The French Gardener cover art

The French Gardener

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The French Gardener

By: Santa Montefiore
Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £15.23

Buy Now for £15.23

About this listen

A spellbinding novel about marriage, passion, loss, renewal and the healing power of love from the number-one best-selling author of Songs of Love and War.

Married couple, Miranda and David, move out of London into a beautiful country house with an idyllic garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their bucolic dream. Soon the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface, isolating each family member in a bubble of resentment and loneliness.

Then a mysterious Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he? When Miranda discovers his secret in the cottage by the garden, the whole family learns that a garden, like love itself, can restore the human spirit, not just season after season, but generation after generation.

Wise and winsome, poignant and powerfully moving, The French Gardener combines the savvy of contemporary women's fiction with an old fashioned sensibility steeped in the importance of family and the magical power of love.

©2008 Santa Montefiore (P)2021 W F Howes Contemporary Contemporary Romance Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Romance Women's Fiction Marriage Heartfelt
All stars
Most relevant
Loved the story. Excellent narration. Pure escapism for romance lovers, especially in the dark winter months.

Romantic getaway

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I always love Santa Montefiore's stories and this one was no exception. However I could not get past the narrator's terrible French accent which sounded more Spanish than anything. This audible should be renamed "The Foreign Gardener" as there was certainly no french to be heard in his or his parents' accents.

Great story, irritating accents

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have to admit that I hated this book when I first started listening to it. None of the characters were sympathetic--in fact, most were hateful, especially the little boy Gus. I actually looked into how I could return this title, but now I'm glad I didn't because suddenly it turned into a lovely book that I wanted to immerse myself in. John-Paul was a wonderful character, as was Ava and even Miranda. I loved how Miranda began to fit into the local countryside community, and how her children blossomed under the care of John-Paul--the quintessential French gardener. The stories between past and present kept switching, with John-Paul present in both, as a young and then an old man. The gardens themselves were so atmospheric. I winced a bit at the breathless poetic intro to each chapter, but that really didn't take away from the magic of the story. Juanita McMahon is truly a wonderful reader--how she managed to capture all those voices and accents is beyond me. I highly recommend this book.

The French Gardener was a dreamy escape

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Made cry at the end. Everyone of her books is full of sadness and happiness. Couldn’t stop listening and was sad when it ended

Beautiful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I could picture the beautiful garden & the way it grew & developed as the story unfolded. There is no rainbow without rain & this fragrant story of love & loss was excellent. A refreshing & wonderfully crafted love story.

Fragrance of Love

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews