Advertisement
From internationally bestselling author Tracy Chevalier, a riveting drama of a pioneer family on the American frontier.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.
Chevalier tells a fierce, beautifully crafted story in At the Edge of the Orchard, her most graceful and richly imagined work yet.
Tracy Chevalier is an American-born, now dual-citizen, author famous for historical fiction, most notably Girl with a Pearl Earring. Born in 1962 in Washington, D.C., she earned degrees in English and Creative Writing and moved to England in the 1980s, where she still lives with her husband. Her books often draw inspiration from paintings, historical events, and specific crafts or trades, exploring hidden human stories within different contexts.
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
9318 Apison Pike, Ooltewah, TN, United States, Tennessee 37363
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
