The Garden of Survival, written in 1918, began in Blackwood’s usual polished and expressive style. His protagonist, Richard, a former military man now making a living as a foreign diplomat in Africa, details in epistolary format his musings of life and love. We are informed of his having been married for a very short time --his wife, a vision of beauty and possessing a special talent to bewitch admirers by playing her alluring harp for them is Je ne se quoi personified, it seems. And given the short duration of the marriage, as well as a few well-placed ominous descriptions of her penchant for attracting the opposite sex, the reader soon gets the idea that this woman is most definitely not what she seems.
The story is both enticing and ethereal. The description of Richard’s childhood garden is vaguely remniscent of the biblical Garden of Eden. And while we don't really connect the title of this story to the plot, the tale beguiles the reader, nonetheless, to press on with the expectation that something Big and Sinister is about to transpire if we will just be patient.
Algernon Blackwood's books are HERE.
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