The First Gardener
Read The First Gardener Online
Authors: Denise Hildreth Jones
Tags: #FICTION / General, #General Fiction
| The First Gardener | |
| Jones, Denise Hildreth | |
| Tyndale House Publishers (2011) | |
| Tags: | FICTION / General, General Fiction |
Jeremiah Williams has been tending the gardens of the Tennessee governor’s mansion for over twenty-five years. And like most first families who have come and gone, this one has stolen his heart.
Mackenzie and her husband, Governor Gray London, have struggled for ten years to have a child and are now enjoying a sweet season of life—anticipating the coming reelection and sending their precious daughter, Maddie, off to kindergarten—when a tragedy tears their world apart. As the entire state mourns, Mackenzie falls into a grief that threatens to swallow her whole.
Though his heart is also broken, Jeremiah realizes that his gift of gardening is about far more than pulling weeds and planting flowers. It’s about tending hearts as well. As he uses the tools that have been placed in his hands, he gently begins to cultivate the hard soil of Mackenzie’s heart, hoping to help her realize what it took him years to discover.
A Southern tale of loss, love, and living,
The First Gardner
reminds us that all of life is a gift, but our heart is the most valuable gift of all.
Praise for Denise Hildreth Jones
The First Gardener
“Denise Hildreth Jones plants another winner with
The First Gardner
. This poignant Southern tale shows that love and forgiveness can be cultivated even in the midst of the strangling weeds of incomprehensible loss.”
Gina Holmes, bestselling author of
Crossing Oceans
“
The First Gardener
will take you on a journey from despair to hope, from lost to found, from wilting to blooming. Denise’s characters are steeped with deeper meanings and poignant struggles that are vital and real.”
Lisa Wingate, bestselling author of
Larkspur Cove
and
Dandelion Summer
“This is truly, as we fiction writers often say, ‘opening a vein and bleeding on paper.’ Surely
The First Gardener
took every ounce of emotion to write and will have the same effect on its readers. Bravo!”
Eva Marie Everson, author of
Chasing Sunsets
, a Return to Cedar Key novel
Hurricanes in Paradise
“Magnificent reading. . . . Hildreth writes her books with an open heart and a generosity of spirit.”
The Huffington Post
“[A] winning combination of humor, spiritual insight, and true-life characters has widespread appeal.”
Romantic Times, Top Pick review
“Hildreth has done a masterful job of creating realistic, unforgettable relationships interwoven in a wonderful story line of real-life struggles, heartaches, and hurricanes, showing that with God’s help, we can survive even the strongest storms of life.”
CBA Retailers + Resources
“A great story with so many twists and turns that just never stopped getting intriguing. The end leaves you just begging for more.”
Examiner.com
“Soaked with sun, wit, and heart, this is a story of healing and the hope that, sometimes, surviving the storm has its rewards.”
Patti Callahan Henry,
New York Times
bestselling author
Flies on the Butter
“Hildreth’s latest shines with humanity and originality. . . . Keep tissues handy for the emotional conclusion.”
Romantic Times
“[N]othing less than a spiritual odyssey of inner reckoning.”
Southern Living
“Beautifully portrays how looking back thoughtfully has the potential to powerfully transform one’s future.”
Andy Andrews,
New York Times
bestselling author
The Savannah series
“[
Savannah from Savannah
is] smart and witty.”
Library Journal
“Reading
Savannah Comes Undone
is like taking a virtual vacation. It’s a quirky, fun foray into life in the South. . . . You won’t be disappointed.”
Kathy L. Patrick, founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Club
“An engaging read of real-life vignettes and relationships. I read it cover to cover. As Savannah discovers her beliefs, values, and passions, the reader will be looking into their own ‘mirror of truth.’”
Naomi Judd
Visit Tyndale online at www.tyndale.com.
Visit Denise Hildreth Jones’s website at www.denisehildrethjones.com.
TYNDALE
and Tyndale’s quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc.
The First Gardener
Copyright © 2011 by Denise Hildreth Jones. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of hand copyright © by Blend Images/Veer. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of sky copyright © by UpperCut Images/Veer. All rights reserved.
Cover photograph of flower copyright © by Photographer Olympus/iStock. All rights reserved.
Cover designed by Rule 29
Interior designed by Beth Sparkman
Edited by Anne Christian Buchanan
Published in association with the literary agency of Daniel Literary Group, Nashville, TN.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jones, Denise Hildreth.
The first gardener / Denise Hildreth Jones.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-4143-3558-2 (pbk.)
1. Governors’ spouses—Fiction. 2. Children—Death—Fiction. 3. Grief—Fiction.
4. Nashville (Tenn.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3610.O6243F57 2011
813´.6--dc22 2011020883
Also by Denise Hildreth Jones
Savannah from Savannah
Savannah Comes Undone
Savannah by the Sea
Flies on the Butter
The Will of Wisteria
Hurricanes in Paradise
Flying Solo:
A Journey of Divorce, Healing, and a Very Present God
To those who have ever needed a friend
to walk through life’s tough places with them . . .
and to the friends who have.
Table of Contents