Set in Seattle amid sensuous garden beauty and lush summer evenings, The Garden House is about finding meaning in the second half of life. Turning fifty has Miranda re-evaluating her life now that her two children have left the nest. In an attempt to rediscover the thrill and hope of her younger days, she decides to convert the garden house into an artist studio – only to find that her husband has already rented it to a somewhat mysterious young man. Though Miranda at first welcomes the shy tenant, she soon develops a sense of unease about him. Is he the nice man he appears to be? Or is he the reason behind her increasingly disturbing dreams? An uplifting – and sometimes suspenseful – story about a woman who pursues a life of love, creativity, and beauty. “I was completely swept away by this tale. I was engaged in the mystery, the confusion and all the secrecy….This book is one that will definitely test your intuition.” – NetGalley Review “Mahkovec’s prose is sharp and fluid, building tension in small domestic scenes….The premise is a fun one, and Miranda is a finely drawn character.” – Kirkus Reviews

Lushly photographed, this book offers ingenious ways to make a place for the spirit of nature inside the home. 150 color photos.

Marcia Willett's The Garden House is a charming and heartwarming novel about family, yearning, and long-buried secrets ... Fresh out of university and right on the precipice of adulthood, El is trying her best to figure out what it is she really wants from life. This is complicated by the fact that she is also dealing with the loss of her father, Martin. After his sudden death, El inherits and moves into his home just outside Tavistock, in the Devon countryside. Her stepbrother and sort-of friend, Will, comes to help her through her grief and to go through her father’s belongings. As El spends time in her father’s home, she uncovers more about his life, and the secrets he had been keeping from her and her family. This includes mysterious messages on his phone from someone El suspects may have been more than just a friendly acquaintance. Julia is also mourning Martin, but for many reasons, they thought best to keep their relationship a secret. So she must now grieve entirely on her own. All she has to remember of her love are the text messages they sent to each other in their secret code, and the memories of their time spent at The Garden House: a beautiful community garden and teashop nearby. It is where they met, fell in love, and where their secret affair will inevitably be uncovered one day. As El and Will begin to decipher the messages on Martin’s phone, and piece together her father’s long-buried secrets, they are brought closer and closer to each other, to Julia, and to a truth that is difficult for all to face.

Turning fifty disrupts Miranda's life in ways she hasn't expected, forcing her to come to terms with unresolved issues. Chief among these is the mystery surrounding William Priestly, the tenant who is renting the family garden house for the summer. Is he the nice man he appears to be? Or is he the reason behind her increasingly disturbing dreams?

Make learning to read exciting for children with this decodable fiction book about a family who wants to build a house for their pig, Plow! This book offers a built-in phonics review for young readers. Today, students need support with phonics concepts more than ever before. This illustrated book will engage young readers while they gain meaningful practice with many high-frequency words: cause, enough, foot, garden, good, house, should, thought, wall, without. Develop reading skills and reading comprehension with the research-based approach to phonics instruction used in this book.