June can name every flower species. She finds it much harder to cultivate an understanding of people.
After her mother’s unexpected death, June sets out to find her father, whom she knows only from an old photograph. When she arrives at his door, he panics and turns her away. With nowhere to go, she secretly moves into his yellow garden shed. But when her father’s twelve-year-old son discovers her, June must decide whether to stay or run.
This joyful and humorous debut novel is also a thoughtful celebration of difference. Readers will fall in love with June, as she searches for the two things she is missing—a family and a garden. June in the Garden lets us see things afresh.
About the Author
Eleanor Wilde is the pen name of an acclaimed YA writer. Eleanor loves books and gardening and spends her weekends in the hills or foraging for wildflowers in the woods. June in the Garden is her debut adult novel and she is working on her second, Clockwork Clementine. Eleanor lives near Edinburgh with her young family.
Industry Reviews
"Essential and beautiful. June in the Garden is a primer in empathy and compassion. We all live, perhaps unconsciously, by our own rules. June's rules aren't all that different; they're just clearly stated and at the very forefront of her thinking. Over time they've been her anchor and her scaffold; how she learned to climb through the world. But when life presents her with a new and different kind of landscape, we learn that those around her bear more than just a little responsibility for helping her find the next foothold. June's literal thinking leads us to the heart of all the questions we hope we'll never have to answer: Where will I go? What will I do? Who will love me? There's a little bit of June in each of us, waiting anxiously for the rest of the garden to bloom." --Benjamin Ludwig, author of Ginny Moon
"June in the Garden is the book we all need right now. It's heartwarming, witty, and ever so wise. Eleanor Wilde deftly weaves some serious themes into this perceptive and uplifting story about family and finding a place in the world. It's a tender celebration of differences, and of allowing people to blossom. June is a delightfully unique, endearing protagonist who sees the world differently, and through her eyes, you'll see things differently too. June in the Garden is an absorbing, poignant, and wholly original read. June will remain firmly embedded in your heart, long after the final page. I loved it." --Jane Tara, author of Tilda is Visible (forthcoming from Crown, February 2025)
"June in the Garden is a story that will weed its way into your heart. June is a lovely character you can't help but root for, and her journey is at once a story of grief and coming of age, while also exploring independence and what it means to be a person. I cried, I cheered, I wanted to get my hands into the dirt alongside June, if she would let me." --Rachel Mans McKenny, author of The Butterfly Effect
