The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

★★★★★

"She'd been telling it for years, though not when Mother could hear.  Mother would have said Eliza was upsetting Sammy with her fall tales.  Mother didn't understand that children aren't frightened by stories; that their lives are full of far more frightening things than those contained in fairy tales."

After Cassandra loses her beloved grandmother, Nell, she is thrown into a unexpected journey to discover who her grandmother really was.  Starting with an old book of fairy tales, Cassandra is able to trace the footsteps of her grandmother.  Going back and forth between present day and the 1930s, the novel reveals many unexpected twists and Cassandra begins to understand the  dark secrets of her family's past.

This book was wonderful!  I loved everything about it, especially the focus on an old book of fairy tales...some of which were actually included in the novel.  The story kept me reading late into the night and I have since read all of Kate Morton's other three books.  I really enjoyed her other books, all of which go back and forth between the past and present, but this one was by far my favorite.

This book was #2 on my top ten list of 2012.