Book Review: At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier
At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: March 15, 2016
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck – in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the fifty apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
1853: Their youngest child Robert is wandering through Gold Rush California. Restless and haunted by the broken family he left behind, he has made his way alone across the country. In the redwood and giant sequoia groves he finds some solace, collecting seeds for a naturalist who sells plants from the new world to the gardeners of England. But you can run only so far, even in America, and when Robert’s past makes an unexpected appearance he must decide whether to strike out again or stake his own claim to a home at last.
It’s clear reading this book that’s well-researched. One of the characters that comes to visit James and Sadie and sell apple seedlings and saplings to them is John Chapman. You might know him as Johnny Appleseed. Her portrayal of him and his personality is how he really was (according to Google at least).Plant collector William Lobb plays a key role in the second half of the book. I hadn’t heard of him bust he is a real life person as well.
The author weaves in a lot of information about plants and trees throughout the book. While I appreciated her thoroughness, I found this book to move along too slowly for me. There wasn’t a central conflict and the plot seemed to meander here and there. I loved The Girl With the Pearl Earring, also written by Chevalier. I’m not going to give up on her but this book was a miss.
(I received a complementary copy of this book for review.)
