Certain plants and flowers have mystical powers. Serve some honeysuckle wine on the Fourth of July if you’ve ever wanted to see in the dark. Lilac jelly, lavender tea cookies, and nasturtium mayonnaise will help you to keep secrets. And anise hyssop honey butter on toast, angelica candy, and cupcakes with crystallized pansies make children thoughtful.
These are just some of the secret ingredients woven into the pages of Sarah Addison Allen’s debut novel, Garden Spells. The book focuses on Claire and Sydney Waverley, sisters who come from a long line of women with special “gifts”, while the enchanted garden and the family’s mysterious history make up the book’s subplot. Claire possesses the gift of making delicious dishes with secret ingredients stirred in (the problem at hand determines the plant or herb she uses), while Sydney’s talent as a hair stylist helps women to grow more beautiful and sure of themselves. Sydney, the wilder of the two, denies her family’s history for years before returning to her hometown of Bascom, South Carolina—a five-year-old daughter and a checkered past in tow. She finally settles in with her sister and embraces her legacy as a Waverley. Both sisters face their own romantic entanglements and the fact that they must let go of the lives they’ve carefully built for themselves.
Allen creates a modern family with just a dash of fantasy and fairy tale that could easily be a little sister to Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic. Rather than Hoffman’s Owens witches, the Waverley sisters simply possess a “gift” whose origins are never explained. There are no spells or potions here, however. The sisters’ older cousin Evanelle knows when she is supposed to give someone a gift—such as a mango peeler or two quarters in case you need to make a phone call—but what the gift’s recipient does with the item it up to them. Sydney’s daughter Bay has an innate sense of where things belong. The main difference between the two works is the enchanted apple tree that grows in the Waverleys’ garden and throws its fruit, enticing visitors to take a bite. According to legend, those who sample a bit of this forbidden fruit will get a look into the future, for better or worse.
Garden Spells is a quick, entertaining read with a unique dash of whimsy added to the mix. At the end of the book, a list “From the Waverley Kitchen Journal” explains the special powers of a select group of plants and flowers. Try one of these enchanted blossoms at your next dinner party.
Garden Spells
Published: August 27, 2007
304 pages
