After being assigned the task to make a blog on the internet I must admit that I was not so thrilled, but I realized that it is a great way to get your opinion out about certain things on your mind which the whole world can tap into, so welcome to my blog!

The purpose of this blog is to get information out about great Canadian authors, like Helen Humphreys. I thought that Helen was a great candidate for my blog because I realized that she is almost impossible to find on the internet. Sure there are some reviews about her great books, but no more than a couple of sentences written about her life. After digging deeper into the internet information I found out that her books were more than just fiction and that one of them was like an autobiography of her life. The book 'The Lost Garden' written by Helen is the book that she says she wrote to ressemble things in her life that had happened, which is the book that I enjoyed reading by her. I thought it was neat to know that the 'lost garden' was something that her grandfather had actually found when he was living on an estate in his earlier days and that he actually took the time to restore it, just like Gwen, the main character, did in the book. Another character, Jane, in the book had a husband who was missing in action, which Helen was reffering to as her other grandfather that had dissaperared in 1941 and was never to see again. I think that little things like these are what makes the book interesting, the fact that you can acutally imagine these things in the book happening to real people.

Hopefully my blog has inspired someone to pick up the book "The Lost Garden" by Helen Humphreys as she is a great Canadian author and should be recognized as one as well. If not, than I hope you enjoyed reading about her book, and welcome again to my blog!

Links

http://januarymagazine.com/profiles/humphreys.html

http://www.bloomsbury.com/Authors/details.aspx?tpid=604

http://www.banffcentre.ca/faculty/faculty_member.aspx?facid=1987

http://www.mostlyfiction.com/world/humphreys.htm

https://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=9780393051834&atch=h&utm_content=You%20Might%20Also%20Like

http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/fall03/032491.htm

http://savvyreader.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/09/prosecast-interview-with-helen-humphreys.html

http://www.canadianliving.com/life/community/interview_with_author_helen_humphreys.php

http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/pro_2005_writer.jsp

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/blitz.htm

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/about-blitz.htm

http://www.homemakers.com/home/bestbooks/the-lost-garden-b68.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/50/a2894150.shtml

http://www.answers.com/topic/canadian-literature

The Lost Garden- Helen Humphreys
The last significant part of the book is the ending. Gwens best friend Jane dies, her love Raley dies but through all of this Gwen stays at the estate because it is where she feels most at home, she continues on teaching girls how to garden even after the war is over. The theme of this section of the book is love, because that is how Gwen see's her time at the estate, a time of love. "Every story is a story about death. But perhaps, if we are lucky, our story about death is also a story about love. And that is what I have remembered of love"(212). Perhaps this is the only place that Gwen has ever felt love because she certainly didn't feel loved by her mother as she was never told that her mother loved her. She still finds peace in her secret garden and can share that with Jane as she too found the secret garden and will love it dearly. I think that Gwen being at the estate has taught her how to love and be loved and without her ever going to the estate, I don't think she would have ever experienced it any other way as she was to timid and self consious to meet new people. Therefore the theme of this section of the book, or perhaps the whole book itself, is love.

The Lost Garden- Helen Humphreys------Journal 3
Throughout the novel we see that Gwen Davis' character traits are beginning to change. when Gwen first came to the estate she had never been in love before and had never had a good friend. She was uptight and had no control, she questioned herself on the choice that she had made for even coming to the estate to show the girls how to garden, and she had very low self confidence. This all changes throughout the book as she soon falls in love with officer Raley who first started out as a friend and escalated into more than just that. "I'm truly sorry"(197).When Gwen expresses her love that she feels towards him, he does not feel the same way, she is devastated but we know that as a character her traits have changed, because a few months before she would have never had the courage to say anything like that to anyone, let alone a man, whom she is not entirely farmilliar with. We also see that Gwen is not so uptight when she has as close friend., her bestfriend, Jane. She has never had a relationship like the one that she has with Jane ever before. We see that Jane has a very positive effect on Gwen, as it seems that she can now let loose and talk more freely about her problems with her, and knows that she will not tell a soul what she is thinking. Gwen is also not as uptight as she was before, and has gained respect and control over the girls, something she thought that she would never be able to do, and lastly, she no longer second guesses herself as she see's that she has made the right choice in coming to the estate and she finally has a place that feels like home again.

The Lost Garden- Helen Humphreys----Journal 2
The next significant point that I found in the book revolves around the theme of friendship. At the beginning of the book, Gwen Davis is all about strictly business, which we see doesn't always work out the best for her because the girls don't want to have to listen to a 'drill sergent' which they refer to Gwen as, when they are just learning how to plant potatoes. She soon realizes that her method is not working, and finds a new friend amidst her problem. Raley, who is a Canadian officer waiting for a posting to the front lines with his men. Gwen doesn't understand how Raley has so much control over his boys and can be friends with them at the same time as well, when Gwens girls have no respect for her, leave the gardens whenever they want and don't give a care as to what she has to say. Raley lets her in on his secret for being a leader and a friend and when Gwen stops acting like a drill sergent and gives the girls some privileges like the dance that is held once a month, and letting them go off for picnics, we see that they start to show respect and listen to what she has to say. Gwen sees this is an advantage, as she and the girls can get a lot more done as they can communicate much better and being more friendly. " You don't seem like the others"(37). One girl that Gwen really seems to connect with is Jane, as she is different from all of the other girls and seems to have an understanding of what Gwen is going through, they soon become best friends. Overall the theme of this section of the book is friendships as many friends are made.

The Lost Garden- Helen Humphreys-----Journal 1
The first point of significance that I have found in the Lost Garden, is the point in the book where we are introduced to Gwen Davis. Gwen Davis is moving away from London as the war is destroying all the things that were beautiful to her and this is not how she wanted to remember her home. She travels to a large estate where she will be working with young women and teaching them her passion, gardening, to do their part in the war that's going on. This segement of the book shows you that Gwen is trying to take out all things bad in her life as she cannot stand the war. This section also reveals that Gwen is a very self-conscious lady, worries a lot and is timid. This gives us an idea of her character throughout the book. "I realize, from Jane's position at the head of the table and from her easy manner, that she has the unofficial charge of the girls"(33). We also see that she is not a person who can take charge and she feeds off of people(like Jane) for support while handling the girls. She becomes very emotional when she doesn't understand why things are they way they are, but she keeps her emotions bottled up well, letting no one know how she is feeling. We later find out that these traits that she has could be due to the lack of love that her mother had or showed towards her, or that she was molested by an older man when she was a younger girl. Such factors as these could be the reason that Gwen Davis is who she is today. Therefore this section of the book is significant because it shows character traits that could be significant later on in the book.