The Walled Garden, Sarah Hardy’s poignant, delicate novel is set in 1946 in the fictional village of Oakbourne but firmly located in recognisable Suffolk landscapes. The novel was long listed for the 2023 Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award for the Best Historical Fiction novel of the year. Stephen Rayne returns from war, embittered and angry, deeply scarred psychologically. His personality has changed greatly and Alice, his unhappy wife, is fearful of his transformation. The traumatic destruction of the Second World War is set in parallel to the disintegration of Oakbourne Hall.  Alice sets out to restore the Hall and to bring the garden back to life. The narrative takes the reader through the natural year from winter to springtime.