Driven by a need for some control in her life, Juliet sells up on impulse and buys a dilapidated farmhouse in a tiny Greek village, leaving her English life behind. The house is livable by local standards, but the job of restoring the garden is too big. It requires strength. Juliet cannot bring it to life on her own.
Around the olive tree, hidden beneath the covering of bindweeds, are mattresses, broken chairs, shepherds’ crooks, and old goat bells, the remains of past lives intertwined in a slow decay. The beauty of the garden is lost with the years of neglect and no one to appreciate it. Juliet reluctantly enlists casual labour. She has no desire to share her world with anyone. The boys have grown, Mick has gone. This is her time now.
Aaman has travelled to Greece from Pakistan illegally. His task is to find work and raise money for the harvester his village desperately needs to deliver them out of poverty. Poverty that is sending the younger generation to the cities, dividing families, and slowly destroying his community. What he imagined would be a heroic journey in reality is fraught with danger and corruption. He finds himself in Greece and follows the work, a little here, a little there. As time passes, he loses his sense of self. He is now an immigrant worker, illegal, displaced, unwanted, with no value. Some days he does not have enough money to feed himself, let alone to return home to Pakistan. In the village square, he waits for work, dawn not even broken.
Juliet hires Aaman. Neither is entirely comfortable with their role. Juliet the Westerner, who has money and a valid passport, resents the intrusion even though she wants her garden cleared. Aaman needs the work and money but resents the humiliation. As the summer progresses, even though they are from vastly different backgrounds, cultures apart, they discover they have something in common, an event that has defined how they interact and even how they view themselves. Pieces of their lives they have kept hidden even from themselves are exposed. They are each other’s catalysts to facing their own ghosts…
The Illegal Gardener is available to buy from Amazon US and Amazon UK
The Illegal Gardener – Sara Alexi
Anyone who has been to Greece will love this novel and if you haven’t reading this will make you want to go.
The story is about a single (I don’t want to say divorced) woman who’s children are grown up, so she makes the move to the country she visited and loved years before. Juliet has spent years learning Greek and can now do freelance from the home she bought in Greece. The house needs a lot of work and she hires two men looking for work from the town center. Is the choice right and does she need both men?
Aaman doesn’t look like the man for the job as he looks like he needs more than a few good meals. Aaman is looking to earn money to send home. Will this happen or will he die trying. This books shows the character of someone willing to work and do an excellent job to ensure he can provide for his family and the change in attitude of someone who can afford to hire help. Along the way there are many problems that must be overcome and the decision of whether to stay or go home (Juliet or Aaman).
The interaction between Juliet and Aaman is a breathe of fresh air and not your usual love story. So, what happens along the way? Will Aaman always be an illegal looking for work and a way back home? Does he stay in Greece? Does he return to his village? Read the book and you will immediately want to continue with the rest of the stories Sara Alexi has written. I am so glad I picked up this book and then I couldn’t put it down. Not only have I read it, but my sister, Mom and best friend also read it and feel the same way I do.
Susan Jackson
Purple Book Reviews 