The Grimaldi of the title was, perhaps, the greatest zany of all time and one who gave clowns the name Joey. Settled in London, he missed Italy and summer sun so much that he filled his winter garden with artificial flowers.
Susan Knight's contemporary world is full of people whose lives need from time to time a touch of Grimaldi's Garden. There are Francis the librarian who tires of his trendy wife's varnished lifestyle, Sonya, the waif-like actress who wants to study Commedia del Arte, Ruth the tolerant, talented artist whose child Hannah is an idiot savant and many others whose lives touch theirs.