The Garden Just Beyond

Ages 10 to 14

Get ready for a middle grade novel steeped in magic that you won't want to miss.

For fourteen-year-old Magnolia aka Maggie Gartner, nothing is more magical than family dinner. She’s not unique in that—anyone lucky enough to purchase a meal ticket at the Gartner’s estate in Humble Hollow, New Jersey claims the food changed their life. That’s a given when you harvest crops that purposefully alter emotions. Add in the sparkling company of an eccentric family who has hidden a centuries-old agricultural secret and you’re guaranteed a rollicking night.

Although every member of the Gartner family is exceptional, Maggie often feels like the exception. That’s going to change when Maggie cooks her first dinner and proves she’s just as Gartner as everyone else. But in the shadow of her growth, a mysterious stranger moves to town, putting the Gartners at risk of losing everything and Humble Hollow at risk of losing, well, everything else.

With the help of new kid, Graham, as well as trusty townsfolk and family folklore, Maggie must dig deep to see what others can’t, especially buried truths that feel just beyond her reach.

Devilishly absurd and heartachingly true, The Garden Just Beyond untangles themes of heritage,

identity, and legacy in a tale that twists and turns until the enchanted end.

About the Author

Lindsey Leavitt enthusiastically picked New Jersey for her state report in the fifth grade. She grew up in the Las Vegas desert, so visiting her aunt and uncle in “the garden state” was absolute magic (and still is). Now Lindsey lives in the Utah mountains, where she co-owns an independent bookstore, Folklore Books. There’s a small vegetable patch in her backyard, but Lindsey’s not great at gardening (besides chives. She’s QUEEN of chives). Find out more about Lindsey and her many kid-lit books at lindseyleavitt.com