The Red Garden

The Red Garden

by Alice Hoffman

Hallie Brady saved early settlers from starvation that first winter in 1750 by catching eels and stealing milk from a hibernating bear. She befriends six-year-old Harry Partridge who learns her secret, only he was too late.

In later chapters, the descendants of the Brady and Partridge families encounter John Chapman, the planter of apple trees; the ghost at Eel River; the fisherman's beautiful wife who may or may not be an eel; and in 1986 Gratitude and Apology cakes - all within distance of the Red Garden in the back yard. The Red Garden where the soil is red and everything that is planted there grows red - even green beans. But the tomatoes grown there - they are magic - they can make dreams come true. And during the year of no summer, trees bloomed in the snow.

Alice Hoffman weaves a tale full of magic, secrets and loyalty generation to generation in the town of Blackwell, Massachusetts.