Debbie Macomber has a way of seamlessly blending several different storylines and characters in all of her books, but she has outdone herself in this regard in Susannah's Garden. The first chapter of the book introduces the reader to Vivian and it is clear that this lady is in the first stages of Alzheimer's Disease as she gets lost in her own neighbourhood and thinks that her dead husband is the one who brought her home. At first, the reader may think that this book is about Vivian and Alzheimers. but we meet Susannah in the second chapter.
Susannah is Vivian's daughter and it is through her that we learn about the family. She is a teacher living in Seattle and her father, who was a judge, has only recently passed away. Due to the nature of her job she was not able to spend very much time with her mother at the time of the funeral and is planning a visit now that the school year is over. A phone call from one of her mother's friends who has been looking after her alerts Susannah to the possibility that her mother may not be well when she finds that Vivian has accused Martha of stealing her spoons. A phone call to her mother and a neighbour confirms her suspicions that her mother should not be living on her own.
Susannah also has other problems on her plate. For some reason, she has been thinking about a boyfriend from her teenage years and her daughter, with whom she can't seem to connect, is coming home for the summer, but does not have a job. As she introduces the character of the daughter, Chrissie, Macomber takes us to the dorm at the university in Eugene as Chrissie is waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. It is clear from her thoughts that all is not well in this relationship and we learn more about the mother-daughter relationship.
Susannah encounters a mystery in her hometown of Colville, which makes this novel a page turner. She tries to find some information about Jake, but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. At about the same time she was dating Jake, her brother Doug had been killed in a tragic accident. Susannah also thinks a lot about her father with whom she did not have a good relationship, thinking that her father didn't love her and that he was heavy-handed in his dealings with Jake. She suspected that he did play a role in the break-up.
Although she did not like the idea, Vivian did move into an assisted living facility and the reader follows her journey to acceptance as she makes friends. At one point she made friends with a man named George, which was her husband's name. Susannah started to meet up with old friends from her youth, especially Carolyn, who has feelings for the gardener, Dave. She is afraid to act on these feelings because of her position as owner of a company and thinks that the townspeople would talk about her if she hooked up with a man with such a mundane job.
Chrissie, unable to cope with cooking and cleaning for her father and younger brother, surprises Susannah by showing up in Colville. She immediately starts dating an older man named Troy, whose mother also dated Jake. In a conversation with Sharon, Troy's mother, Susannah gets the impression that Jake was Troy's father and that Sharon is still in contact with him. She hires a private detective to find Jake and in so doing puts her own marriage in jeopardy when her husband finds out about it.
As she is packing up the clothing and furniture in her mother's home, she discovers things about her parents that she had never known. She also has the idea that someone has been entering the home and on one occasion she called the police.
The conclusion of the novel is an eye-opener to say the least with people returning from the dead. Susannah has been unhappy with her job as a teacher for some time and decides to take a new direction in her life by opening a flower shop, which she intends to name Susannah's Garden.
Throughout the novel, Debbie Macomber focuses on family relationships and the ups and downs that most families experience, such as daughters dating boys unacceptable to their parents. The reader gets to know the characters and with the diverse characters in the novel, there is one that most can identify with. Family love and forgiveness are two of the main themes of this novel and Macomber shows us that no matter how bad we think things may be, love will find a way to help you through them.