Now Read This: 'At the Edge of the Orchard' by Tracy Chevalier

It’s 1838. James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck — on the edge of the Black Swamp in northwest Ohio. They live there with their five children, the last surviving of the 10 who were born.

James is determined to earn rights to the land by growing the required 50 apple trees, some of which were started by apple seeds he brought from Connecticut and some from apple saplings he buys from Johnny Appleseed every time he stops by. James performs grafts on some of the trees, hoping to grow the flavorful apples his family has grown for generations, beginning in England.

Sadie, angry and bitter, hates her life. She grows apples to make hard cider and apple jack, which she drinks to escape her life. The first half of the book ends when both James and Sadie die.

The second half of the book takes place 15 years later. The youngest child, Robert, left when his parents accidentally killed each other. He’s been wandering westward, working a variety of jobs, until he hears about giant trees in California and goes off in search of them. When he finds the redwood and giant sequoia trees, he meets a naturalist who is collecting seeds and plants to send to England estates. Robert is hired to help with the collecting.

Feeling guilty for leaving his siblings behind years ago, he writes to them every year on New Year’s, but never gets a reply. Then one day two pregnant women show up on his doorstep: his timid sister Martha and a loose woman he has been friends with for many years. You’ll have to read the book to discover how it all ends.

This is one of those historical novels with interesting characters to which I gravitate. It’s a great depiction of how difficult life was back then, especially if you’re trying to plant an orchard on the edge of a swamp. As with all of Tracy Chevalier’s books, this story is well researched and tightly written. The library owns copies of this book in regular and large print.

Some of the read-alikes that NoveList recommends (and that the library owns) are “Under This Broken Sky” by Shandi Mitchell, “The Fugitive Wife” by Peter Brown and “The Signature of All Things” by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Happy reading!

About Betty

Betty Martin is director of the Cape Girardeau Public Library.