61 pages • 2 hours read
Julia KellyThe Last Garden in England
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
The names Emma and Highbury reference Jane Austin’s 1815 novel Emma. How does that work, and the protagonist in particular, relate to The Last Garden in England?
How does the novel both acknowledge the significance of class distinctions and dismantle the barriers between classes? Is the impact of crossing class barriers always positive? Why or why not?
What motivates Venetia to create gardens in her particular style? What is her legacy, especially with regard to the other female characters in the novel?
Read The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II and compare and contrast its themes to The Last Garden in England. How are these two novels similar, and how are they different? What traits do the protagonists share, and what points do they make about the importance of preserving culture in wartime?
Why does Beth fall in love with Captain Hastings? How is Captain Hastings different from Colin? How does the war impact Beth’s choices and decisions?
Research the evolution of English gardens before and after World War II. How did the war and the needs of the 20th century change the style and content of the gardens? What did this symbolize on a cultural and socioeconomic level?
How does the idea of rationing impact the characters throughout the different eras? In each time period, what is rationed literally or figuratively, and how does this affect the characters’ lives?
How does the novel portray the work of women during the war as distinct from the roles of men? Do these gendered roles overlap at all? If so, where? If not, why?
How does the novel use pathetic fallacy to mirror the characters’ emotional states through its descriptions of nature? Use examples from the text in your response.
Research the connection between the traditional English garden and British colonialism. Where do the plants most commonly used in English gardens around the turn of the 20th century come from? Do the plants used in the Highbury House gardens have colonial roots? How does this impact the theme and message of the novel?
