War Gardens: A Novel.
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Published: 2005
Place of publication: S.l
Language: eng
Description: Lent's third novel moves his characters beyond the Northeastern territory of his first two books and into a broader America as it transforms itself over the course of the two world wars. War Gardens opens in a Nova Scotian fishing village where young Henry Dorn is groomed to assume leadership of the family's fishing enterprise when he is awakened to greater possibilities by a professor from the US. Upon graduating from college in New York, Henry marries his mentor's daughter, Olivia, and we follow the couple through the initial years of their marriage set against the backdrop of WWI and then into the heady, early days of Madison Ave advertising and the boom of the 1920s. Balanced between his professional success and marital struggles, Henry and Olivia persevere as the world enters the Great Depression, a time of challenge that binds them ever more strongly. But with the advent of the WWII they are confronted with the disappearance of their only son, Robert, who had secretly enlisted with the British Army. Following the war, Henry travels to Holland to discover the truth behind his son's life with the Dutch resistance. After learning the story of his son's service to the war effort, Henry is faced with the greatest moral challenge and duty of his life. With keen insights into family relationships and the capricious nature of life, War Gardens offers a transfixing and absorbing tale with a myriad of reflections upon our own turbulent times.