In Garden Spells, her first novel, Sarah Addison Allen blends horticultural folklore with the supernatural and serves it up with a southern flavor. She tells the story of the Waverleys, who have lived in their ancestral home in Bascom, North Carolina, for generations but are still considered outsiders. Their walled garden, which mysteriously blooms year-round, is famous for its prophetic fruit and edible flowers imbued with other-worldly powers. Generations of Waverleys tended it because their history was in the soil.  But so were their futures. Claire Waverley, the main character, is a successful caterer who prepares dishes made with her mystical plants. If a customer wants visiting company to notice her home’s beauty instead of its flaws, Claire feeds them fried dandelion buds over marigold-petal rice, stuffed pumpkin blossoms, and rose hip soup. For someone who wants to learn how to keep secrets, biscuits with lilac jelly, lavender tea cookies, and nasturtium tea cakes are in order. At a children’s party, angelica candy and cupcakes sprinkled with crystallized pansies will make the youngsters thoughtful. Claire and an elderly cousin, Evanelle, are the last of the Waverleys except for Claire’s rebellious sister Sydney, who fled Bascom years earlier. When Sydney and her daughter, fleeing an abusive relationship, suddenly return home, Claire’s quiet, settled existence is turned upside down. Together they must deal with their common legacy if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom or with each other.