saying that all good tools deserved a good title. Kip had always liked the idea that courage was a thing a person could hold onto and use. Storytelling and the secret desires of the heart wind together in this atmospheric novel that doubles as a ghost tale." It was pretty brilliant of Auxier to place the story within the Victorian era. As he points out in his afterword, it "was perhaps the last point in Western history when magic and science were allowed to coexist." This idea is executed through the character of a local doctor, who witnesses Constance Windsor's declining health, but is resistant to the idea of the supernatural.