The Someday Garden Summary by Chapter | Ashley Poston
The novel follows horticulturist Sophie Drear as she returns to the storied Lilymoor estate in Maine, determined to fulfill a decade-old promise to her late best friend.
There she discovers a hidden garden and a man caught in a liminal time loop — a mystery that will transform her understanding of loss and belonging.
Book Structure Overview
| Section | Chapters | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Introductory Section | Lilymoor | An atmospheric introduction to the estate and its magical reputation. |
| Part I: Lilymoor | 1 – 44 | Follows Sophie’s summer at the estate and her interactions with the secret garden. |
| Part II: Someday | Someday (Epilogue) | A concluding look at the future of the characters and the estate. |
| Supplemental Material | Notes / Readers Guide | Includes “Harriett’s Notes on Untranslatable Words” and discussion prompts. |
More Ashley Poston Book Summaries
The Someday Garden Summary Chapter by Chapter
⚠️ Spoiler Warning
Introductory Section: Lilymoor
A house on the cliffs grew untamed flowers and outlasted many owners until the Becks tended it with patient reverence. They named the estate Lilymoor and paved paths through its wild seasons.
The narrator tells us this is a magical house by the sea where visitors come for free, and it is here they fell in love.
Wind whispers a lover’s voice, and the estate becomes a living witness to joy and deep loss.
This poetic opening establishes Lilymoor as a place where grief and eternal connection intertwine.
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Part I: Lilymoor
Chapter 1: fernweh
Ten years ago, college best friends Sophie and Harriett visited Lilymoor for the first time, pulled by a shared obsession with a PBS documentary about the Becks and their legendary gardens. Sophie, a biology major, felt a deep fernweh — a longing for a place she had never been — while English major Harriett believed the garden’s magic was real.
They got lost in the hedge maze, and Harrie claimed she heard the voice of her truest love. As sunset approached, they realized graduate school and work would soon separate them to opposite coasts.
They made a sacred pinkie promise to meet back at Lilymoor in ten years, no matter where life took them. Sophie clung to the certainty that she never broke a promise.
Chapter 2: bricoleur
Ten years later, Sophie works as head gardener at Lilymoor, on loan from the New York Botanical Garden.
She wrangles a vicious Canada goose named Damnit and is assisted by a border collie, Reggie. The garden has fallen into disrepair since Henry Beck died sixteen years ago and his greenhouse burned down, destroying all records.
Sophie meets handyman Wykofski, a self-proclaimed “bricoleur” who hands out colorful nicknames. She struggles with a mysterious vine choking the hedge maze and notes the garden is aging and hard to understand.
Work keeps her mind quiet after a devastating year. Late in the day, she discovers a rusted blue door in the Hedges she had never noticed before.
Chapter 3: cafuné
Sophie steps through the blue door and enters a strange, keyhole-shaped garden that feels unfinished. Beneath an enormous willow tree, she finds a man in an expensive suit and penny loafers, asleep in the dirt. When she wakes him, he is confused and claims he was just resting his eyes.
He mentions a party Sophie knows nothing about and becomes dismissive, insisting he doesn’t need a babysitter. Sophie hears distant sirens and worries someone has been hurt on the estate. She leaves the man behind, assuming he will find his own way out. The sirens grow louder as she exits the garden.
Chapter 4: iktsuarpok
Sophie finds Wykofski and events coordinator Juliette panicked by the sirens. A fire truck roars up the drive blasting music, with Eula Beck sitting triumphantly on top — she bullied her way out of rehab a month early. Eula recognizes Sophie and calls her “magical,” her gaze piercing and knowing.
Sophie remembers glimpsing Eula a decade ago and Harrie’s desire to meet her. The man from the secret garden is nowhere to be seen. Eula’s dramatic return shifts the energy of the estate, and Sophie is both intimidated and relieved.
Chapter 5: ya’aburnee
Eula invites the firefighters to the manor’s upcoming bicentennial party. Juliette tries to stay organized while Eula, a woman who jumps first, mentions the untranslatable word ya’aburnee — the wish that a loved one outlives you.
That evening, Eula reveals a clause in Henry’s will: she must find Lilymoor’s next steward and plans to announce her retirement and a successor at the party.
Sophie feels like an outsider to the family drama, but Eula focuses on her specifically. When Sophie mentions the blue door, Eula insists no such door exists in the Hedges. Tension builds as the staff wonders what Eula’s retirement will mean.
Chapter 6: ciğerpare
Sophie lives in the groundskeeper’s cottage near an abandoned willow grove. On the phone, her travel-nurse mother worries about her falling off cliffs. Sophie admits she was contemplating quitting her career before taking this job and avoids talking about Harriett’s death.
She consults Harrie’s journal for the word ciğerpare — someone loved as much as one’s own vital organs — and uses a Magic 8 Ball to ask if she’s wasting her time.
Her isolated grief is laid bare: she removed all the butterfly weed from Harrie’s funeral and still shaved her head along with Harrie during chemo. The 8 Ball tells her to “ASK AGAIN LATER.”
Chapter 7: serendipity
Sophie dreams of her first trip to Lilymoor with a healthy Harrie. They explore the manor’s grand foyer and overhear a sharp argument between a tall blond man and a hazy figure who stalks off into the garden. Harrie drags Sophie into the maze, chasing the thrill of finding hidden places.
Sophie wakes up in tears, the hollow ache of absence overwhelming her. She hoards these dream memories greedily, sensing the argument was significant but still partially obscured. The dream underlines how tightly she clings to every remnant of her friend.
Chapter 8: waldeinsamkeit
Damnit the goose chases Sophie while she works in the maze. She escapes to the veranda where Eula apologizes for dismissing the secret garden, suggesting it was likely a half-finished project of Henry’s. Eula presents an amended contract and Sophie finds a stem of lilacs — old love — left by Eula’s lawyer, which strikes her as odd for the season.
They discuss a mysterious leak in the Wildflower Garden that seeps from a stone wall. Later, a gust of wind blows Sophie’s hat over a wall, and when she retrieves it, she finds the blue door again — this time in the Wildflower Garden wall.
Chapter 9: erklärungsnot
Sophie enters the door and finds the abandoned garden and the suit-clad man again. He is furious, claiming he’s been shouting for help for half an hour. He accuses Sophie of locking him in and is confused when she says they met “yesterday,” insisting he saw her only an hour ago.
Sophie tries to show him the door is unlocked, but when she pulls it open and steps through, he vanishes. She finds herself back in the Rose Court facing a solid stone wall. The man experiences time at a vastly different rate, and Sophie realizes something supernatural is at play.
Chapter 10: estrenar
Back in the cottage, Sophie tries to rationalize the encounter as a hallucination and asks her Magic 8 Ball if the man is real. Suddenly a man with a key ring enters, and she throws the 8 Ball at him. He is Oliver, Eula’s “good” great-nephew and an architect, who usually stays in the cottage.
Embarrassed to be seen in duck-print pajamas, Sophie is flustered by Oliver’s charm. He retrieves her 8 Ball, and she realizes she accidentally turned him away. The 8 Ball replies, “SIGNS POINT TO YES,” regarding the man’s reality.
Chapter 11: flâner
The next morning, Oliver joins Sophie on the veranda and they banter about the goose. Sophie finds herself flirting back, a feeling she hasn’t experienced in years. Eula suggests they flâner — wander aimlessly to enjoy the view — and Oliver winks at her, making her blush.
Sophie flees into the garden to escape the butterflies in her stomach, aware that Eula is encouraging a romantic connection. Oliver’s warm caramel eyes linger in her mind, and she struggles to keep her composure.
Chapter 12: goya
Sophie spends the weekend unsuccessfully hunting for the blue door, thinking of Harrie’s love for the word goya, the suspension of belief. On Monday, a mail crisis erupts: Eula sent over five hundred handwritten invitations without consulting the budget. Sophie suggests reopening the long-closed Willow Grove to accommodate the crowd.
Eula is thrilled, but Oliver looks uncomfortable. Sophie notices an unsealed invitation for Cyrus, Eula’s other great-nephew. Oliver tears up the invitation meant for his cousin. Sophie pockets the torn pieces, sensing a painful history.
Chapter 13: lítost
Oliver takes Sophie into town for lobster rolls. He admits he returned out of guilt for not being there when Eula fell and confesses he has no desire to inherit Lilymoor. He speaks bitterly about his estranged cousin Cyrus, who proposed to a woman who said no.
Sophie finds Oliver fun and easy to talk to, but she’s wary of getting too close. On the drive back, Wykofski gives her a suggestive thumbs-up, and Sophie feels lítost — the torment at the sight of one’s own misery.
Chapter 14: taarradhin
Sophie battles the mystery vines in the Rose Court, getting scratched in the process. Wykofski interrupts for a “lemonade break” and they discuss why Eula closed the Willow Grove — it sits near the charred greenhouse ruins. Sophie mentions taarradhin, a happy compromise where no one loses.
Wykofski remains optimistic, but Sophie pessimistically believes people are inherently selfish. He notes that Eula has bricked up many memories of Henry. The vines turn out to be honeysuckle or crossvine, and Sophie is determined to solve the garden’s mysteries.
Chapter 15: trygghet
Juliette radios Sophie to water Eula’s bedroom plants. The room is a living reliquary filled with photos of Henry and the nephews. Sophie signs another contract and finds a white aster — patience — from the lawyer. Eula voices her loneliness as the last of her generation.
Eula shows Sophie a photo taken seventeen years ago, the last time the whole family was together. Sophie recognizes the coppery-haired boy in the image. She realizes with a jolt that the man in the secret garden is Cyrus Beck, the lawyer drafting her contracts.
Chapter 16: yoko meshi
Sophie receives a text from Harrie’s fiancé, Sanchez, announcing his new engagement only eleven months after Harrie’s death. Sickened by how quickly he moved on, Sophie feels left behind. Distracted by grief, she finds the blue door has reappeared in the Rose Court.
She enters and finds Cyrus Beck. He is relieved but insists he’s only been there for hours, though Sophie knows it’s been days. He suggests airlift rescues, but Sophie explains the garden keeps moving. She proposes they try climbing over the wall.
Chapter 17: kilig
Sophie tries to boost Cyrus over the ten-foot wall. As she straddles the top, the world goes dizzy and his hand passes right through hers. She falls — and is caught by Oliver in the real-world Hedges. Confused, Oliver asks who she was talking to and why she was climbing bushes.
He takes her to the kitchen to treat a scratch. When Sophie asks about secret gardens, Oliver says she should ask Cyrus, who spent more time with Henry. Sophie realizes Oliver just asked her out on a proper dinner date.
Chapter 18: psithurism
Sophie avoids Oliver to focus on her work and visits to Cyrus. She waters Eula’s plants and asks if Cyrus replied to the bicentennial invitation.
Eula says she spoke to him yesterday — yet Garden Cyrus insists he has no phone service. Eula tells a story about getting lost and hearing Henry’s voice.
Sophie visits the Willow Grove and talks to her mother, who cancels her planned visit. Suddenly she hears a man shouting at the goose near the Reservoir. She finds a door to the secret garden ajar and hears Cyrus inside.
Chapter 19: mångata
Sophie saves Cyrus from Damnit by leading the goose away with her shovel. Later, she and Wykofski clear the Willow Grove, while Juliette complains Oliver is interfering with catering. Sophie enters the garden and finds Cyrus in a suit looking for a party.
She delivers the bad news: he isn’t missing in the real world. They piece together that he is trapped in a future version of the bicentennial evening. Sophie resolves to stop him from ever attending the party to prevent him from getting stuck.
Chapter 20: mokita
Sophie writes a letter to Cyrus, urging him to stay away from the bicentennial. She settles on the words, “If you come to the party, you’ll waste your time,” and drops it in the mail. Later she finds Juliette distraught because the string quartet pulled out.
Over lunch in Sophie’s cottage, they discuss the mokita — the painful truth about the greenhouse fire everyone ignores. Juliette reveals her ex is getting married and she feels like “the problem.” Sophie reflects on how people don’t know what they have until they lose it.
Chapter 21: pochemuchka
Days of overcast skies mean the blue door stays hidden. When the sun returns, Sophie enters and discovers her letter didn’t work. Rus (Cyrus) is still there and says the letter actually “pissed him off” — he took it as a challenge. Sophie is mortified to realize she accidentally signed it with her own name.
Rus suspects the garden is one of Henry’s unfinished projects meant for the bicentennial. As the garden expels Sophie at sunset, Rus carries her to the door. The connection between them deepens.
Chapter 22: komorebi
Sophie deals with root rot in the Wildflower Garden and talks to Oliver about the leak. Oliver reveals the water comes from the greenhouse ruins and agrees to show her if she agrees to dinner.
They crawl through a hole in the wall and find the charred skeleton of Henry’s workshop.
Oliver confesses that he and Rus accidentally started the fire during a teenage party. Rus took the full blame to protect Oliver. They find a burnt leather journal in the debris — Henry’s original plans for “The Someday Garden,” confirming the garden Sophie has been visiting.
Chapter 23: toska
Sophie brings the journal to Rus in the garden. He identifies it as a “golden-hour garden” Henry was building for Eula. Rus believes Lilymoor wants him to finish the project and that Sophie is there to help. When Sophie mentions Oliver’s guilt, Rus is dismissive.
Sophie finally opens up about Harriett and the promise she is trying to keep, breaking down in tears. Rus holds her in a comforting hug, then jokes about his cheap socks to make her laugh. He says the garden is most potent when things are left undone.
Chapter 24: esprit de l’escalier
Sophie finds herself increasingly attracted to Rus but reminds herself he is off-limits. She spends time with Eula, who worries over RSVPs. In the office, a mouse causes comedic panic among Oliver and Yafir, and Juliette captures it with oven mitts and a broom.
The staff’s bond solidifies through the mouse incident. Sophie is flustered by both Oliver and Rus, imagining Harrie laughing at her predicament. Rus tells her she is exactly Oliver’s type, leaving Sophie to wonder who Rus’s type is.
Chapter 25: dustsceawung
Sophie brings gardening supplies to Rus and they work on the gazebo. Rus admits he misses gardening but is trapped by the inertia of his legal career. Sophie shares how a gardening club saved her as an anxious child. They bond over being childhood troublemakers.
Sophie talks about Harrie’s love for dustsceawung — coming from and returning to dust. As they work, the garden begins to bloom in response to their presence. The trumpet vines flower as they say goodbye for the day.
Chapter 26: hiraeth
Sophie helps a daycare group avoid poisonous lilies. Oliver talks about his hiraeth — longing for a home that no longer exists — and his memories of Henry. At the grocery store, cashier Nicole reveals that Rus and Oliver were inseparable as kids.
Oliver mentions the phone works both ways regarding his estrangement from Cyrus. Sophie realizes she is already thinking about her next visit to the garden and decides to bring strawberries to Rus.
Chapter 27: culaccino
Wykofski announces the Willow Grove is mowed and ready. Sophie searches for the garden’s physical entrance but finds only weeds. In the secret garden, Rus is transforming the space with wisteria and jasmine. He admits he uses order to keep himself from being reckless.
Sophie challenges his apathetic persona, saying he cares more than he admits. They share a passionate kiss among the strawberries she brought. Overcome with guilt about leaving Harrie behind, Sophie panics and flees the garden, leaving Rus confused and hurt.
Chapter 28: rire dans sa barbe
Sophie ignores the blue door for days, feeling like a coward. She responds to Sanchez’s engagement text, wishing him a good life. Juliette calls in distress after a disastrous date with “Myke with a y,” and Sophie picks her up at a dive bar during a storm.
They drink bourbon and commiserate over bad men. Oliver shows up and starts drunk-stripping to Wykofski’s band. Sophie and Juliette solidify their friendship through the chaotic evening.
Chapter 29: prozvonit
Sophie and Juliette haul a drunk Oliver back to the manor. Juliette reveals she uses a high balcony to self-regulate and cry in private.
Sophie realizes she is beginning to value these new friendships. They sit together as the storm rumbles on, and the label of “friend” feels nice for the first time in years.
Chapter 30: mono no aware
Three days of rain keep Sophie from visiting the garden. A hungover Oliver is miserable. Sophie finds an RSVP from the real Cyrus: he is definitely attending.
Juliette hires Wykofski’s band for the party. Sophie overhears Oliver and Eula arguing about the inheritance; Oliver screams that Lilymoor is “just a place” and Henry is gone. Sophie realizes grief can make it impossible to tell the wind from a voice you miss.
Chapter 31: jijivisha
Sophie returns to the garden and finds Rus has stalled in his work. She apologizes and tells him the full story of Harrie’s death, admitting she feels like she cheated by being healthy and alive. She fears that if she changes, she will lose the Harrie she knew.
Rus confesses he returned to Lilymoor but was too much of a coward to face his family. They embrace, and Sophie feels a permission to be alive again. Rus tells her he is glad it was her who walked through the door.
Chapter 32: þetta reddast
August arrives with intense sunshine. On their eighteenth visit, Sophie and Rus work on a honeysuckle wall and discuss the language of flowers — honeysuckle represents devoted love. Their relationship turns physically intimate under the willow tree.
Rus says he had forgotten what it felt like to be alive until she woke him up. Sophie worries she will mess things up because she still hasn’t found the garden’s real location. Honeysuckle was Henry’s favorite flower.
Chapter 33: dapjeongneo
Sophie finds Juliette hiding from Oliver in the cottage and finally explains that Harrie’s ashes are inside her Magic 8 Ball.
Juliette respectfully uses the 8 Ball to ask if Sophie should go to karaoke; it says “YES, DEFINITELY.” Sophie realizes that telling another person about Harrie makes her feel more present. Harrie left the 8 Ball and a note for Sophie to find after her death, and Sophie agrees to go out because Harrie “agreed.”
Chapter 34: cwtch
Sophie asks Wykofski to build a swing for the secret garden. They watch a rare red-throated loon together. Wykofski asks where Sophie goes in the late afternoons, but she dodges the question. She teaches him how to make flower crowns, a skill Harrie taught her.
Wykofski admits Maine became his Foreverland after his mother died. Sophie silently acknowledges that she wants to stay at Lilymoor permanently, even as time to save Rus slips away.
Chapter 35: vacilando
Juliette is frazzled by the 500-plus guests. Sophie suggests a “Bro night” Scrabble game to relieve stress. Oliver joins and bickers with Juliette over illegal words like “Mingus.” Wykofski wins by a landslide. Oliver apologizes for being an asshole and walks Juliette to her car, signaling the start of a new romance. The staff’s tension melts away.
Chapter 36: tidsoptimist
Sophie visits Rus and finds he has installed the swing on the willow. The garden now looks lovingly tended over years. Rus asks Sophie to leave with him when he gets out, but she urges him to stay and steward Lilymoor. He argues places can never love you back and recounts the trauma of the fire.
Sophie tells him he can forgive himself and that gardens are meant for seasons. They share a deep final intimacy, but Sophie feels the weight of impermanence: nothing lasts, especially not anything beautiful.
Chapter 37: saudade
The day before the bicentennial, Sophie searches every inch of the estate and finds nothing. She finds Juliette hiding on Oliver’s balcony and they discuss Juliette’s crush.
Juliette reminds her that the only way out is through. Sophie enters the secret garden one last time to say goodbye to Rus but doesn’t tell him her plan to stop him from entering tomorrow.
Rus asks her to promise she won’t get trapped with him. Sophie makes the painful decision to erase their shared timeline if necessary.
Chapter 38: luftschloss
Wykofski lights the willow trees with fairy lights while Rick Astley plays. Sophie is a nervous wreck. Eula visits her cottage with wine and reveals the retirement party was a scheme to bring her nephews back together. She and Henry always intended to leave Lilymoor to both Rus and Oliver. Sophie realizes she wants to call Lilymoor home and toasts to “a good life.”
Chapter 39: guānxì
Bicentennial morning starts with rain but clears. Sophie escorts Eula through the hedge maze one last time, and Eula gives her the brass skeleton key from her necklace, asking Sophie to stay as head gardener.
Sophie meets the “real world” Cyrus, who is cold, corporate, and doesn’t recognize her. She finds a new will on Eula’s desk where Cyrus has written himself out of the inheritance — he left Sophie’s contract but hasn’t signed one for himself.
Chapter 40: viraha
Sophie’s parents and stepdad Eddie surprise her at the party, arriving in an RV from North Carolina. She realizes Cyrus and Oliver have gone off into the gardens together and panics. She finds Oliver on a bench, furious after a cold, brief argument with Cyrus. Sophie searches for the blue door in the Hedges and sees it appear for a split second, but it vanishes before she can reach it. She screams in frustration.
Chapter 41: commovente
Wykofski finds Sophie crying and crowns her with honeysuckle and baby’s breath. He encourages her to “punch sadness in the nuts.” Sophie joins the party and watches Eula dance with firefighters. Eula gives a speech about how a garden is for growing and all paths lead home. Inspired, Sophie runs out to find a sledgehammer, resolved to create a new way to save Cyrus.
Chapter 42: duende
Sophie stands before a honeysuckle-covered wall in the Central Garden and attacks it with a sledgehammer. She tears down the wall to reveal the hidden blue door and unlocks it with Eula’s skeleton key.
Inside, the real garden is overgrown and devoid of magic — but she finds the physical Cyrus Beck asleep in a thicket.
She wakes him, and he remembers her, slurring “You found me.” Oliver arrives and punches Cyrus in the jaw as an “apology.” The garden Cyrus was trapped in was behind a wall all along.
Chapter 43: firgun
Cyrus and Oliver reconcile and decide to steward Lilymoor together. Cyrus moves into the cottage with Sophie and gives up his corporate law firm to practice estate law.
Sophie signs the contract to stay permanently.
They spend days gardening and nights by the wood-burning stove. The cousins laugh together for the first time in years, and Sophie and Rus walk toward the Hedges, hand in hand.
Chapter 44: gökotta
Damnit chases Sophie into the Hedges once more. There, she hears Harrie’s voice in the maze for a final time. They share a short conversation: Sophie tells Harrie she loves her, and Harrie gives her the word gökotta — waking early to listen to the birds.
Sophie makes peace with her grief, her heart filling over with wildflowers. She returns to Cyrus, and they agree to take a lifetime to grow old together.
Part II: Someday
Someday (Epilogue)
In the years that follow, Sophie and Rus fall in love with every new season. Eula stays at the manor for ten more years before passing peacefully in her sleep.
Juliette and Oliver travel together, and Wykofski finds love with a musician.
Sophie and Rus build the gazebo in the Someday Garden, fulfilling Henry’s dream. Lilymoor’s magic eventually passes them by as they discover their own real-world happiness. The book ends with the couple falling in love over and over again on the cliffs by the sea.
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