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Urgent, lyrical, and intelligent, A Garden of Her Own is a startlingly intimate portrait of a marriage, of a woman in a marriage, and a moving exploration of life’s largest commitments.
Amy James is a good wife and a good gardener. Married to renowned architect Graham James and employed as a part-time garden columnist, Amy has almost enough to keep her happy. Engaged in researching a new book—a collection of essays about women who garden—she unearths a long-lost desire for independence, fresh relationships and a surprising ambition.
When her husband reveals his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, insisting she keep it a secret, their life together is upended. Torn between Graham’s needs and the demanding schedule set by her agent, Amy tries to please everyone. As tension builds along the fault lines of a long and unexamined marriage, Amy struggles to prioritize her own happiness, on a journey that ultimately threatens her family, her career, and her emerging sense of self.
Kate Phelps was born and raised in New England. A graduate of Brown University (where she was awarded an Arnold Fellowship to study political theatre abroad), her first writing was for the stage. She became a playwright in England where she lived for fifteen years, producing six plays on the fringe and repertory theatre. After returning to the States, she earned a Master’s in Dispute Resolution from UMASS Boston, and began a dual career in human resources and professional mediation, later becoming a part-time writing tutor at Roxbury Community College. A lifelong writer and gardener, Kate lives with her husband in Roxbury, Massachusetts.
Kate’s stories explore how social events and deeply ingrained differences consume our lives, even as quiet, shared moments in nature, interactions of hope, humor and affection run under and through everything we do. If there’s a constant refrain to her work, it’s of the need to change the world while trying to survive it.