Helen Humphreys

I am so impressed with this Canadian author. Her books are such page turners that I want to rush through them, but her prose is so delicious that I want to linger.

I read THE LOST GARDEN a few weeks ago. It's about a woman who moves from London to the countryside in England during World War II to grow food. A good view of this period in history and a must read for anyone who loves gardening.

I just finished AFTERIMAGE which Humphreys was inspired to write after seeing early photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron. Set in 1865, it is written from the point of view of an Irish servant whose family perished in the potato famine. She comes to work in the English country house where the wife is a photographer and the husband is a cartographer. It left me with strong impressions of an English servant's life at that time, early photography, the popular fascination with exploration, and the tragedy of the Irish.