Book Review: The Woman in the Garden by Jill Johnson

Former Professor Eustacia Rose is something of a recluse. Eccentric and middle-aged, she spends most of her days either in her London apartment or in the attached rooftop garden where she clandestinely cultivates the poisonous plants that once were her academic specialty. When she isn’t tending to her plants, she entertains herself by spying on her neighbors with the help of the powerful telescope she’s carefully hidden from the view of anyone outside of her garden.

The favorite subject of her voyeurism is a beautiful young woman she nicknames Psychotria Elata, or Psycho for short. After she accidentally witnesses a man assaulting Psycho, Eustacia begins taking notes, with the fuzzy idea of being able to either protect the younger woman or back up her testimony should the need arise:

She wasn’t at home much during the day but often had visitors in the evening–all men–so after the attack, I decided to stop observing the other neighbors and only record these appearances, jotting down the time of arrival, the duration of stay, and a brief description of their activity. I also made a detailed study of each man. This I did scientifically, as if cataloguing the taxonomy, morphology, and toxicity of a plant, attributing a classification to each of them and giving them the common name of a poisonous plant. I knew I was not a good judge of character, but I did know plants, and one thing was increasingly obvious: these men were toxic.

Eustacia is well aware of her own limitations: she’s never really understood other people and much prefers the company of her greenery. Meticulously recording the comings and goings of Psycho’s visitors gives her a sense of doing something concrete to help the younger woman, who clearly needs a friend. When the opportunity arises to actually meet Psycho in person, Eustacia takes it, nurturing their blossoming relationship as carefully as she would any rare cutting she was cultivating for her poison garden.

But then Psycho disappears. Even more disastrously in Eustacia’s eyes, her rooftop garden is stolen from and vandalized. Eustacia reports both the disappearance and the vandalism to the proper authorities, but when someone close to Psycho is poisoned with what may have been plants from Eustacia’s garden, the police seem to consider Eustacia their prime suspect. Eustacia tries to protest her innocence but her motivations are, unfortunately, muddled by her undeniable attraction to Psycho:

But as time went by, I wondered what had changed, because I knew with certainty that I wanted to be drawn into Psycho’s life. I wanted it very much. Perhaps I felt a responsibility to protect her, to call the police if Castor attacked her again. Perhaps it was because the telescope had brought her so close that I felt a connection with her. Or maybe it was something simpler, baser. Behind my closed eyes, I pictured her putting her fingers into her mouth–her full, bloodied lips tightening around them–and groaned.

Will Eustacia be able to cut through all the distractions in order to get to the truth? It might not be only her name and freedom on the line, after all, but the very life of someone who could potentially be more than just a friend.

I was as surprised as anyone to find myself coming around to rooting for a narrator who too often lands on the creepy side of socially awkward. For all that Eustacia really shouldn’t be invading the privacy of others, she’s also trying very hard to do the right thing, even when no one else will believe her. Her journey to rescue Psycho, while also coming to terms with all the demons of the past that have brought her to this pass, is compelling and sympathetic. 

And while Eustacia might be better at plants than at people, Jill Johnson balances both effectively, sprinkling her tale with just the right amount of detail on various plants and their effects on humankind. I was so genuinely pleased when I learned that this will be the first novel in a series. Between the fascinating botanical information and the plucky characters, I can’t wait to read more!