The Last Garden in England

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses child loss and abuse.

Highbury House represents a bygone era or land ownership by the aristocracy in which a village arranged itself around a large manor home, or castle. This feudal system, where the serfs served the manor lord, eventually gave way to democratic forms of government, but the manor house, or country home, still exists as the hub of many small villages throughout England. While the landed gentry no longer exclusively control local resources or employ the majority of the village residents, their houses function as a central symbol of administrative unity and local esteem.

In this novel, Highbury House also functions as a symbol of personal achievement and self-actualization. For example, when Venetia first arrives to design the garden rooms, she thinks about what this project means to her: “Every garden—every hard-fought commission—feels like a triumph, and I am determined that Highbury House shall be my greatest effort yet” (18). Through her work at Highbury House, Venetia will prove her worth as an artist—moreover, as a female artist ahead of her time.

Later, after her affair with Matthew and subsequent pregnancy loss, Highbury House seems very different: “So much had changed since I’d come to Highbury House.