In Goldy Moldavsky’s mesmerizing new novel Of Earthly Delights, the author cultivates a literary garden where beauty and horror intertwine like vines, creating a gothic romance that pulls readers into its enchanting yet disturbing embrace. This dual-perspective narrative follows Rose Pauly and Hart Hargrove through a series of impossible loves, deadly consequences, and the crushing weight of destiny—all centered around a magical garden with the power to grant wishes and exact terrible prices.
Unlike Moldavsky’s previous works like The Mary Shelley Club or Kill the Boy Band, which leaned heavily into horror or dark comedy, Of Earthly Delights blooms into something more complex—a gothic romance with philosophical underpinnings about the nature of love, grief, and the terrible bargains we make to hold onto what we cherish most.
Plot: A Cyclical Love Story That Transcends Time
The story begins with Rose Pauly, a pink-haired aspiring artist who reluctantly moves from New York City to suburban Connecticut before her senior year. On her first miserable night in Meadow Falls, she meets Hart Hargrove at a gas station convenience store, where she’s instantly drawn to him despite their disastrous first interaction involving a spilled cherry slushie.
What follows at first appears to be a straightforward love story—Hart introduces Rose to his family’s sprawling garden estate, Hemlock Hill, where they fall deeply in love over a golden summer. But Moldavsky brilliantly subverts expectations when the narrative takes a sharp turn: Rose discovers that the garden at the center of the hedge maze grants wishes, and that Hart has used this power to manipulate their meeting. When Rose dies in a car accident, the perspective shifts to Hart, who reveals that he has been using the garden’s magic to repeatedly turn back time, trying desperately to create a reality where Rose survives.
The novel’s true brilliance emerges in its complex temporal structure, as we learn that Hart and Rose have lived through multiple lifetimes together, with Hart constantly wishing to “go back to the moment I met Rose,” trying to save her from her seemingly inevitable fate. Meanwhile, Hart’s twin sister Heather remembers every reset timeline, trapped in an endless loop of watching her brother’s doomed love story repeat itself.
Characters: Complex, Flawed, and Hauntingly Realistic
Moldavsky crafts characters who feel startlingly real despite the supernatural elements surrounding them:
- Rose Pauly: Artistic, cynical, and fiercely independent, Rose embodies both vulnerability and strength. Her character arc explores the tension between authentic love and the unsettling question of whether her feelings are truly her own or the product of Hart’s wish.
- Hart Hargrove: A gardener at heart who finds solace in cultivating plants, Hart’s obsessive love for Rose reveals both his tender devotion and his disturbing willingness to manipulate fate. His inability to accept loss—first his mother’s death, then Rose’s—drives the novel’s central conflict.
- Heather Hargrove: Perhaps the most tragic figure in the novel, Hart’s twin sister carries the burden of remembering every timeline reset. Her own disastrous experiences with wishes have left her damaged, volatile, and increasingly desperate to break the cycle.
- Lowell Chamberlain: Rose’s friend who discovers the garden’s power and becomes consumed by it, Lowell serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked wish-making and the terrible consequences that follow.
The dynamics between these characters create a web of tension, love, and betrayal that propels the narrative forward while exploring deep questions about agency, destiny, and the nature of love.
Setting: A Garden of Earthly Delights and Terrors
The novel’s title cleverly references Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych painting, and like that artwork, Moldavsky’s garden setting contains elements of both paradise and nightmare. Hemlock Hill and its magical “Wish Garden” function as more than mere backdrop—they are essentially characters themselves, with their own rules, desires, and vengeance.
The garden is described in lush, sensory detail that makes it easy to visualize:
“The Wish Garden assaulted her senses with an overstimulation of sight, sound, smell. There was the immediate, intoxicating fragrance of the flowers. There were birds singing, and Rose swore she could also hear the music made by every individual pollinator, joining in the chorus. But it was the sights that got her. The austere, monochrome walls of the hedge maze gave way to a riot of color. Flowers filled Rose’s field of vision, messy, chaotic, and so beautiful they took her breath away.”
This idyllic beauty exists in stark contrast to the garden’s merciless nature—it grants wishes but takes payment in return, whether through lost teeth, lost memories, or lost lives. The setting perfectly embodies the novel’s exploration of how beauty and horror are inextricably linked.
Themes: The Price of Love and the Burden of Memory
Of Earthly Delights plants several profound themes that continue to bloom in the reader’s mind long after the final page:
- The Consequence of Love: The novel’s most devastating revelation is that Hart’s initial wish for love carried the inevitable consequence of grief. Every time he tries to erase that grief by turning back time, he only hastens Rose’s death in the next timeline.
- Memory and Identity: Heather’s tragic wish to forget her mother results in losing all memories of her, while Lowell’s wishes to transform his appearance lead to grotesque physical changes. Both explore how our memories and physical beings shape who we are.
- Control vs. Acceptance: Hart’s desperate attempts to control fate contrast with the natural garden philosophy he claims to embrace—that life and death are cyclical, and that every living thing must eventually die.
- The Ethics of Desire: The novel asks uncomfortable questions about the morality of wishing for another person’s love and whether such desires can ever be ethical when they potentially override another’s agency.
Writing Style: Atmospheric and Emotionally Resonant
Moldavsky’s prose strikes a delicate balance between poetic description and emotional directness. She creates atmosphere through careful attention to sensory detail, particularly in descriptions of the garden:
“She blew the seed away, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that Hart was watching her.
And then a horn honked, Heather pounding on the steering wheel. The sound tore Hart’s attention away, and he secured the tailgate and jogged to the passenger side.
‘Looks like I’m not the only one crushing on a Hargrove,’ Lowell said.
Rose snapped out of her reverie. ‘I’m not crushing,’ she said. Though her hot cheeks betrayed her.”
The novel’s dual perspectives allow readers to experience both Rose’s falling in love and Hart’s desperate attempts to recapture that love. This structure creates a powerful emotional resonance as we see both the beauty of their connection and the terrible price it extracts.
Critical Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses
What Blooms Beautifully
- Structure: The novel’s dual-perspective narrative creates a compelling puzzle that gradually reveals its mysteries in a satisfying way.
- Atmosphere: Moldavsky excels at creating a sense of place that feels both enchanting and menacing.
- Character Development: Both Rose and Hart have distinct voices and complex motivations that make their actions understandable even when troubling.
- Thematic Depth: The exploration of love, grief, and the terrible bargains we make with ourselves elevates the novel beyond typical YA romance.
What Needs Pruning
- Pacing: The novel’s first half builds slowly, which may try the patience of readers expecting more immediate supernatural elements.
- Consequence Mechanics: The rules governing the garden’s wishes and their consequences occasionally feel inconsistent, leaving some readers questioning the internal logic.
- Secondary Characters: While Rose, Hart, and Heather are fully realized, some secondary characters like Mr. Pauly or Mr. Hargrove feel underdeveloped in comparison.
- Resolution: The cyclical ending, while thematically appropriate, may leave some readers wanting more definitive closure for characters like Heather and Lowell.
Final Thoughts: A Garden Worth Visiting
Of Earthly Delights stands as Goldy Moldavsky’s most ambitious and emotionally resonant work to date. Fans of Moldavsky’s previous novels will recognize her talent for blending genres, but this novel reaches new heights in its exploration of love’s terrible beauty. For readers who enjoyed the gothic romance of Rebecca or the time-looping structure of Before I Fall, this novel offers a fresh yet familiar experience.
Like all the best gothic romances, Of Earthly Delights leaves readers questioning where love ends and obsession begins, whether some prices are too high to pay for happiness, and how we reconcile ourselves to loss. It’s a garden of literary delights worth getting lost in, thorns and all.
Of Earthly Delights is a good read for its atmospheric setting, complex characters, and thematic depth. While the pacing and some mechanical issues prevent it from achieving perfection, the novel’s emotional impact and haunting imagery make it a standout in contemporary YA gothic literature.
For Fans Of:
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
- House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
- The Secret Garden meets The Picture of Dorian Gray
Moldavsky has created a garden where love and loss entwine like vines, where wishes bloom like flowers only to wither with their consequences, and where readers will find themselves returning again and again, just like Hart, hoping for a different ending but knowing the journey is what truly matters.