Takes a little to get into the book as you travel through the discovery of the garden, but then the fun starts. The book got me so engrossed in the mystery and symbolism that I have decided to take on reading and studying Dante's Divine Comedy.
Definitely recommend the book and would have lots to discuss at any book club.

A student is assigned to write a research thesis on a massive outdoor garden originating in the 1500\'s in Italy. Upon arriving, the student (Adam) finds himself confronted with a feisty estate owner who gives him free reign to her estate and resources. In an effort not to give the plot away, one of the estate owner\'s son was murdered in an upstairs floor of the house and it is rumored that the orignator of the garden\'s wife mysteriously died at a young age. The theme of Dante\'s Inferno, The Divine Comedy and Greek mythology play a huge role in the outlay of the book. I felt a bit disadvantanged having not read Dante\'s works but felt the author gave enough information so that the reader could follow. I enjoyed watching the unraveling of the two mysteries, even though it didn\'t seem to start coming together until about half way through the book, but I couldn\'t help but feel that the story was a bit disjointed. I felt the estate owner knew the outcome before the student arrived, so why go through the charade? The 1500 garden design, while elaborate and meticulous, seemed a bit too well thought out and I had trouble convincing myself that anyone would go to that much trouble to tell a story. Regardless of some of my objections, I felt the book was well written, was a good fictional story and worth the time spent ingulfed in its words.