Ruth Scurr

How do authors’ gardens inspire them?

A sumptuous coffee-table book in which writers from Henry James to Frances Hodgson Burnett are briefly glimpsed while passing through the beautiful spaces that outlast them

Virginia Woolf’s garden at her home Monk’s House in East Sussex. [Richard Hanson] 
issue 23 September 2023

  • The Writer’s Garden: How Gardens Inspired the World’s Great Authors

    Jackie Bennett

    Frances Lincoln, pp. 240, £30

When Henry James moved to Lamb House in the Sussex coastal town of Rye, he admitted that he could hardly tell a dahlia from a mignonette: ‘I am hopeless about the garden, which I don’t know what to do with and shall never, never know – I am densely ignorant.’

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY A MONTH FREE
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Try a month of Britain’s best writing, absolutely free.

Read next

Trending

Ed Condon

Can Pope Leo fix the mess left by Francis?

The numbers, as the saying goes, don’t lie. And heading into the conclave two days ago, anyone who could count had reason to expect a pope at least in the mould of Pope Francis, who appointed the majority of the cardinal electors. Even so, few predicted the first American Bishop of Rome to emerge in

More on henry james

Also by Ruth Scurr

Latest

Comments

Join the debate, free for a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first month free.

Already a subscriber? Log in