From Publishers Weekly
"Desire paths," writes Browning, are defined by how people actually move from place to place, whether in physical space or emotionally and psychically. Browning (Around the House and in the Garden) recounts the creation of two desire paths: a "long and winding" one through her restored half-acre suburban garden, and an equally meandering one from the desolation of a broken marriage to the joyful rebuilding of both her garden and her life. Browning's century-old home may not be typical of today's suburbs, but what she contends with is. Raccoons, opossums and "neurotically evolved" skunks invade at night, as do beer-drinking teenagers. Dogs yap, horns honk and leaf blowers "grind all day." Warring with neighbors over "trees and walls and fences and garbage bins" is constant. Although "the suburban garden starts its life as a construction site," it is also a place where "nothing is impossible, and the only limitations on what you can do are your own will and imagination." Still, one needs "Helpful Men," a fraternity of roofers, masons, landscapers and tree surgeons who communicate by cell phone-almost exclusively with one another-and do not clean up. As Browning comes to rely more and more on "the Helpful Men" to fix the disorder in her garden, she gradually learns not to depend on "the True Love" to free her from the grasp of a rampant, flowerless wisteria and awaken her with a kiss. Instead, she discovers that her sons are showing "promising signs of usefulness" and sets out on an "endless" path in a "garden that springs from the heart."Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
People frequently spring into action only when their backs are against the wall. In Browning's case, the wall would actually have to collapse before she would begin to make much-needed major changes in her garden, and in her life. When the downpour of a sudden storm undermines the foundation of a beloved garden wall, Browning is forced to deal with the daunting consequences of ruined plants, altered vistas, and expensive reconstruction. Contrary to her lofty position as editor in chief of the venerable House and Garden magazine, Browning lives a down-to-earth existence in suburbia, replete with the problematic noisy and noisome neighbors, confounding critters, and trespassing teenagers so familiar to her readers. Such obstacles present creative and practical challenges whose solutions only reveal themselves when Browning ultimately learns to follow the paths of her own heart's desire. Just as her garden must be, Browning's intimately personal chronicle is filled with lines of breathtaking beauty, simple in their understated elegance yet profound in their impact on the human psyche. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


The Boston Globe
"Wickedly detailed. A wonderfully funny yet poignant book."


New York Times Book Review
A bittersweet account of one woman shaping her world . . . a tale of few illusions and many delights, unerringly wise.


Washington Post
"Just as in her readers' lives, perfect plans come and go like fireflies. A likable blend of life and style."


Chicago Tribune
"A journey -- sometimes bittersweet -- that slowly reveals the importance of family and friends, lost love and renewal."


Kirkus Reviews
"[Browning] has cut a smart niche for herself in garden writing: unceremonious, except when ceremony is in order."


Book Description
With the same warmth, wisdom, wit, and accessibility that readers have come to love and trust in her monthly column, House & Garden editor in chief Dominique Browning offers this lively, charming, and instructive story of restoring a neglected suburban garden. When a retaining wall in Browning's New York suburban garden collapsed, she was forced into action. Paths of Desire is the enchanting, amusing, and moving account of making a garden -- and confronting the essence of suburban gardening, with its idiosyncratic ecosystem. This meant struggling with depraved skunks and raccoons, marauding teenagers, plastic jungle gyms, toppling garbage cans, uncontrollable eyesores, potholed drives, and all the grinding, honking, and buzzing of the neighborhood. Browning's delightfully frank prose conveys the very sense of being deep in a garden, with all its organic smells and textures, and the myriad joys of deciding what to plant and watching as the vision is realized. It contains a rich store of advice and illustrative anecdotes for enthusiasts and novices alike, as Browning amusingly documents the missteps she took in the planning of her garden and the satisfactions of finally getting it right. In Paths of Desire she teaches us how to embrace our plots of land -- no matter their size, beauty, or proximity to the city -- and make them our own. But she also reminds us that the life of a garden can never be separated from the people who wander in and out of it: characters like the charming but useless children; the philosophical tree doctor and the band of Helpful Men; the neighbors -- legalistic on one side, aesthetically challenged on the other -- and, best and worst of all, the True Love. By the end of the book, Browning has transformed her garden -- and her life -- and has created a place of enchantment, which is most of all what a garden should be.


About the Author
Dominique Browning has been the editor in chief of House & Garden since 1995. She was previously the editor of Mirabella, an assistant managing editor of Newsweek, and the executive editor of Texas Monthly. She lives in New York with her two teenage sons.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With the same warmth, wisdom, wit, and accessibility that readers have come to love and trust in her monthly column, House & Garden editor in chief Dominique Browning offers this lively, charming, and instructive story of restoring a neglected suburban garden.

When a retaining wall in Browning's New York suburban garden collapsed, she was forced into action. Paths of Desire is the enchanting, amusing, and moving account of making a garden -- and confronting the essence of suburban gardening, with its idiosyncratic ecosystem. This meant struggling with depraved skunks and raccoons, marauding teenagers, plastic jungle gyms, toppling garbage cans, uncontrollable eyesores, potholed drives, and all the grinding, honking, and buzzing of the neighborhood.

Browning's delightfully frank prose conveys the very sense of being deep in a garden, with all its organic smells and textures, and the myriad joys of deciding what to plant and watching as the vision is realized. It contains a rich store of advice and illustrative anecdotes for enthusiasts and novices alike, as Browning amusingly documents the missteps she took in the planning of her garden and the satisfactions of finally getting it right. In Paths of Desire she teaches us how to embrace our plots of land -- no matter their size, beauty, or proximity to the city -- and make them our own. But she also reminds us that the life of a garden can never be separated from the people who wander in and out of it: characters like the charming but useless children; the philosophical tree doctor and the band of Helpful Men; the neighbors -- legalistic on one side, aesthetically challenged on the other -- and, best and worst of all, the True Love.

By the end of the book, Browning has transformed her garden -- and her life -- and has created a place of enchantment, which is most of all what a garden should be.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

isn't the kind of restoration romance you would wish on everyone; it makes you wonder if all of Jane Austen might have been lost had the Smith & Hawken catalog existed. But as a bittersweet account of one woman shaping her world, it is a tale of few illusions and many delights, unerringly wise about two afflictions to which most of us, at one time or another, aspire. — Stacy Schiff

Publishers Weekly

"Desire paths," writes Browning, are defined by how people actually move from place to place, whether in physical space or emotionally and psychically. Browning (Around the House and in the Garden) recounts the creation of two desire paths: a "long and winding" one through her restored half-acre suburban garden, and an equally meandering one from the desolation of a broken marriage to the joyful rebuilding of both her garden and her life. Browning's century-old home may not be typical of today's suburbs, but what she contends with is. Raccoons, opossums and "neurotically evolved" skunks invade at night, as do beer-drinking teenagers. Dogs yap, horns honk and leaf blowers "grind all day." Warring with neighbors over "trees and walls and fences and garbage bins" is constant. Although "the suburban garden starts its life as a construction site," it is also a place where "nothing is impossible, and the only limitations on what you can do are your own will and imagination." Still, one needs "Helpful Men," a fraternity of roofers, masons, landscapers and tree surgeons who communicate by cell phone-almost exclusively with one another-and do not clean up. As Browning comes to rely more and more on "the Helpful Men" to fix the disorder in her garden, she gradually learns not to depend on "the True Love" to free her from the grasp of a rampant, flowerless wisteria and awaken her with a kiss. Instead, she discovers that her sons are showing "promising signs of usefulness" and sets out on an "endless" path in a "garden that springs from the heart." (Feb.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Having taken readers into her confidence with Around the House and in the Garden: A Memoir of Heartbreak, Healing, and Home Improvement, Browning invites them back into her garden. This time, her life is thrown into turmoil by a storm that tumbles a retaining wall. Browning's reluctant sons, a new love, and the contractors she comes to call "The Helpful Men" help her gain the determination to rejuvenate the garden. They each balance a healthy dose of reality with enough encouragement and compassion to push her into action. For her part, Browning brings these colorful males to life through her thoughtful descriptions of the mannerisms and ambitions she observes as they share garden walks and design ideas. Like Jamaica Kincaid's My Garden (Book), this work sheds light on suburban gardening. Other writers recount the joys of large country gardens or small city lots, but Browning reveals dirty little suburban secrets through her experiences with difficult neighbors, persistent wildlife, and thoughtless teenagers. Entertaining, insightful, and highly recommended for public libraries.-Bonnie Poquette, Whitefish Bay, WI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews