The Girls in the Garden: A Novel

This chapter occurs in the months before the incident in the prologue. It begins with a letter from Pip to her father, Chris, who is in a psychiatric hospital (it is later revealed that he burned down their old house). She describes their apartment, which is one of many that surround a communal park, and she includes drawings of it. Grace hates the place. Pip ends the letter by telling Chris she misses him.

The rest of the chapter is written from the perspective of Leo’s wife, Adele. She watches Clare, Grace, and Pip and thinks about how she moved in with Leo 20 years ago. He grew up in Virginia Crescent, and they took over the flat when his father moved to Africa and married “a woman half his age” (16). Leo had seen Clare’s family move in a few days prior, in January. He warns Adele that she is staring long enough to seem creepy.

This chapter also begins with a letter from Pip to Chris. She says that their grandmother visited and doesn’t like the communal park. Pip describes the kids she sees there, and she includes a drawing of them and a drawing of herself. She worries that Chris has forgotten what she looks like.

In Adele’s perspective, she gathers her homeschooled children—Fern, Willow, and Catkin—for lunch. After they eat, she gives the girls some free time. The narrator describes how Adele gave up working at an arts center to homeschool her children. Her family disapproves of the communal park. The narrator describes the other alternative ways she raises her children, such as wearing ethically produced garments and making their own food. Adele is proud of her unconventional children.

This chapter begins from Pip’s perspective. In the park, Pip and Grace meet Tyler and watch Dylan from a distance. Tyler leaves the sisters to follow Dylan, and Adele’s daughters join them. Pip and Grace go back to their apartment.

The chapter continues from Clare’s perspective. She watched the exchange between Tyler, Pip, and Grace through the window. When they come back in, Clare suggests spaghetti and peas. New onesies arrive in the mail, and the girls change into them. Later, when Clare says goodnight to Pip, she asks when she can see her father. Grace doesn’t want to see Chris. Pip demands to see their old house, and Clare agrees that they can go the next day. Grace says that she doesn’t want to go, but she ends up going.

When they visit the burned-down house, the narrator describes how Clare is living on limited funds from Chris’s account. He used to work as a documentary maker. They discuss his mental health condition, and Grace says that Clare thought she could save Chris. Grace wants a different father. Pip asks to leave, and they go back to their apartment.

The chapter ends with another letter from Pip to Chris. She describes seeing the house and how they are no longer “normal.”

This chapter begins from Adele’s perspective. Leo tells her that his father, Gordon (also called Puppy), is ill and coming to stay with them. He has a history of sexually assaulting women by grabbing them without their consent. Adele sends her daughter to the store to buy food that Gordon will eat. Leo gets Gordon from the airport, and he almost sits on the dog. After greeting the girls, he complains about his journey.

The narrator shifts to Clare’s perspective. Around dusk, before Gordon arrives, she sees Dylan and Tyler riding their bikes and thinks about how her mother warned her against letting her girls go out in the park alone at night. Clare walks around the apartment community and sees her daughters through the window of the Howes’s place. Clare meets Adele and Leo, who apologize that they can’t entertain now because Gordon is on his way. Pip and Grace tell Clare about Adele homeschooling her daughters but admit that the girls are “quite weird.” They also tell Clare that they like Adele and Leo. Clare recalls how she thought Chris would be good with kids, and Grace emphasizes how much she likes Leo.

From Pip’s perspective, she and Grace go to hang out with the other kids in the park. Grace wears mascara, and Pip notices. In addition to Tyler, Willow, Catkin, Fern, and Dylan, the kids are joined by Dylan’s brother, Rob, who has a learning disability. The Howes girls tell the others about Gordon, and they play football. Pip writes a letter to Chris about the “gang.” She mentions that Tyler seems to hate her and Grace. The letter ends with Pip asking when her dad will come home.

From Adele’s perspective, taking care of Gordon is keeping her from the work she wants to do: edit the memoir of a neighbor, Rhea. Gordon’s wife, Affie, stayed behind in Africa while Gordon came back to have his surgeries in England. Adele and Leo have a nurse come by to take care of Gordon’s dressings, but Gordon orders Adele around when the nurse isn’t there. They talk about Cecelia, Tyler’s mother, whom Gordon finds attractive.

From Clare’s perspective, she gets a phone call from St. Mungo’s treatment center. They say that Chris’s condition has improved over the last six months, and they are interested in sending him home. Clare doesn’t want him to come home because he burned down their old house. The treatment coordinator, Don, says that he won’t give Chris their new address, but he will probably be out by the end of the week.

From Pip’s perspective, Adele offers the kids healthy snacks. In addition to her kids, Pip, Grace, Dylan, and Tyler are there. After Adele tells them that Gordon is sleeping, she leaves the room. Tyler asks Grace and Pip if their dad burned down their house. Grace says that it’s not true and their dad died of lung cancer. When Tyler goes to Willow’s room, Dylan apologizes for her question and says Tyler is jealous. Leo comes home and greets the kids before going to check on Gordon. Pip asks to use the bathroom. When she walks past Willow’s room, Pip sees Leo and Tyler sitting on the bed together, holding hands and with Tyler’s head on Leo’s shoulder.

Pip writes a letter to her father, relaying most of these events. She adds that after she saw Tyler and Leo, Pip saw that Grace and Dylan were sitting close together. So, Pip decided to leave. In her letter, she asks Chris what it is like where he is at. Then, she describes Rhea and her large rabbit, Fergus, as well as their neighbor Max. Pip also describes a plaque on a bench in the park dedicated to Phoebe, who died at 15 years old. This makes Pip think about how they could’ve died in the fire that Chris set. She mentions that Clare misses Chris at the end of her letter.

From Adele’s perspective, she asks Leo what he thinks of Pip and Grace. Adele shares that Tyler’s mother, Cecelia, told her that she saw a news story about Chris having schizophrenia and burning down his family’s home because he believed that it was full of alien rats. Then, Adele shares that Grace claimed that her father is dead. Adele and Leo decide to have Pip, Grace, and Clare over for dinner when Gordon is in the hospital. Leo offers to take the girls on some day trips so Adele can work on Rhea’s manuscript.

Early the following morning, Adele walks her dog to Clare’s apartment. She invites Clare and her daughters over for dinner. Pip lists foods she doesn’t like when Adele asks if they have any dietary restrictions, and Adele says she will try to accommodate Pip’s requests.

In Clare’s perspective, she regrets accepting the invitation, and Pip admits that she doesn’t want to go either. Clare thinks about Chris being released soon but doesn’t want to tell her daughters. Grace had an especially hard time with the trauma of the event. Then, Clare thinks back on all the things they lost in the fire, such as irreplaceable photos and her wedding dress. As Clare tries to think of a way to get out of attending Adele’s dinner party, Grace comes into the room. Grace wants to go to the dinner and repeats Tyler’s question and her lie regarding Chris’s death. Clare hugs Grace and agrees that they will all go, and Grace can stay after dinner if she wants.

On Sunday, Pip goes to the park and sees Tyler and Dylan together. However, she is looking for Rhea’s rabbit Fergus and declines Dylan’s invitation to join them. Rhea allows Pip to walk Fergus around the Secret Garden. After this, Rhea tells Pip about Dylan and Tyler’s families. Rhea reveals that Phoebe dated Leo—and his brother—and Phoebe would have been Tyler’s aunt, but she died of an overdose. Then, Rhea alludes to Gordon being a terrible person. Pip writes these details in a letter to her father and wishes he was around to solve the mystery with her. She thinks he could make a film about it. Pip adds that she might have seen him on her way home from school.

Clare looks through her clothes but isn’t sure what to wear to Adele’s dinner party. Pip offers Clare an outfit. Clare is alarmed by how much makeup Grace is putting on for the party. Grace complains that Clare never takes them out, and Clare thinks about how Grace has been hanging out with her new friends in the park instead of coming home. Pip’s outfit is too big on Clare, so she changes into some jeans and a black lace top.

The perspective shifts to Pip when Adele greets the Wilds at her door. Catkin and Willow mix drinks for the adults. Fern dyes her hair blue. Leo tells them that Gordon’s foot has been removed, and Pip thinks he’s trying to impress Clare. Pip is not impressed. Cecelia and Tyler arrive and the way Cecelia looks at Grace makes Pip feel uneasy. After dinner, Catkin, Fern, and Willow play musical instruments. Then, Pip and Clare leave the party. Leo teaches Grace how to play guitar. Pip writes a letter to Chris about the party. She wishes she could’ve talked about his career and accomplishments at the party.

Adele asks Leo about the delay when he walked Grace home. He says he talked to Clare and smoked a cigarette. Adele reads Leo a passage from Rhea’s memoir about him and Cecelia. Leo admits that they dated when Cecelia was 13 and he was 17. He claims that they didn’t have sex, only innocently cuddled and kissed. Adele knew Leo dated Phoebe, but didn’t know about Cecelia, and is upset. Leo tells her not to worry about it.

In Clare’s perspective, she talks to Leo as he drops Grace off after the party. She finds Leo youthful and attractive. After he leaves, and Grace gets ready for bed, Grace hugs her mom and says she had a good time. They talk about Tyler and her mother being “off” somehow.