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The Garden of Survival

by Algernon Blackwood (1869–1951)

  • Free to read
  • 1 hour to read
  • 11 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"The Garden of Survival" by Algernon Blackwood is a novel likely written in the early 20th century. This work explores themes of love, loss, and spiritual connection, particularly through the eyes of a man reflecting on his life and his relationship with a deceased wife, Marion. The narrator grapples with his feelings of both physical and emotional connection, questioning the essence of true love and the intricacies of human emotions. At the start of the narrative, the unnamed narrator addresses an unknown confidant, sharing his complex feelings about his past marriage to Marion, whom he believes he had married out of pity rather than true love. He recounts deeply personal memories of their relationship, highlighting Marion's beauty, her passion for music, and his own struggles to comprehend his feelings for her. The opening portion of the book sets the tone for a profound exploration of self-awareness, love, and the necessity for human connection as the narrator navigates between remorse for his past actions and a yearning for a deeper understanding of love—a journey that appears to intertwine with themes of survival in both physical and emotional senses.

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  • Fiction
  • Horror tales, English

Read the opening

Chapter I

IT will surprise and at the same time possibly amuse you to know that I had the instinct to tell what follows to a Priest, and might have done so had not the Man of the World in me whispered that from professional Believers I should get little sympathy, and probably less credence still. For to have my experience disbelieved, or attributed to hallucination, would be intolerable to me. Psychical investigators, I am told, prefer a Medium who takes no cash recompense for his performance, a Healer who gives of his strange powers without reward. There are, however, natural-born priests who yet wear no uniform other than upon their face and heart, but since I know of none I fall back upon yourself, my other half, for in writing this adventure to you I almost feel that I am writing it to myself.

The desire for confession is upon me: this thing must out. It is a story, though an unfinished one. I mention this at once lest, frightened by the thickness of the many pages, you lay them aside against another time, and so perhaps neglect them altogether. A story, however, will invite your interest, and when I add that it is true, I feel that you will bring sympathy to that interest: these together, I hope, may win your attention, and hold it, until you shall have read the final word.

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Contents

  1. Chapter I
  2. Chapter II
  3. Chapter III
  4. Chapter IV
  5. Chapter V
  6. Chapter VI
  7. Chapter VII
  8. Chapter VIII
  9. Chapter IX
  10. Chapter X
  11. Chapter XI

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About this edition

This free edition of The Garden of Survival by Algernon Blackwood comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #4046, released 2003-05-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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