A tale of grief and ghosts and at least one small dog
by P A Swanborough
It’s 1969. Distrust and arrogance are alive and well in the
timeless bones and living stones of this close Welsh community, and the pagan
ancestors aren’t as far in the past as people might think. It only takes a very
small dog to inflame a monster…
Suspiciously long-lived matriarch Lizzie Coombe expects her one-hundredth birthday to be a special day. She’s always kept aloof from the neighbours; hasn’t spoken to some for over 50 years, and cares even less for their opinions. But Reverend Morgan, latest in a long line of Morgan vicars at the tiny village chapel, is affronted by events. And he finds a ready audience for his hostility.
Caught inside the haunted walls of the ancestral farmhouse, aristocratic Lizzie and her solid daughter Myfanwy only know long-dead love. Lizzie’s unstable granddaughter Sarah Maud is frightened of it. Great granddaughter Jenner doesn’t seem to need love at all; is she a wise woman, or a witch?
As events and people spiral out of her accustomed control, Lizzie faces her own ghosts and sees she might have to do the unexpected: care for her family.
Red Gifts in the Garden of Stones is a love letter to the disappointed, invisible women; to those flawed people who think they have nothing more to learn, yet somehow find strength when it’s needed. It looks at alienation and healing, change and tradition, and the impacts of tragedy. And holding them all, the ancient landscape of South Wales.
A community is defined by its history. But history can be as dry as tinder. And as red as fire.
“… an impressive tale, and Swanborough is a talented, lyrical writer… A debut that will enchant readers with its poetic prose and haunted realism. Our verdict: Get it!” Kirkus Review: Starred. Listed in Kirkus Review Top 5 Indie Books for January 2025
“Red Gifts in the Garden of Stones is mesmerisingly good… a spellbinding novel full of dark enchantment and arcane fire. Swanborough’s beguilingly beautiful prose and uncanny imagination take the reader on a compelling journey through love, loss, and redemption.’ The Book Review Directory
Award-winning author and educator Lee Kofman describes Red Gifts in the Garden of Stones as ‘A compelling tale, brought to life… immersive, wild, visceral and magical’, and specifies for praise the dialogue, humour, world building and thematic richness; in summary, ‘…a very readable book in the best sense of this expression (so entertaining but not light).’
Purchase here or:
- ISBN 978-1-7635000-0-6 paperback
- ISBN 97817635000-2-0 hardback
- In Australia:
- at a real bookshop 🙂
- Blarney Books and Art, Port Fairy
- Collins Booksellers Lydiard St, Ballarat
- Collins Booksellers Warrnambool
- Stoneman’s Bookroom, Castlemaine
- online at Angus Robertson, Readings or Amazon
- at a real bookshop 🙂
- In the UK: Amazon or Waterstones
- In the USA: Amazon or Alibris or Barnes & Nobel
- In Australia:
- ISBN 978-1-7635000-1-3: e-book available on Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo and other online sources in your country
Reader resources:
Radio Myfanwy on Spotify includes music that is mentioned in the story, as well as music that Myfanwy—and Sarah Maud—would have been listening to
Red Gifts mood and info board on Pinterest has some of the more uncommon items mentioned in the story; and photos that relate to the place and time. Plus some links to recipes, pronounciation and other generally fun stuff I found
You can read a short story of Lizzie’s birth here: Gwennie and Elizabeth
And you can leave a review, ask a question, or chat with the author, on Goodreads
Click here to request a Bookclub Discussion Sheet or author talk; and group purchases of five or more copies to the one address gain a 10% discount.
About the author:
Pamela Swanborough started writing in 2019, winning Best Regional Writer/ runner-up Best Fiction, GMW Emerging Writers’ Competition, Writers Victoria 2019 and completing an Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT in 2022. She has short stories published in Australia and the USA, and has worked on a number of collaborations including the Ballarat Foto Biennale and
Pam is interested in almost everything, and her writing explores imbalance, the fragility of life and environment, age and memory, and fluid identity. She works in literary/speculative fiction and lyric non-fiction. Pam lives in rural Victoria and is currently working on a second major writing project while renovating a crumbling ruin with which she feels a natural affinity.
Red Gifts in the Garden of Stones (Two Feathers Press, 2024) is her first novel.
All enquiries, including bookclub sets, please contact 2FP here
Two Feathers Press 
[…] novel Red Gifts in the Garden of Stones (2024) takes up the story of baby Elizabeth, on her one hundredth birthday in […]
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Aldous Huxley famously said that to write fiction, one needs a whole series of inspirations about people in an actual environment, and then a whole lot of work on the basis of those inspirations.
Through a blend of lyrical prose, poignant moments, sharp wit, and enchanting storytelling, Swanborough’s remarkable debut novel, set in the ancient landscape of South Wales, tells a story that touches the heart and mind. It’s a tale, filled with magic and depth, that resonates long after the final page is turned.
I think Huxley would have approved.
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