The French Gardener (39 page)

A Conversation with Santa Montefiore

Why did you decide to organize the novel by season? How do you think this structure will affect the reading of the book? What do you think the passing of the seasons meant to your characters?

The idea for this book came to me watching my children thriving in my parents’ garden on the farm where I grew up in Hampshire. I have always adored the countryside, but more than that I need it spiritually. Being essentially London children they began to plant vegetables and trees and watch them grow. They became more independent, more imaginative and surprisingly creative. I feel that all children should have access to such simple pleasures in a world where computer games and television dominate so many households.

I decided to divide the book into seasons because of the garden theme, of course—I wanted a whole year to watch Jean-Paul’s garden grow—but also to reinforce the main theme of regeneration. The seasons return again year after year, Ava hands her knowledge and love of the garden to Jean-Paul, who then passes them on to Miranda and her children, who will pass them on to their own children one day. My father grew up in the same house that I grew up in, where we now have a cottage. My children build camps in the same parts of the garden and woods and climb the same tree house that my father and I once climbed. Ava’s love is not dead but will grow season after season in the garden she created.

Can you give us some more insight into the poetic phrases that begin each chapter? How did you decide on these? How do you hope they set the tone for what follows in the chapter?

Some of these are my own observations, others were given to me by Georgia Langton, a friend of my mother’s who’s a talented gardener. These are Ava’s words, because, on a deeper level, Ava’s spirit is still there in the garden—like nature we don’t die but shed our bodies like leaves and flower again in spirit. Ava’s very much present, enjoying all the beauty of nature.

Would you give us some more background regarding the poem in the epilogue? Who do you see as a speaker? Who is the audience?

I’m glad you asked this question! In my youth I wanted to be a singer/songwriter. These are the words of a song I wrote aged twenty-two, when a dear friend of mine was killed in a canoeing accident. It has a chorus, but it wasn’t appropriate for the book. Like the phrases at the top of each chapter, these are Ava’s words from her spirit. They’re to Jean-Paul and they’re to my readers.

You mention Georgia Langton in Dorset in your acknowledgments as inspiration, especially with regards to her garden. In what other ways is Georgia’s spirit written into the book? Are any characters based on her? Are images of her garden available anywhere online?
Georgia is a very exceptional, beautiful, talented woman. She embodies the best of British eccentricity in the most glorious way. I knew her when I was a child, so I went to see her while researching the book. She was a great inspiration to me and I did think of her as I created Ava. I’ve never seen anyone wear dungarees with such style.
Fortunately for her, I don’t know her well enough to base a character entirely on her, but I was inspired by her unconventional beauty, her animation, enthusiasm, joy and love. I haven’t looked for her online but she is a professional garden designer!

Readers are always interested in which character an author aligns herself with. Is Miranda’s job as a writer and aspirations as a novelist a hint? Do you find it easiest to write about characters with whom you relate or ones you feel distant from?

Oddly enough, I didn’t identify at all with Miranda. I’m a country girl through and through! I identified with Ava a little, but I imagine some of me went into both. I write from my heart without really intellectualizing things a great deal. I write what feels right. I find it just as easy to write about someone like me as someone very unlike me—sometimes the characters who are least like me are the most fun! I can be anyone I want to be and, for the duration of the book, live another life entirely!

Infidelity abounds in the lives of the various characters in
The French Gardener
. Do you hope that readers will remain loyal to certain characters despite their flawed behavior? How do you see the affairs as differing from one another? Is one more forgivable than the next?

To be honest, I don’t think of my reader at all while writing my books. I embark on an adventure for my own pleasure and work things out as I go along. I think infidelity is wrong only if it hurts other people. Many marriages are open and thrive on that type of freedom. So I don’t judge other people. However, the characters I write about are there to be scrutinized. Ava falls in love with another man, proving that it is
possible to love more than one man at the same time, but ultimately she remains loyal to her husband. She sacrifices her own heart for her children, which is very admirable. I receive so many letters and e-mails from fans telling me of their secret affairs and loves that I realize this sort of sacrifice is more common than I thought. David’s affair is based on vanity and a yearning for excitement. There’s nothing very admirable about that, but it is very human. I think forgiveness is a very high quality, and I like to feel that Miranda and David will heal and grow to enjoy a strong and lasting marriage. No one is perfect, and I like my characters to be flawed because I want to watch them grow throughout the course of the novel.

How do you hope readers will understand the “magic” of the garden at Hartington? Do you believe in real magic, or are you using the word figuratively? Can love make ordinary things and places magical?

I really do believe in the magic of love and in the magic of nature. Ava and Jean-Paul pour all their love into the garden and create something magical. Jean-Paul teaches Miranda and her children to love nature and they flourish. Love makes ordinary things special—it’s all about perception and focus. The old cliché that love can change the world is the truest thing ever said! The only trouble with most of us is that we love conditionally. True love is unconditional.

In your biography on your website you say, “However much we try, time cannot be reversed. It changes us and those we were once close to.” Do you consider this to be a universal truth? How does this notion affect Jean-Paul and Ava? What can happen if we don’t allow time to change us and others?

In my experience time does change us. That’s because life molds us. It either makes us happy, giving, generous and wise or embittered, regretful, jealous and unhappy. In the case of Jean-Paul and Ava, I really wanted them to get back together in the end, but I didn’t think it realistic. Their affair belongs in the past, when they shared that magical time in those beautiful gardens, when they were both young. I’m not so sure that they would have recaptured that magic so many years later. Like an enchanted holiday, you return the year later to relive it again and find you can’t; the magic just isn’t there. The place is the same, the people the same, but something is missing. I think it’s often like that with love. I’m not saying that Jean-Paul’s love has diminished in any way, but he’s changed; and, had she not died, Ava would be different, too—in ways too subtle to describe. Ava would want Jean-Paul to remember her as she was when she was at her most radiant. On another level, I don’t always like to tie up my endings with neat little bows. This ending, though perhaps not as Hollywood would write it, gives my reader something to think about when he reaches the end of the book. And there’s always Peach….

Miranda seems to be a city girl but finds her heart in the country. Where do you feel most at home?

I adore my London life. I love my friends, the restaurants, shops, theaters and the social side of the city. But I need to return every weekend to the country where I see only my family. I feel at peace in the woods and gardens of my home, where we have a cottage, and fill up spiritually.

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Ava and Jean-Paul periodically compare their relationship to ephemeral phenomena in nature: a rainbow, a sunset. How would you describe some of the relationships in your life using nature as a metaphor? Have you planted strong roots? Is your family tree a weeping willow, an oak tree with a tire swing, or maybe a crab apple tree?
   
2. Jean-Paul loves to paint, and it is one of the first things that bonds him to Ava. Go through the pages of this novel and attempt to re-create one of the scenes in any artistic medium you’re comfortable with; paint, markers, computer, collage.
   
3. The cottage garden becomes Ava and Jean-Paul’s special place, something they built together. Create a mini garden for your book group with an indoor herb garden. Then, two or three book group meetings from now, when the herbs are ready for picking, make like Mrs. Underwood and whip something up for the group. Go to
   http://www.doityourself.com/stry/indoorherbgarden
   for instructions.
   
4. Cate’s bakery acts as the town center of Hartington. Why not hold your book club meeting in a local establishment that brings people together in your community? Better yet, channel Ava and Jean-Paul and hold the meeting outdoors.