The First Gardener

Title: THE FIRST GARDENER
Author: Denise Hildreth
Publisher: Tyndale
June 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4143-3558-2
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary

If Heaven had a backyard, it would look like the gardens of the Tenness governor’s mansion.

JEREMIAH Williams has been the head gardener for over twenty-five years. And this particular first family has stolen their heart.

Governor Gray London and his wife, Mackenzie have a five year old daughter, Maddie, who is soon to be starting kindergarten. Mackenzie thought one child would make her world complete, but Maddie is growing up so fast. She hopes to have another child to help fill the governor’s mansion with the childish laughter.

But then tragedy rips their world apart. Mackenzie falls into a deep grief that threatens to swallow her whole. And the gardener, Jeremiah realizes that gardening is about more than pulling weeds and planting flowers. It’s about tending hearts…

I loved Ms. Jones’s first book Savannah from Savannah and all of her subsequent books that I’ve read. So I looked forward to reading THE FIRST GARDENER. I have to say that this book is well-written, heart-stirring and poignant, full of all things southern, and it liked to have broke my heart.

I can’t really say anything more, because I don’t want to give spoilers away. But THE FIRST GARDENER is a book you’ll want to read with a box of Kleenex close by. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $13.99. 419 pages.