“The silence that descended around Giles and me was comfortable, as if our priest had called for prayer. I cherished the moment and it occurred to me that friendship itself could be a kind of church.”
I picked up this book by Carol Wall on a whim at the library from the gardening books display. I swear that the librarians plant books for me to discover, as this is the second visit in a row that I have been lured by a display.
The memoir is a story of an American woman with breast cancer who strikes up a friendship with the Kenyan man who becomes her gardener. The Kenyan, Giles Owita, has much to teach Wall about life and gardening, and Wall does a lot of healing through their friendship.
Wall slowly unravels the story about her upbringing, about how she had a sister with Down syndrome who died young, about how she couldn’t turn to her mother to comfort her throughout her life and had to be the comforter, about how her trusting parents allowed her to be treated with radiation at a very young age. She delves into the effects of her upbringing and the cancer on her marriage.
Throughout the story, Owita supports Wall in various ways, and she becomes his student in gardening and in life. Yet despite Owita’s sunny personality, he has some secrets of his own, and Wall in her turn is able to support Owita.
Spoiler Alert! Giles Owita does die near the end of the memoir, and Carol Wall died shortly after the book’s publication. So this isn’t a happily ever after memoir, but it is never depressing.
Although the memoir is ten years old, it is still very relevant today. It is a quick read despite the at times heavy topics.
Shoe’s Seeds and Stories
@Copyright 2024 Linda Schueler
Shoe's Seeds & Stories 