Set in America during the 1800’s,
At the Edge of the Orchard is a book full of many themes – on reading the first
few pages I thought the book was going to just be about apples, and yes they do
play an important part in the book, but there is more to it than that. It is a
story of relationships, hardships, loneliness, loss, perseverance, sickness,
death and pain.
The story is split into different
parts. The first section tells the story of the Goodenough Family, headed up by
James and Sadie, who live in the Black Swamp, Ohio. The family work
relentlessly to tame their patch of land and maintaining the apple trees they
have planted. But it is a long battle for all and the first few chapters are
basically an argument in words between James and Sadie – him versus her - all
about apples. James wants to grow the apples to eat whereas Sadie prefers to
make applejack - she finds refuge in the alcohol from the loneliness and
hardships of life.
The second part follows Robert,
the youngest son on a journey throughout America, running from the past of his
broken family and looking for solace, which he finally finds in the form of
trees. Robert gets a job collecting
seeds for an Englishman who sends new found plants to his father in England.
However Robert discovers that no matter how long you run for your past does
catch up on you.
As like other novels by
Chevalier, this is one of these books which intrigues you from the start – and
makes you want to read to the end to find what happens next.
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