The sweeping and compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. `Dark, brutal, moving, powerful' Jane Harris `A wonderful book; rich, evocative, original. I loved it' Joanne Harris What happens when you can't run any further from your past? Ohio, 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Life is harsh in the swamp, and ...
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The sweeping and compelling new novel from the bestselling author of Girl with a Pearl Earring. `Dark, brutal, moving, powerful' Jane Harris `A wonderful book; rich, evocative, original. I loved it' Joanne Harris What happens when you can't run any further from your past? Ohio, 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled in the Black Swamp, planting apple trees to claim the land as their own. Life is harsh in the swamp, and as fever picks off their children, husband and wife take solace in separate comforts. James patiently grows his sweet-tasting `eaters' while Sadie gets drunk on applejack made fresh from `spitters'. Their fighting takes its toll on all of the Goodenoughs - a battle that will resonate over the years and across America. Fifteen years later their youngest son, Robert, is drifting through Gold Rush California and haunted by the broken family he fled years earlier. Memories stick to him where mud once did. When he finds steady work for a plant collector, peace seems finally to be within reach. But the past is never really past, and one day Robert is forced to confront the brutal reason he left behind everything he loved. In this rich, powerful story, Tracy Chevalier is at her imaginative best, bringing to life the urge to wrestle with our roots, however deep and tangled they may be.
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Add this copy of At the Edge of the Orchard: a Novel to cart. $0.99, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Viking.
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Add this copy of At the Edge of the Orchard: a Novel to cart. $1.03, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
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Add this copy of At the Edge of the Orchard: a Novel to cart. $1.03, good condition, Sold by Zoom Books East rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Glendale Heights, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
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Add this copy of At the Edge of the Orchard: a Novel to cart. $1.03, fair condition, Sold by Zoom Books East rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Glendale Heights, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Penguin Books.
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Add this copy of At the Edge of the Orchard to cart. $1.99, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Penguin Publishing Group.
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Very good. A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting, but may contain a neat previous owner name. The spine remains undamaged. An ex-library book and may have standard library stamps and/or stickers. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.
At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier is not what I expected. James Goodenough and his wife, Sadie leave Connecticut (and the rest of the Goodenough family) to find a farm of their own. They end up in Black Swamp, Ohio (because it was so muddy they could go no further). James and Sadie had ten children (but only five lived because of swamp fever from the mosquitoes). Life is hard in the swamp, but James is determined to make a go of his apple orchard. James and Sadie do not get along. Sadie resents the apples (because her husband pays more attention to the apples than her) and does her best to sabotage the trees. Sadie is a drunk (on applejack) the majority of the time. Things do not end well for the couple and their youngest son, Robert takes off. We then have a series of letters that explain what Robert did for the next seventeen years. Robert ends up working for William Lobb as a plant collector in California. We get to see how his growing up years affected the rest of his life and the choices he makes.
At the Edge of the Orchard was okay. I normally love Tracy Chevalier's books, but I was not a fan of this one. It is a slow paced book with unengaging characters. Parts of the book are told in the first person (Sadie and James) point-of-view. Sadie's part is hard to understand with her backwards way of talking (and accent). The rest is told in the third person (about Robert). The descriptions of the apples, the orchards, and the plants/trees in California were lovely and interesting. The pace of the novel, though, is slow (I think apples grow faster). The writing is good, but the story is depressing. There is domestic violence, foul language, sex, and incest in this novel (just fair warning). I give At the Edge of the Orchard 3 out of 5 stars.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
