At the Edge of the Orchard

Chevalier's story of American frontier life and the trees, both apple and redwood, that influence the lives of a family is delivered by a talented group of narrators. Mark Bramhall, Hillary Huber, Kirby Heyborne, and Cassandra Morris each narrate the perspective of a family member. Bramhall and Huber are wonderfully cast as the warring Goodenough parents, with Heyborne and Morris doing an outstanding job voicing the letters sent between two Goodenough siblings. The one way this narration falls down is in having Bramhall continue to narrate the section of the novel that is from the point of view of the Goodenough son instead of having Heyborne take that role, since he's the one who represents that young man when he is writing letters. Bramhall continues to engage, but the choice is somewhat jarring to the listener. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

March 7, 2016
Chevalier may not be able to trump her wildly successful second novel, Girl with a Pearl Earring, but her eighth outing is a compelling showcase of 19th-century American pioneering spirit in which a family from Connecticut struggles to establish an apple orchard in the swamplands of Ohio. James Goodenough can trace his family and his beloved Golden Pippin apples back to England, though he seeks his own future away from his family's farm. The story of his adventure going west unfolds from his point of view as well as from that of Sadie, his contentious wife, a tough woman with a wild libido and a hankering for applejack. True-life figure John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) plays a role in the Goodenoughs' fortunes, as does British plant collector William Lobb, who becomes a key figure to James and Sadie's youngest son, Robert, when circumstances force him to flee Ohio and make his own life on the West Coast. Against a backdrop of family travails in Ohio and personal revelations in California come intriguing facts about apples, such as their division into "eaters" and "spitters" (used for apple cider and applejack), as well as how American pine trees, redwoods, and Sequoias were painstakingly introduced to England. The author's insightful observations about domestic life and the pull of relationships bring depth to a family story that inevitably comes full circle in a most satisfying way.