My garden has certainly got a lot more love this year and has provided a relief in these strange, unusual months. Our county is one of three in Ireland to have just gone back into a sort of lockdown - not as severe as the first country-wide one from mid-March to the beginning of June in Ireland but we’re not allowed to travel out of our county for the next two weeks unless it’s for vital reasons.

An oasis in the garden

The greenhouse has been an oasis for me as our weather wasn’t great in July but I could happily sit in here for hours and edit my latest manuscript, read or listen to audio books. This year I’ve adopted a French potager style and added a mix of flowers and vegetables. I’ve got Agapanthus, Salvia, Jasmine, geraniums and even a rogue Buddleia growing under glass with the Swiss Chard, tomatoes and French beans. It’s the first time I’ve seen butterflies venturing in.

The outdoor vegetable garden is much the same. It has five rose bushes growing among the potatoes, kale, broccoli and peas - and they’re doing well. I think they like the open space and sunshine. Rambler rose Albertine has grown so enormous that she will need a dramatic prune in the autumn.

Next book is with the editor

Progress on the next book increased during our Covid-19 lockdown and helped transport me to another world - a welcome break from the reality around me. The story takes place on two timelines. One in modern day Ireland, while the mystery is set in the late nineteenth century with a horse racing background. It has finally been sent off to the editor for the initial read through.

Audio transports me to another world

Do you like listening to audio books? I get asked more often now if I’m considering an audio book of ‘The Neglected Garden’. I’m not at present but wouldn’t rule it out in the future. I’ve had my own audio book subscription for years and was persuaded to try it by a retired professor of history. Eventually I did and I haven’t regretted it. I find audio books are particularly useful when doing mundane tasks like washing up and weeding or when out walking. They’re also great at night and I love having a bedtime story read to me by a brilliant actor.

So far, I’ve mainly concentrated on the classics and set myself the challenge of listening to all of the novels by Charles Dickens. I started with ‘Bleak House’, read by Miriam Margolyes, and although over thirty hours long, it was hugely entertaining. Miriam Margolyes’s portrayal of all the different voices, male and female, with their various accents from Esther Summerson to Sir Leicester Dedlock and the evil Mr Tulkinghorn is remarkable. If you’ve heard of the famous fictional legal case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce but never read the novel, you might enjoy the audio version. To me, audio is like a cross between a book and a movie.

I’m now in the midst of the French Revolution in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ narrated by Simon Callow, who often appears in murder mysteries on British television. He too is excellent at bringing Dickens’s vibrant dialogue and vivid description alive.

My favourite books on audio

I mostly stick to the classics with my audio subscription and here are five of my current favourites:

BRIDESHEAD REVISITED - narrated by Jeremy Irons. This is was one of my favourite books when I studied English in university. Evelyn Waugh’s nostalgic prose is a delight read by this actor who played the part of Charles Ryder in the BBC television adaption of the classic novel.

Sample of the audio here:

BLEAK HOUSE - narrated by Miriam Margolyes. An incredible feat by a narrator. This well-known actor tackles the multitude of Dickens characters with convincing variety. Bleak House has a mystery at its heart and kept me occupied for over thirty hours. It won an Audie Award for Classic Fiction and Literature in 2019.

Sample of the audio here:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE - narrated by Rosamund Pike. This actor has appeared in many movies from James Bond to Gone Girl and even Agatha Christie. My husband particularly likes this version of Jane Austen’s beloved novel and I agree with him. The obsequious Mr Collins comes vividly to life in all his awfulness and Lady Catherine de Burgh is brilliantly portrayed. I’ll never forget the scene in the garden when she tackles Elizabeth about Mr D’Arcy. I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to this. I can’t count.

Sample of the audio here:

JANE EYRE - narrated by Juliet Stevenson. When I search for Juliet Stevenson, I find she has narrated so many classic novels it’s difficult to keep up with her. I listened to her rendition of George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’ first and it was excellent. She’s another actor who is amazingly versatile at creating different voices and her portrayal of male characters is convincing to say the least. ‘Jane Eyre’ is another one that I listen to over and over again.

Sample of the audio here:

THE SECRET GARDEN - narrated by Johanna Ward. We probably all know the story of this classic children’s book much loved by adults worldwide. When Mary Lennox becomes an orphan in India, she is sent to Misselthwaite Manor, a dark and lonely place on the edge of the Yorkshire moors where she hears mysterious screams in the middle of the night. Left to her own devices, Mary befriends a local boy with an affinity with animals. Mary finds a locked door to a long abandoned secret garden with the help of a friendly robin.

Sample of the audio here: