The epigraph of THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN, Ellen Herrick’s second novel, is a succinct harbinger of Sorrel Sparrow’s story as she travels to England: Hiraeth: a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was. Sorrel has been commissioned to rebuild a Shakespearean garden behind the yew hedges and the crumbing brick wall that was part of Lord Kirkwood’s estate. The one-time enchanted grounds had been waiting for many years for a resurrection. And Sorrel has come to resurrect.

Sorrel, Nettie and Patience are sisters, owners of the Sparrow Sisters Nursery on Calumet Landing in Maine. They and a close friend endured a tragedy the previous year, and the townspeople of Granite Point cannot forgive them their part. They also cannot ignore the magic gifts --- just gifts, the Sparrow sisters say --- nor can they overlook the extraordinary grace that the women bring to gardens, herbs, flowers and shrubs, and remedies and potions for many ailments, including those caused by romance.

"Herrick’s gift for description is evident throughout, so do not go into THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN unless you are well stocked with spiced buttery chicken, bottles of rich cream, piles of eggs, mounds of golden and red raspberries, plump éclairs, and loaves of crusty brown bread."

In another part of the world, Kirkwood Hall and the parkland, acres and acres of land that had sustained the neighborhood for hundreds of years, was just coming into full bloom. The Kirkwoods or another of the family had owned the Hall for over 600 years. And now the bluebells would begin filling the slopes and glens, the wool from sheep and cheese from goats would bring buyers into long lines at the homestead shop, and the preserves and wines from the cellar would come to table.

Her first glimpse of the Shakespeare Garden disheartened Sorrel, but only briefly. She knew “from the minute she fingered the crumbling moss and powdery soil, this was a skeleton garden.” After a few days of examination and excavation of the layer of old, bitter, dusty soil, Sorrel supervises the new topping of rich, moist mulch densely “worm wiggly.” She begins planting, not parterre by parterre, as would most gardeners, but plant by plant; each plant is touched and acknowledged, and some would say the plants leaned toward Sorrel for her caress.

The gardening passages are genuinely inspiring. The first day that Sorrel shops for the plants, she and Gabe, the deaf caretaker, slowly walk through the nursery and pile up carts of creeping phlox, hybrid tea roses and alliums not yet abloom; she calls out orders for duckweed and elder and nettle. Even non-gardeners will resonate with the lushness and extravagant opportunities of an endless budget and Sorrel’s incredible mastery and knowledge of plants.

Rising like a phoenix, the Shakespeare Garden is created against the backdrop of a terrible family secret, hundreds of years old, that festers and contaminates the soil, the new love that is surprising and sweet, and the very fabric of the Kirkwood Estate. The dramatic resolution leaves Sorrel questioning what home may mean and whether or not she can return.

A final caution: Herrick’s gift for description is evident throughout, so do not go into THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN unless you are well stocked with spiced buttery chicken, bottles of rich cream, piles of eggs, mounds of golden and red raspberries, plump éclairs, and loaves of crusty brown bread. Otherwise you’ll wear yourself out going to and from the larder, and I found mine severely lacking.