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Available
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Publication
Penguin Audio (2016), Unabridged MP3; 9h01
Description
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML:�With impeccable research and flawless prose, Chevalier perfectly conjures the grandeur of the pristine Wild West . . . and the everyday adventurers�male and female�who were bold enough or foolish enough to be drawn to the unknown. She crafts for us an excellent experience.� �USA Today From internationally bestselling author Tracy Chevalier, author of A Single Thread, comes 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.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member nicx27
At the Edge of the Orchard starts in 1838 in Black Swamp, Ohio. James and Sadie Goodenough don't exactly have a happy marriage. James is a reasonable man, preoccupied with growing apple trees (being able to grow 50 is a condition of having the land) but Sadie is a quite horrendous woman, who is
I wanted to read this book purely because it's by Tracy Chevalier, a writer whose work I have enjoyed greatly. However, if you had given me only a synopsis of the novel and no information about the author there's no way I would have wanted to read it. I have mixed feelings about it overall. I got to the end feeling quite satisfied by the conclusion and the story, but at times during reading it I felt it was a little lacking in the emotion that it was trying to convey. It's a very bleak story with very little in the way of uplifting events but Chevalier really set the scene well and I could imagine quite easily the setting and how hard life was. She obviously did a lot of research and in a way there's too much reliance on that and not enough on the feelings and emotions of the characters.
This is my least favourite of her books so far (my favourite would be Falling Angels, Burning Bright or Girl with a Pearl Earring) but I still quite enjoyed it. I'm glad it wasn't any longer though.
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mean to their children and likes getting drunk on Applejack. The second section of the book consists of letters from Robert, one of their children, back home over the next 15 years or so. Then we follow Robert as he finds work in California collecting tree seeds and saplings which are shipped to England. Only after that do we return to Black Swamp to find out why Robert left home. The final section is back in California as things in Robert's life take unexpected turns. As you can see, the focus of the story moves around quite a long for a relatively short novel (287 pages) but I quite liked this way of telling the story.I wanted to read this book purely because it's by Tracy Chevalier, a writer whose work I have enjoyed greatly. However, if you had given me only a synopsis of the novel and no information about the author there's no way I would have wanted to read it. I have mixed feelings about it overall. I got to the end feeling quite satisfied by the conclusion and the story, but at times during reading it I felt it was a little lacking in the emotion that it was trying to convey. It's a very bleak story with very little in the way of uplifting events but Chevalier really set the scene well and I could imagine quite easily the setting and how hard life was. She obviously did a lot of research and in a way there's too much reliance on that and not enough on the feelings and emotions of the characters.
This is my least favourite of her books so far (my favourite would be Falling Angels, Burning Bright or Girl with a Pearl Earring) but I still quite enjoyed it. I'm glad it wasn't any longer though.
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LibraryThing member MarysGirl
I liked this book, but not as much as earlier books I've read by Chevalier. Some reviewers have disliked the founding Goodenough characters James and Sadie who have a bitter destructive marriage, but I've seen some of those in my own family and neighbors. I recognized the oppression and pure
What stood out and appealed to me were the settings. Chevalier lovingly details the Great Black Swamp of northwest Ohio and the redwood/sequoia forests of California. As an Ohioan with relatives who live in both those places, it felt familiar yet strange. (The Ohio swamps have been drained and the land is fertile farm land with not much left in the way of orchards.) As an avid gardener, I appreciated the passages on grafting and caring for fruit trees; the annual rhythms of crops sowed and harvested; and the history of land, plants, and plant hunters.
I also enjoyed the craft of the writing. The first part of the book is written in alternating scenes from the close third person James and first person Sadie. Chevalier bridges a time and character gap with letters from their youngest child Robert who left home and is making his way West. His story is picked up in close third person and interrupted by another series of letters from his sister Martha who fills in her story. Toward the end, Robert's story is again punctuated by his parent's alternating scenes in flashback. It's a clever structure and manages to mask the weaker characterizations of Robert and the other California characters. Altogether this was a satisfying read for me, but folks with less interest in the settings or plants might find it a bit of a slog.
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drudgery of rural life in a tough environment and how that can twist people. Those characters rang more true to me than the ones in the later half of the book who seemed more stereotypical. What stood out and appealed to me were the settings. Chevalier lovingly details the Great Black Swamp of northwest Ohio and the redwood/sequoia forests of California. As an Ohioan with relatives who live in both those places, it felt familiar yet strange. (The Ohio swamps have been drained and the land is fertile farm land with not much left in the way of orchards.) As an avid gardener, I appreciated the passages on grafting and caring for fruit trees; the annual rhythms of crops sowed and harvested; and the history of land, plants, and plant hunters.
I also enjoyed the craft of the writing. The first part of the book is written in alternating scenes from the close third person James and first person Sadie. Chevalier bridges a time and character gap with letters from their youngest child Robert who left home and is making his way West. His story is picked up in close third person and interrupted by another series of letters from his sister Martha who fills in her story. Toward the end, Robert's story is again punctuated by his parent's alternating scenes in flashback. It's a clever structure and manages to mask the weaker characterizations of Robert and the other California characters. Altogether this was a satisfying read for me, but folks with less interest in the settings or plants might find it a bit of a slog.
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LibraryThing member mmoj
James and Sadie Goodenough are settlers leaving Connecticut on their way to a place of their own. They settle in Black Swamp, Ohio. It's not an easy place to have settled because it's a swampy, mud-infused place that doesn't yield without back-breaking, soul-destroying work. To keep their land they
Fast forward to Robert, James & Sadie's 17 year-old son. He's far from home on his way west. He picks up a variety of odd jobs in different places on the way to the West. He's writing to his brothers and sister's who he misses a great deal. He never writes to his parents, we find out why in the story. Robert, who used to help his dad in the orchard and watched and did everything his father did, connects with William Lobb a famous plant hunter. Robert falls in love with the work and is quick to learn, partly because of his previous experiences with his father in the orchard.
This book was very sad so I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't fond of sad books but if you like historical fiction that includes historical characters this is a must read. Robert has gone through so much you keep hoping that things will turn out alright. The reason Robert left home surprised me as did the ending - I cried. Another wonderful book from Tracy Chevalier.
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must plant 50 apple trees in 3 years. John Appleseed sells them seeds and saplings, he also sells them Applejack - something that Sadie will use often to block out the harshness of being settlers in such a hostile place. James sees this weakness in Sadie (while that, and the fact that the woman would mate with a bobcat if it had pants on) and withdraws into his apple orchard, which Sadie can't or won't understand. Into this environment James and Sadie manage to bring 10 children into the world, 5 of them dead before adulthood.Fast forward to Robert, James & Sadie's 17 year-old son. He's far from home on his way west. He picks up a variety of odd jobs in different places on the way to the West. He's writing to his brothers and sister's who he misses a great deal. He never writes to his parents, we find out why in the story. Robert, who used to help his dad in the orchard and watched and did everything his father did, connects with William Lobb a famous plant hunter. Robert falls in love with the work and is quick to learn, partly because of his previous experiences with his father in the orchard.
This book was very sad so I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't fond of sad books but if you like historical fiction that includes historical characters this is a must read. Robert has gone through so much you keep hoping that things will turn out alright. The reason Robert left home surprised me as did the ending - I cried. Another wonderful book from Tracy Chevalier.
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LibraryThing member jessibud2
[At the Edge of the Orchard] by Tracy Chevalier. I listened to this on audiobook, narrated by 4 separate narrators. I am a huge fan of this author and was looking forward to this book. Early on, though, I was feeling disappointed; I didn't like one of the main characters, enough that I almost
The story follows the life of Robert Goodenough, in 1838, when he and his parents and siblings settle in a rough swampy area of Ohio, and try to live off the land. James, the father, is obsessed with trees, specifically apple trees. John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) figures as a character in their lives. It is a rough life, and not a pleasant one. Chevalier captures the raw, bleak and difficult atmosphere so clearly that it was almost painful. After a violent incident, Robert, still a young boy, runs away and makes his way west, finding work where he can as he crosses the country. He writes to his family once a year, on New Year's Day, but after 18 years of no response, finally stops. He settles in California, tries his hand at gold prospecting but eventually find work with an English naturalist who collects seeds and saplings of the giant redwoods and sequoias and sends them to England. Then, in 1853, life changes abruptly for Robert when... well, no spoilers here. Just when you think you know where this is going, well, you'd be wrong. Let's just say I was riveted to the end.
Though I have read and loved several of Chevalier's books, I still have another, older book by her on my shelf that I haven't read and may just dive into that one soon. She is a really good write
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decided to abandon the book. But it is only 7 discs and I know enough about her writing to know that it was likely to get better. I am really happy that I stuck it out, because as soon as Part 2 began, it did. The story follows the life of Robert Goodenough, in 1838, when he and his parents and siblings settle in a rough swampy area of Ohio, and try to live off the land. James, the father, is obsessed with trees, specifically apple trees. John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) figures as a character in their lives. It is a rough life, and not a pleasant one. Chevalier captures the raw, bleak and difficult atmosphere so clearly that it was almost painful. After a violent incident, Robert, still a young boy, runs away and makes his way west, finding work where he can as he crosses the country. He writes to his family once a year, on New Year's Day, but after 18 years of no response, finally stops. He settles in California, tries his hand at gold prospecting but eventually find work with an English naturalist who collects seeds and saplings of the giant redwoods and sequoias and sends them to England. Then, in 1853, life changes abruptly for Robert when... well, no spoilers here. Just when you think you know where this is going, well, you'd be wrong. Let's just say I was riveted to the end.
Though I have read and loved several of Chevalier's books, I still have another, older book by her on my shelf that I haven't read and may just dive into that one soon. She is a really good write
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LibraryThing member bookczuk
I never come away from a Chevalier novel without knowing I have gained something. Sometimes that "something" is a wonderful bit of fiction, but often, it also is that more elusive classroom of life, where I have learned a bit more about the subject of which she's written. It can be painting a
Tags: 2016-read, an-author-i-read, made-me-look-something-up, read, taught-me-something, thank-you-charleston-county-library
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masterpiece, weaving one of my favorite medieval tapestries, finding fossils, or as in this book, more about trees and our nation's history in the early to mid 1800's. The story starts in the swamps of northwest Ohio (okay, I admit it. I didn't know there were swamps there) with the somewhat hapless and luckless Goodenough family, who are, indeed, good enough to make a mess of things, including planting the orchard that would allow them to claim ownership of their land. (Now that decree I did know about: to claim a sake of farmland, there needed to be 50 trees planted as an orchard in 3 years of settling, to show you were really serious about farming the land.) The story bounces back and forth between James and Sadie, sometimes sideswiping their surviving children, and then moves to follow the youngest, Robert, as he travels west. The day Robert first saw the giant sequoias of California was the day I also discovered old family pictures from 1962 when my own family discovered them as well. Chevalier has woven two actual figures into the novel, both of whom have crossed my interest radar in the past: John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) and William Lobb, each of whom helped transport trees (actually seeds, seedlings, and saplings) from their natural environment to new ones, often miles and growing zones away. Fascinating stuff, how we changed our world through plants. And because that fascinates me, the story built around it interested me, too. Tags: 2016-read, an-author-i-read, made-me-look-something-up, read, taught-me-something, thank-you-charleston-county-library
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
I decided I didn’t like this book, but I decided I was wrong. The story of a pioneer family in a swampy area of Ohio was so depressing, but I kept reading and I’m so glad I did. That depressing story was necessary to set the background for a brother and sister who flee the depressing life.
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Well-written this story will grab you and have you cheering, and crying as you discover what happens to Robert and Martha. Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
Ok. I’ll admit it. I bought this book for the cover.
Kinda.
Yes, the cover is what attracted me first, but also the author and finally the description. Back when Chevalier published what I think was her breakout book, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, I read it and a couple of her other books. Then
The story is told in two main parts; direct narrative from the perspectives of James and Sadie, husband and wife who had to leave Connecticut because there wasn’t enough of James’ family land to go around, with he being a younger son and marrying beneath him. The first Sadie won’t let him forget, the second she believes, too, and it gives her an excuse to undermine him, the family and everything they’re working hard to overcome. Well the family is working, Sadie believes that one of the reasons people have children is to foist off the hardest work to. She’s a wholly unpleasant and surprisingly unsympathetic character. Usually in these kinds of books when there’s a severely put-upon woman who acts the harridan, the writer will suddenly give us some heartbreaking reason for it. In this there is no such magic wand. Sadie is a sociopath through and through and I wished she’d just fall into her jack bottle and stay there.
The other piece of the story comes from letters written by youngest son Robert after he escapes his horror show of a life in Black Swamp. Semi-literate, he writes to his left behind brothers and sisters (ominous that mom and dad are not mentioned). He doesn’t receive a single reply, but keeps on for something like ten years. Now don’t get worried that you’re going to have to wade through hundreds of misspelled letters; you won’t. He writes one a year and sometimes skips years. He’s pretty wayward at first, but finally meets William Lobb, a man who collects plants for a firm in England. Without really meaning to, Lobb hires Robert and begins to teach him about the great trees of California; the Sequoia and the Redwood. Once again, Robert’s life is run by trees; immutable and uncaring, causing his silent awe and devotion to their care.
The two types of trees in the book couldn’t be more different. The highly cultivated and domesticated apple which is the ruin of the Goodenough family. By ending up in swamp, the farming is poor and farming apples made more difficult because James wants eating apples and Sadie wants drinking apples. Neither do well and James has to be diligent in his grafting campaign or else Sadie will rip down the trees out of spite.
Robert’s relationship with the sequoias and redwoods is no less demanding and only affected by humans when he has to pay to be able to collect seeds and saplings. Soon he’s doing this on his own and likes his solitary life among the giants.
It doesn’t last with the arrival of not one, but two pregnant women in his life. I like their depiction and how he handles each of them and the way things end up, despite some more sorrow added onto the heap that had come before. The end was hopeful, which was more than I expected given the grinding misery of the first part.
Kinda.
Yes, the cover is what attracted me first, but also the author and finally the description. Back when Chevalier published what I think was her breakout book, The Girl with the Pearl Earring, I read it and a couple of her other books. Then
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she sort of fell off my bookshelf as sometimes happens. I’m glad to add this one to my set though. It’s a historical fiction novel set in frontier America, albeit a part that isn’t nearly as treated or romanticized as some like the Dakotas, prairie states or places in Big Sky country. Instead our hapless family washes up in northwestern Ohio in what is essentially a swamp. Let the wretchedness begin.The story is told in two main parts; direct narrative from the perspectives of James and Sadie, husband and wife who had to leave Connecticut because there wasn’t enough of James’ family land to go around, with he being a younger son and marrying beneath him. The first Sadie won’t let him forget, the second she believes, too, and it gives her an excuse to undermine him, the family and everything they’re working hard to overcome. Well the family is working, Sadie believes that one of the reasons people have children is to foist off the hardest work to. She’s a wholly unpleasant and surprisingly unsympathetic character. Usually in these kinds of books when there’s a severely put-upon woman who acts the harridan, the writer will suddenly give us some heartbreaking reason for it. In this there is no such magic wand. Sadie is a sociopath through and through and I wished she’d just fall into her jack bottle and stay there.
The other piece of the story comes from letters written by youngest son Robert after he escapes his horror show of a life in Black Swamp. Semi-literate, he writes to his left behind brothers and sisters (ominous that mom and dad are not mentioned). He doesn’t receive a single reply, but keeps on for something like ten years. Now don’t get worried that you’re going to have to wade through hundreds of misspelled letters; you won’t. He writes one a year and sometimes skips years. He’s pretty wayward at first, but finally meets William Lobb, a man who collects plants for a firm in England. Without really meaning to, Lobb hires Robert and begins to teach him about the great trees of California; the Sequoia and the Redwood. Once again, Robert’s life is run by trees; immutable and uncaring, causing his silent awe and devotion to their care.
The two types of trees in the book couldn’t be more different. The highly cultivated and domesticated apple which is the ruin of the Goodenough family. By ending up in swamp, the farming is poor and farming apples made more difficult because James wants eating apples and Sadie wants drinking apples. Neither do well and James has to be diligent in his grafting campaign or else Sadie will rip down the trees out of spite.
Robert’s relationship with the sequoias and redwoods is no less demanding and only affected by humans when he has to pay to be able to collect seeds and saplings. Soon he’s doing this on his own and likes his solitary life among the giants.
It doesn’t last with the arrival of not one, but two pregnant women in his life. I like their depiction and how he handles each of them and the way things end up, despite some more sorrow added onto the heap that had come before. The end was hopeful, which was more than I expected given the grinding misery of the first part.
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LibraryThing member rmckeown
Tracy Chevalier is a writer I urgently recommend to my readers. Pick up any of her novels, and help raise her reputation to a well-deserved higher level. Her eighth and most recent work, At the Edge of the Orchard, brings me up to date on her works. Tracy has talent to take the reader to times and
Orchard begins in the spring of 1838. James and his wife, Sadie Goodenough, have left Connecticut to strike out on their own into the western U.S. James loves, and is obsessed with, apples. His family grew wonderful fruit, and he got some seeds and saplings from an itinerant apple salesman, John Chapman, also known as the legendary, Johnny Appleseed. Unfortunately, James selected a swampy stretch of ground, and the work to clear and drain enough lend to plant trees proved daunting. Sadie wants him to plant something that will quickly produce a cash crop. Tracy writes, “What made the fight between sweet and sour different this time was not that James was tired; he was always tired. It wore a man down, carving out a life from the Black Swamp. It was not that Sadie was hung over; she was often hung over. The difference was that John Chapman had been with them the night before. Pf all the Goodenoughs, only Sadie stayed up and listened to him talk late into the night, occasionally throwing pine cones into the fire to make it flare. The spark in his eyes and belly and God knows where else had leapt over to her like a flame finding its true path from one curled wood shaving to another. She was always happier, sassier, and surer of herself after John Chapman visited” (3). This second paragraph of the novel provides an English Professor with a bounty of images and ideas of a story spun out from this innocuous beginning.
The family grew quickly with the arrival of 10 children – not all of whom survived into adult hood. The youngest, and James’ favorite of Sadie and Robert, became the focal point of the family. Fed up with her addiction to Applejack, a strong alcoholic beverage, James and some of the children abandon Sadie and take the wagon home from a local gathering. Chevalier writes, “My family was gone. I could feel it. I was all alone. That made me stop in the middle of the road and jest stand there. A wagon was comin towards me and a man was shoutin at me to get out of the way, but I couldnt move. Tears was running down me on the inside and the outside. // Ma. // I turned around and there was Robert. Of all my family I was glad it was him that found me, cause I loved him best even when he made me feel the worst. Robert was the Goodenough with the most future in him, the one the swamp wouldn’t get. // He held out his hand and said, I come to fetch you. // I was still cryin and I let him take my hand and lead me away like I was a child” (65).
Tracy Chevalier has added to her wonderful collection of novels with At the Edge of the Orchard. Try this story – or The Girl with a Pearl Earring – and travel the rough and tumble years of the western expansion of the young United States. 5 stars
--Jim, 8/21/16
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places with detail and depth of characterization I greatly admire. Her best known work, The Girl with the Pearl Earring was my introduction to her, and I was smitten from the first line.Orchard begins in the spring of 1838. James and his wife, Sadie Goodenough, have left Connecticut to strike out on their own into the western U.S. James loves, and is obsessed with, apples. His family grew wonderful fruit, and he got some seeds and saplings from an itinerant apple salesman, John Chapman, also known as the legendary, Johnny Appleseed. Unfortunately, James selected a swampy stretch of ground, and the work to clear and drain enough lend to plant trees proved daunting. Sadie wants him to plant something that will quickly produce a cash crop. Tracy writes, “What made the fight between sweet and sour different this time was not that James was tired; he was always tired. It wore a man down, carving out a life from the Black Swamp. It was not that Sadie was hung over; she was often hung over. The difference was that John Chapman had been with them the night before. Pf all the Goodenoughs, only Sadie stayed up and listened to him talk late into the night, occasionally throwing pine cones into the fire to make it flare. The spark in his eyes and belly and God knows where else had leapt over to her like a flame finding its true path from one curled wood shaving to another. She was always happier, sassier, and surer of herself after John Chapman visited” (3). This second paragraph of the novel provides an English Professor with a bounty of images and ideas of a story spun out from this innocuous beginning.
The family grew quickly with the arrival of 10 children – not all of whom survived into adult hood. The youngest, and James’ favorite of Sadie and Robert, became the focal point of the family. Fed up with her addiction to Applejack, a strong alcoholic beverage, James and some of the children abandon Sadie and take the wagon home from a local gathering. Chevalier writes, “My family was gone. I could feel it. I was all alone. That made me stop in the middle of the road and jest stand there. A wagon was comin towards me and a man was shoutin at me to get out of the way, but I couldnt move. Tears was running down me on the inside and the outside. // Ma. // I turned around and there was Robert. Of all my family I was glad it was him that found me, cause I loved him best even when he made me feel the worst. Robert was the Goodenough with the most future in him, the one the swamp wouldn’t get. // He held out his hand and said, I come to fetch you. // I was still cryin and I let him take my hand and lead me away like I was a child” (65).
Tracy Chevalier has added to her wonderful collection of novels with At the Edge of the Orchard. Try this story – or The Girl with a Pearl Earring – and travel the rough and tumble years of the western expansion of the young United States. 5 stars
--Jim, 8/21/16
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
3.5 Black Swamp, Ohio is as far as the James and Sadie Goodenough with their children manage to travel. ere they settle, here Johnny Appleseed find them and sells James apple trees and apple seeds.
These trees would prove a big bone of contention between husband and wife. Dysfunctional family, apple
We start with the family and their efforts to settle in this swamp, and then we travel with young Robert, the eldest son as he travels westward, working different jobs until he meets Hobbs and find employment with him collecting seeds and comes. We don't know why he left his family and won't until the third part of the book.
A very depressing story in the beginning, historically interesting for the second part, but much time spent on apples and seeds. More time spent on the historical than in fleshing out the characters, or so I felt. Molly, who appears in the second half of the novel brings a welcome and refreshing, even uplifting boost to this novel. Not until them last part did we get a better understanding of Robert and it was this part of the book I enjoyed the most. So a mixed reaction from me, loved the writing, the story was interesting but I felt it was a little disconnected. Definitely worth reading though. As always appreciated the author's note which lets the reader know what was factual and what was fiction.
ARC from Netgalley.
These trees would prove a big bone of contention between husband and wife. Dysfunctional family, apple
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trees, apple jack, Hobbs a seed collector, the redwoods, sequoias, the gold rush, are some of the things touched on in this novel.We start with the family and their efforts to settle in this swamp, and then we travel with young Robert, the eldest son as he travels westward, working different jobs until he meets Hobbs and find employment with him collecting seeds and comes. We don't know why he left his family and won't until the third part of the book.
A very depressing story in the beginning, historically interesting for the second part, but much time spent on apples and seeds. More time spent on the historical than in fleshing out the characters, or so I felt. Molly, who appears in the second half of the novel brings a welcome and refreshing, even uplifting boost to this novel. Not until them last part did we get a better understanding of Robert and it was this part of the book I enjoyed the most. So a mixed reaction from me, loved the writing, the story was interesting but I felt it was a little disconnected. Definitely worth reading though. As always appreciated the author's note which lets the reader know what was factual and what was fiction.
ARC from Netgalley.
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LibraryThing member Cariola
I've had mixed reactions to Tracy Chevalier's novels. I loved Girl with a Pearl Earring (perhaps the first to emerge in what's now an industry of painting-based novels), and I quite liked Remarkable Creatures, was less keen on Falling Angels and Burning Bright, hated The Virgin Blue, and didn't
In the 1830s, the Goodenough family has moved from Connecticut to settled in the wilds of Ohio, attempting to establish an apple orchard in an area know as Black Swamp. The name alone should tell you that it will be a difficult venture. This family puts the "dys" in dysfunctional. Father James seems to love his apple trees--especially the sweet Golden Pippins--more than he does his wife and children. But he is a saint in comparison to his wife Sadie, a mean, vengeful, drunken slut. When she isn't drinking or knocked out from applejack, trying to get into another man's pants, or making her children feel like crap, she's plotting to destroy James's pippin grafts. If Chevalier's design was to create a truly despicable character, well, she succeeded on that score. But it's a little hard to enjoy a novel when you keep hoping a main character will die. There's not much motivation for Sadie's meanness, aside from the fact that she would prefer to grow "spitters," which are good for making applejack and hard cider, to "eaters." Sure, five of her ten children have died of swamp fever, but I never got the impression that she cared much about them anyway. As for the remaining children, well, at one point Sadie says the only reason she had them is to do work. James at least says that he doesn't want to leave the swamp because his children are buried there, and he has some kind words and an occasional hug for his surviving children. Sadie keeps trying to seduce John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) who frequently stops by with free seed, saplings to sell, and more applejack; she also gets drunk and has sex with a stranger in the middle of a fair (James catches her) and makes frequent insinuations that she has slept with James's brother (and that he was a lot better in the sack).
Aside from the parents, youngest son Robert is the novel's main focus. His father teaches him how to graft striplings of Golden Pippins to the "spitters," and Robert develops a true love of the natural world. In the book's second section, something has happened (we're not told what until much later), and we find that Robert has left home and moved west. He has worked through a number of different places and jobs, but he's found a niche in California redwood territory, assisting William Lobb, an English horticulturalist who ships seeds and saplings home for rich landowners hoping to cultivate unusual species in their vast gardens. Several chapters consist of Robert's annual New Year's letter home to Black Swamp, and one is comprised of his sister Martha's similar letters to him (although he never received them. In between these we find out what happened to drive Robert from home and learn more about his independent life. I'm not sure this structure is the most effective way to tell the story. Yes, it creates some suspense, but maybe not enough to keep the reader engaged.
It's obvious that Chevalier did a lot of research on horticulture, Chapman, Lobb, the Gold Rush, etc. But at times I admit that I sped through some of the sections on the differences between sequoias and redwoods, the best way to transport saplings, etc.--it just didn't interest me as much as it seemed to interest the author. My hatred of Sadie and some minor (but majorly sadistic) characters overwhelmed any other response I might have had, so, unfortunately, At the Edge of the Orchard is getting only 3 stars from me (and I seriously considered 2.4).
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care much for The Lady and the Unicorn. (I chose to pass on The Last Runaway after reading a number of negative reviews.) At the Edge of the Orchard joins the ranks of the mediocre Chevalier books in my library.In the 1830s, the Goodenough family has moved from Connecticut to settled in the wilds of Ohio, attempting to establish an apple orchard in an area know as Black Swamp. The name alone should tell you that it will be a difficult venture. This family puts the "dys" in dysfunctional. Father James seems to love his apple trees--especially the sweet Golden Pippins--more than he does his wife and children. But he is a saint in comparison to his wife Sadie, a mean, vengeful, drunken slut. When she isn't drinking or knocked out from applejack, trying to get into another man's pants, or making her children feel like crap, she's plotting to destroy James's pippin grafts. If Chevalier's design was to create a truly despicable character, well, she succeeded on that score. But it's a little hard to enjoy a novel when you keep hoping a main character will die. There's not much motivation for Sadie's meanness, aside from the fact that she would prefer to grow "spitters," which are good for making applejack and hard cider, to "eaters." Sure, five of her ten children have died of swamp fever, but I never got the impression that she cared much about them anyway. As for the remaining children, well, at one point Sadie says the only reason she had them is to do work. James at least says that he doesn't want to leave the swamp because his children are buried there, and he has some kind words and an occasional hug for his surviving children. Sadie keeps trying to seduce John Chapman (aka Johnny Appleseed) who frequently stops by with free seed, saplings to sell, and more applejack; she also gets drunk and has sex with a stranger in the middle of a fair (James catches her) and makes frequent insinuations that she has slept with James's brother (and that he was a lot better in the sack).
Aside from the parents, youngest son Robert is the novel's main focus. His father teaches him how to graft striplings of Golden Pippins to the "spitters," and Robert develops a true love of the natural world. In the book's second section, something has happened (we're not told what until much later), and we find that Robert has left home and moved west. He has worked through a number of different places and jobs, but he's found a niche in California redwood territory, assisting William Lobb, an English horticulturalist who ships seeds and saplings home for rich landowners hoping to cultivate unusual species in their vast gardens. Several chapters consist of Robert's annual New Year's letter home to Black Swamp, and one is comprised of his sister Martha's similar letters to him (although he never received them. In between these we find out what happened to drive Robert from home and learn more about his independent life. I'm not sure this structure is the most effective way to tell the story. Yes, it creates some suspense, but maybe not enough to keep the reader engaged.
It's obvious that Chevalier did a lot of research on horticulture, Chapman, Lobb, the Gold Rush, etc. But at times I admit that I sped through some of the sections on the differences between sequoias and redwoods, the best way to transport saplings, etc.--it just didn't interest me as much as it seemed to interest the author. My hatred of Sadie and some minor (but majorly sadistic) characters overwhelmed any other response I might have had, so, unfortunately, At the Edge of the Orchard is getting only 3 stars from me (and I seriously considered 2.4).
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LibraryThing member lauriebrown54
The Goodenoughs have horrible lives. They don’t even put the fun in dysfunctional. It’s 1838, and James and Sadie and their five children (they had 10, but the swamp fever took half of them) live in the Black Swamp because that is where their wagon got stuck. They are homesteading because
Robert has fled to California in stages; moving from spot to spot and job to job, being in turns a cowboy, an assistant to a snake oil salesman, a prospector, an ostler, a deck hand, a bottle washer, and, finally, a plant collector. He’s a loner, unattached to anyone or anything- he won’t even name his horse-as emotionally aloof as his father. Then the past shows up unexpectedly, and his life changes again.
I have mixed feelings on this book. Despite the awfulness of their situation, I could find no sympathy for the Goodenoughs. Sadie has no redeeming traits; she’s been an outcast for her behavior for years and makes no effort to please anyone but herself. James would be a sympathetic character even though he’s emotionally absent, but he’s too quick to use his fists and his belt to deal with things. Robert and the one sister, Martha, are the only family members I could care about. Even Chapman, an American icon, seems a little shady in this story.
The second half, Robert’s story, starts slow but then gathers momentum like a snowball on a ski hill and ends with a bang. Robert is a good person who had to deal with horrible things and an unwarranted load of guilt. I enjoyed the inclusion of some historical people, especially William Lobb (I have the rose named after him!) and his prickly but kind personality. I’m a plant person, so I also enjoyed the use of trees as a plot device. All in all, the book isn’t the best book Chevalier has written, but in the end I enjoyed it.
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James’s family urged them to leave the family property in Connecticut- we find out why later in the book. The government will give them the land if they plant an orchard of 50 trees to prove they are making a go of it there; so far, they’ve only managed to afford 38; all apples, a mixture of sour ‘spitters’ and Golden Pippens that James has grafted, bringing the scion wood with them from Connecticut. And these trees are what the constant war between Sadie and James revolve around, an odd focus for their discontent. James loves the Pippens because not only are they good tasting, but they are something his family brought over from England. Sadie wants only spitters, because they are used for cider and applejack, and she has a lust for alcohol. The children are sort of bringing themselves up, creatures that Sadie says they created to do the work so she didn’t have to. Their social life consists of an occasional visit from John Chapman- Johnny Appleseed- selling apple seedlings and the yearly revival camp. After a couple of years, something happens that changes everything and the story changes to that of Robert, the son who was quiet and thoughtful and had the most trouble dealing with the nastiness between James and Sadie. Robert has fled to California in stages; moving from spot to spot and job to job, being in turns a cowboy, an assistant to a snake oil salesman, a prospector, an ostler, a deck hand, a bottle washer, and, finally, a plant collector. He’s a loner, unattached to anyone or anything- he won’t even name his horse-as emotionally aloof as his father. Then the past shows up unexpectedly, and his life changes again.
I have mixed feelings on this book. Despite the awfulness of their situation, I could find no sympathy for the Goodenoughs. Sadie has no redeeming traits; she’s been an outcast for her behavior for years and makes no effort to please anyone but herself. James would be a sympathetic character even though he’s emotionally absent, but he’s too quick to use his fists and his belt to deal with things. Robert and the one sister, Martha, are the only family members I could care about. Even Chapman, an American icon, seems a little shady in this story.
The second half, Robert’s story, starts slow but then gathers momentum like a snowball on a ski hill and ends with a bang. Robert is a good person who had to deal with horrible things and an unwarranted load of guilt. I enjoyed the inclusion of some historical people, especially William Lobb (I have the rose named after him!) and his prickly but kind personality. I’m a plant person, so I also enjoyed the use of trees as a plot device. All in all, the book isn’t the best book Chevalier has written, but in the end I enjoyed it.
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LibraryThing member ecataldi
Chevalier, Tracy. At the Edge of the Orchard. 7 CDs. unabridged. 9 hrs. Books on Tape. ISBN 9781101924983.
Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring) pulls no punches with this hard hit tale of a pioneer family that can't ever seem to get ahead. In 1838 the Goodenough family settles into the Black Swamp
Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring) pulls no punches with this hard hit tale of a pioneer family that can't ever seem to get ahead. In 1838 the Goodenough family settles into the Black Swamp
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of northern Ohio and try to have a go at planting apple trees aided by the traveling salesman known as Johnny Appleseed. James cares for his apple trees better than he does his ten children (half of which have died), savoring the sweet apples they can make. His wife Sadie however, only likes the trees when the apples produced are bitter, making them ideal for alcohol and giving her an escape from the life she detests. Told from alternating viewpoints and letters, this tale of rough rugged living sucks listeners in with four distinct voice talents, all of whom embody and enliven the tale with their rough accents. Every drawl and whistle, and song bring the Black Swamp to life for listeners. Meticulously researched, heartbreakingly beautiful, deceptively simple, and superbly narrated. Another must read from the queen of historical fiction. - Erin Cataldi, Johnson Co. Public Library, Franklin, IN Show Less
LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
At The Edge Of The Orchard, Tracy Chevalier, author; Hillary Huber, Mark Bramhall, Kirby Heyborne, Cassandra Morris, narrators
It is 1838 and Sadie and James Goodenough, from CT, were traveling west having been asked to leave his family farm. Apparently, it was not big enough for all of the family
After a tragic accident, Robert, barely 9 years old, takes off and does not return. He makes his way, finding all sorts of odd jobs to take care of himself. It was a time when child labor was acceptable and children often made their way on their own, struggling to survive. He sent letters home frequently, explaining how he was getting on, hoping for an answer from someone, but after almost two decades of letters with no response, he stopped. The mail was unreliable and he moved around a lot. His life was not easy, and although lonely, he seemed easy going and satisfied with his simple life. His sister Martha had learned about one of his letters, that her brother had not shared, and began writing her own letters to Robert, hoping for a return response. She told him all about her life and his family. It is through these letters and the voices of Sadie and James that the reader learns about all of the intervening years of tragedy and hardship that befell the family.
The author painted a very lucid picture of those days gone by, of the swamp and the swamp fever that struck them down, of the difficulty of surviving and nurturing trees in the foul smelling mud without modern day equipment or technology, of the tragedy that befell each one who lived the hard life of a frontier family. We see Robert’s life turn full circle as he goes from drifter to a man who returns to the trees. Each character was drawn so clearly that the reader easily can picture an image in their minds. There is the vindictive Sadie, the sometimes violent James, the drifter Chapman, the quiet and obedient, thoughtful Robert, the shy and frail Martha who bore the brunt of her mother’s cruelty, and the drunken brother Caleb who was a no-account, quite clearly. At the end, the reader will be left wondering if the future would be full of hope or despair for Robert. It is a very well written book that will draw the reader in and hold his/her attention completely.
It is 1838 and Sadie and James Goodenough, from CT, were traveling west having been asked to leave his family farm. Apparently, it was not big enough for all of the family
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members. Plagued by wagon troubles, they were forced to stop at the Black Swamp in Ohio, where they staked a claim and began to plant apple trees. It sounds like a terrible place, but the Government guaranteed their claim to the land if they managed to create an orchard with 50 thriving trees. There was conflict immediately between Sadie and James. She liked spitters and he liked eaters. Spitters were good for baking and made apple jack. Sadie loved and became addicted to the apple jack. Eaters were merely for good eating and Sadie rightly believed that James loved those apples more than he loved her. James resented the man, John Chapman, who brought Sadie the apple jack and who disapproved of and criticized his methods of raising and breeding apple trees. James grafted one tree to another to try and create a better apple. Chapman believed that was G-d’s work. Sadie sided with Chapman. She seemed to enjoy making James jealous, but she was really the jealous one. She was often devious and mean, conniving and vengeful. She had birthed 10 children, not all of whom survived, but they all helped in the orchard and witnessed the sometimes violent feud between their parents. James and Sadie were literally at war over the apple trees. She sabotaged his efforts and destroyed his trees when he used part of her spitters to graft to his eaters.After a tragic accident, Robert, barely 9 years old, takes off and does not return. He makes his way, finding all sorts of odd jobs to take care of himself. It was a time when child labor was acceptable and children often made their way on their own, struggling to survive. He sent letters home frequently, explaining how he was getting on, hoping for an answer from someone, but after almost two decades of letters with no response, he stopped. The mail was unreliable and he moved around a lot. His life was not easy, and although lonely, he seemed easy going and satisfied with his simple life. His sister Martha had learned about one of his letters, that her brother had not shared, and began writing her own letters to Robert, hoping for a return response. She told him all about her life and his family. It is through these letters and the voices of Sadie and James that the reader learns about all of the intervening years of tragedy and hardship that befell the family.
The author painted a very lucid picture of those days gone by, of the swamp and the swamp fever that struck them down, of the difficulty of surviving and nurturing trees in the foul smelling mud without modern day equipment or technology, of the tragedy that befell each one who lived the hard life of a frontier family. We see Robert’s life turn full circle as he goes from drifter to a man who returns to the trees. Each character was drawn so clearly that the reader easily can picture an image in their minds. There is the vindictive Sadie, the sometimes violent James, the drifter Chapman, the quiet and obedient, thoughtful Robert, the shy and frail Martha who bore the brunt of her mother’s cruelty, and the drunken brother Caleb who was a no-account, quite clearly. At the end, the reader will be left wondering if the future would be full of hope or despair for Robert. It is a very well written book that will draw the reader in and hold his/her attention completely.
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LibraryThing member mcelhra
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
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.
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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.
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LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
I am a huge fan of Tracy Chevalier, and have always loved her seemingly effortless ability to combine enthralling stories while instructing her readers in some hitherto unexplored avenue of knowledge. Her previous books have addressed the burgeoning tapestry industry in medieval Belgium [The Lady
I was, therefore, intrigued to know what her latest book would have to offer, and I wasn’t disappointed. We are once more in nineteenth century America, in the Black Swamp area on northern Ohio, at the south-western extreme of Lake Erie. The Goodenough family have struck out west from their native Connecticut, and have staked a claim to a patch of
marsh-ridden land with a view to growing apples. James, the head of the family, is an obsessive cultivator of apples, driven by what has become a family tradition. He has even brought with him the carefully tended boughs of an English apple tree (a golden pippin), carried all the way from Herefordshire by his ancestors, with a view to gratfing them to native tress and rearing them in Ohio.
Life is hard in the Goodenough household. James and his wife Sadie have had nine children, but four have died, carried off by the relentless swamp fever. Having to face life with very little input from outside the family homestead has taken its toll, and James and Sadie spend most of their time at daggers drawn. They even differ over their preferences for apples: James like sweet apples such as the Golden Pippin while Sadie prefers ‘spitters’ the sour apples from which cider, not to mention the even stronger applejack, is made. Sadie is altogether too fond of applejack, which in turn has disastrous consequences for her relations with James. Chevalier cranks up the tension masterfully, with James and Sadie using their surviving children as pawns in their ceaseless matrimonial conflict.
The Goodenoughs do have one fairly regular visitor, an itinerant apple salesman called John Chapman, better known in American folklore as Johnny Appleseed who was instrumental in spreading apple growing across the continent. Chapman would today be styled as a hippy, living in the wilds, always travelling barefoot and eschewing any animal products. His inclusion gives Chevalier a vehicle for the discussion of various aspects of apple rearing, though this is never obtrusive: she never lectures her readers, but instead imparts her extensive knowledge almost by osmosis.
The Goodenoughs lurch on, from one family crisis to another. The action then moves on some fifteen or so years, and follows Robert Goodenough, James’s and Sadie’s son. He has ventured further west and finds himself in California during the 1850s goldrush. Still his father’s son, he remains enchanted with trees and is astounded when he first encounters the majestic redwood and sequoia. These are trees on a completely different scale, and Robert is spellbound.
As always, Tracy Chevalier has created some simple but entirely believable characters, and conjured up the sheer hardness and brutality of pioneering life, mixed with a sense of wonder at the sheer scale of the natural world. She tackles so many different facets of life: commercial rivalry, the plight of women in the goldrush, the glories of untrammelled nature, and family loyalty. A great success.
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and the Unicorn], Vermeer’s experiments with a camera obscura in seventeenth century Delft [The Girl With a Pearl Earring] and quilting in nineteenth century America [The Last Runaway]. Throughout all of her novels she has also demonstrated that she is a fine writer, capable of ensnaring the reader with a few pages, or even just a couple of paragraphs.I was, therefore, intrigued to know what her latest book would have to offer, and I wasn’t disappointed. We are once more in nineteenth century America, in the Black Swamp area on northern Ohio, at the south-western extreme of Lake Erie. The Goodenough family have struck out west from their native Connecticut, and have staked a claim to a patch of
marsh-ridden land with a view to growing apples. James, the head of the family, is an obsessive cultivator of apples, driven by what has become a family tradition. He has even brought with him the carefully tended boughs of an English apple tree (a golden pippin), carried all the way from Herefordshire by his ancestors, with a view to gratfing them to native tress and rearing them in Ohio.
Life is hard in the Goodenough household. James and his wife Sadie have had nine children, but four have died, carried off by the relentless swamp fever. Having to face life with very little input from outside the family homestead has taken its toll, and James and Sadie spend most of their time at daggers drawn. They even differ over their preferences for apples: James like sweet apples such as the Golden Pippin while Sadie prefers ‘spitters’ the sour apples from which cider, not to mention the even stronger applejack, is made. Sadie is altogether too fond of applejack, which in turn has disastrous consequences for her relations with James. Chevalier cranks up the tension masterfully, with James and Sadie using their surviving children as pawns in their ceaseless matrimonial conflict.
The Goodenoughs do have one fairly regular visitor, an itinerant apple salesman called John Chapman, better known in American folklore as Johnny Appleseed who was instrumental in spreading apple growing across the continent. Chapman would today be styled as a hippy, living in the wilds, always travelling barefoot and eschewing any animal products. His inclusion gives Chevalier a vehicle for the discussion of various aspects of apple rearing, though this is never obtrusive: she never lectures her readers, but instead imparts her extensive knowledge almost by osmosis.
The Goodenoughs lurch on, from one family crisis to another. The action then moves on some fifteen or so years, and follows Robert Goodenough, James’s and Sadie’s son. He has ventured further west and finds himself in California during the 1850s goldrush. Still his father’s son, he remains enchanted with trees and is astounded when he first encounters the majestic redwood and sequoia. These are trees on a completely different scale, and Robert is spellbound.
As always, Tracy Chevalier has created some simple but entirely believable characters, and conjured up the sheer hardness and brutality of pioneering life, mixed with a sense of wonder at the sheer scale of the natural world. She tackles so many different facets of life: commercial rivalry, the plight of women in the goldrush, the glories of untrammelled nature, and family loyalty. A great success.
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LibraryThing member Stewartry
I keep a List of the writers I want to keep an eye on. It originated before Goodreads and LibraryThing made it so easy to watch for new books and keep track of what I'd read and hadn't and what I owned and so on. Tracy Chevalier, rather predictably, made the list after [book:Girl with a Pearl
And that hasn't changed. At the Edge of the Orchard seemed like an obvious book to request from Netgalley, but I hesitated before pushing the button, because of that distancing. It's like there's a glass door between the reader and the characters. No matter how wonderful or how terrible the events going on in the narration – even with first-person narration as in this book – the reader is no more than an observer. It's a little chilly.
It all begins with the struggles of the family uprooted to the Black Swamp, trying to achieve the fifty-tree orchard required to demonstrate the intent to permanent residence. The number "fifty" is skillfully woven throughout the story as it follows the younger son of the family in his flight away from something awful that happens. The suspense of the revelation of what that was, and in a couple of other places, is nicely handled, if short-lived.
Chevalier's books are instructive, certainly. I never realized before recently how few evergreens there actually are (were) in Great Britain (until people starting sending them over from America). I never quite understood how grafting worked. I didn't know much at all about John Appleseed. And I love the story behind the naming of the monkey puzzle tree.
I just wish I knew a little more about the inner workings of her characters.
This is a quote that is highly relevant to me right about now:
What he could not stand was the constant chatter of the man raking to his right: hours of dull stories about the gold he had found and drunk away, or the high prices to be paid for anything in California, or the trials he’d had on the overland trail to get here from Kentucky. These were all familiar tales to Californians, only enlivened by an unusual style of telling or a twist in the tail. The raker had neither of these, but doggedly pursued his stories with more persistence than he did his raking.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
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Earring] … and I'm not sure why. I just found a note I made in a blog post about the "C" authors on my List: "Interesting books. Very art-oriented, which I love; not very character-oriented, which I don't love as much. By which I mean what I've read of hers is strangely removed from the characters, even in the midst of a passionate scene of any flavor." And that hasn't changed. At the Edge of the Orchard seemed like an obvious book to request from Netgalley, but I hesitated before pushing the button, because of that distancing. It's like there's a glass door between the reader and the characters. No matter how wonderful or how terrible the events going on in the narration – even with first-person narration as in this book – the reader is no more than an observer. It's a little chilly.
It all begins with the struggles of the family uprooted to the Black Swamp, trying to achieve the fifty-tree orchard required to demonstrate the intent to permanent residence. The number "fifty" is skillfully woven throughout the story as it follows the younger son of the family in his flight away from something awful that happens. The suspense of the revelation of what that was, and in a couple of other places, is nicely handled, if short-lived.
Chevalier's books are instructive, certainly. I never realized before recently how few evergreens there actually are (were) in Great Britain (until people starting sending them over from America). I never quite understood how grafting worked. I didn't know much at all about John Appleseed. And I love the story behind the naming of the monkey puzzle tree.
I just wish I knew a little more about the inner workings of her characters.
This is a quote that is highly relevant to me right about now:
What he could not stand was the constant chatter of the man raking to his right: hours of dull stories about the gold he had found and drunk away, or the high prices to be paid for anything in California, or the trials he’d had on the overland trail to get here from Kentucky. These were all familiar tales to Californians, only enlivened by an unusual style of telling or a twist in the tail. The raker had neither of these, but doggedly pursued his stories with more persistence than he did his raking.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
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LibraryThing member Doondeck
Interesting novel about desperate times in the Black Swamp of Ohio and the life of a man dedicated to trees. Sadness and some joy in the characters.
LibraryThing member Alphawoman
The good : wonderful characters who leap from the pages and employ you to have feelings about them! You either are amused by them, irratated, aghast, shed a tear, or want to slap them whatever it is you will be moved.
The bad: I mentally compared it to The Wild Girl and several other frontier books
The bad: I mentally compared it to The Wild Girl and several other frontier books
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and found it a midget among giants. I'm inclined to think it's because the characters , though engaging, where not fleshed out enough. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dreesie
I wouldn't say this will be one of the best of 2016, but this is nonetheless a good book and a super fast read. Good historical fiction--fictional people doing real things in real places, with a few real people thrown into the mix.
Robert Goodenough is brought up, at least to age 9, in the Black
At age 9 Robert unexpectedly strikes out on his own. He moves around, regularly changing jobs, and he finally ends up in California. There he meets William Lobb, and becomes a tree collector, shipping trees and seeds to England. William Lobb was real, tree and seed collecting was really a thing, the sequoia dance floor and bowling alley trees are now part of Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and the Black Swamp really was not a great place to homestead.
Robert Goodenough is brought up, at least to age 9, in the Black
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Swamp area of Ohio. His family, from Connecticut, is trying to make a go of homesteading there in the 1830s. The need for 50 fruit trees to prove the claim is his father's biggest concern, as he loves the Golden Pippins his family orginally brought from England.At age 9 Robert unexpectedly strikes out on his own. He moves around, regularly changing jobs, and he finally ends up in California. There he meets William Lobb, and becomes a tree collector, shipping trees and seeds to England. William Lobb was real, tree and seed collecting was really a thing, the sequoia dance floor and bowling alley trees are now part of Calaveras Big Trees State Park, and the Black Swamp really was not a great place to homestead.
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LibraryThing member bayleaf
Tracy Chevalier’s At the Edge of the Orchard is such an enjoyable work of historical fiction that I didn’t want it to end. It’s not just that so many of the characters were real (John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed, William and Thomas Lobb, Billie Lapham), but Robert and Martha Goodenough and Molly
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were so deftly drawn, they too seemed to have actually lived along with the others during this time period. The description of the redwoods and the Sequoias will satisfy any lover of nature (you may want to visit) and the information on apple growing was particularly enlightening. The hard life of John and Sadie Goodenough and their family in the Black Swamp of northwest Ohio was devastating to read, but laid the groundwork for what was to come in the novel. I learned about spitters and eaters, seedlings, saplings, and cones, and could almost taste a Pitmaston Pineapple. This is a book to treasure. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I enjoyed this audiobook about a family with lives wrapped up in tree propagation. There were four different readers which made it very easy to tell each person apart.
The Goodenoughs travelled west from Connecticut to the Black Swamp in Ohio where they took up a homestead where they got stuck in
The Black Swamp was adjacent to the Limberlost Swamp in Indiana which was the locale of one of my favourite books when I was young, The Girl of the Limberlost. There are quite different views of the two swamps from these two books. In this book the swamp is unhealthy and dismal but in The Girl of the Limberlost Gene Stratton-Porter made it seem a wonderful place in nature. Interesting how two different writers can make one place seem so dichotomous.
The Goodenoughs travelled west from Connecticut to the Black Swamp in Ohio where they took up a homestead where they got stuck in
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the mud. One of the conditions of the homestead was that each farmer had to have 50 orchard trees. Johnny Appleseed travelled the area selling seedlings and seeds to farmers so they could meet their quota. Most of these trees produced fruit that was only good for cider but James Goodenough had some grafts from an old tree brought by ancestors from England, the Golden Pippin. Life was hard in the swamp. Five of the Goodenough's children died of swamp fever (malaria?). Trees died and crops failed but somehow the family kept going. There was no love lost between the parents and Sadie, the mother, drank too much and slept with other men. In part two we hear the letters one son, Robert, sends back to his brothers and sisters from the various places across the west that he finds work. There's a clue that something happened to make him leave home but the reader doesn't find out what until after learning about Robert's life first as a gold miner and then as a scout for trees to send to Britain. His employer is William Lobb, a British man who has travelled the world looking for plants and trees to send home to Britain. William Lobb really existed and his life would be a fascinating subject for a book too.The Black Swamp was adjacent to the Limberlost Swamp in Indiana which was the locale of one of my favourite books when I was young, The Girl of the Limberlost. There are quite different views of the two swamps from these two books. In this book the swamp is unhealthy and dismal but in The Girl of the Limberlost Gene Stratton-Porter made it seem a wonderful place in nature. Interesting how two different writers can make one place seem so dichotomous.
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LibraryThing member siri51
Tragic family story; pioneer hardships, children dying of swamp fever, apple obsession, applejack alcoholism, isolation, accidental murder, incest, death in childbirth,
Now want to know more about Johnny Appleseed and plant collection for export from America to Britain.
Now want to know more about Johnny Appleseed and plant collection for export from America to Britain.
LibraryThing member Sheila1957
I liked how each character had his/her own voice. For James, it was the third person voice. For Sadie, it was first person voice. Robert and Martha were also third person but first person when they wrote letters. Many in my book club did not like the book because they could not connect with the
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characters. I found it interesting how the character development was handled. I did not have lukewarm feelings toward any of them. Robert was my favorite followed by Martha. Show Less
LibraryThing member hubblegal
This is an intense story of a married couple, Sadie and James Goodenough, and their children who settled in the swamps of Ohio in 1838. James has a love of apples and struggles with the muddy swampland to grow an apple orchard. He buys his seeds and saplings from none other than Johnny Appleseed.
This is a dark book about a terribly troubled marriage. As their anger and disillusionment escalate, the book veers off from the swamp to follow the Goodenough’s youngest son, Robert, as he breaks away from the family to head west to California’s gold rush. Due to the love of apples that Robert learned at his father’s side, he eventually becomes a tree agent, collecting seeds and saplings to be sent to England. His story is told in part through his letters back home, to which he receives no response although his beloved sister Martha has also been diligently sending off letters. The author does revisit Ohio to tell of the tragedy that sent Robert away from home and what Martha endured after Robert left.
This author is meticulous in her research, not only into the lives of those who lived in the swamps of Ohio during that period of time and the California Gold Rush, but also the growing and nurturing of trees, which I found to be very interesting. This is a very good story about an unforgiving land and those who tried to endure there.
This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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James loves the sweet apples but his wife Sadie loves the sour apples, called spitters, as those she can use to make applejack, which helps her escape the trials of the swamp. The biggest trial they face is swamp fever, which constantly threatens the lives of them and their children.This is a dark book about a terribly troubled marriage. As their anger and disillusionment escalate, the book veers off from the swamp to follow the Goodenough’s youngest son, Robert, as he breaks away from the family to head west to California’s gold rush. Due to the love of apples that Robert learned at his father’s side, he eventually becomes a tree agent, collecting seeds and saplings to be sent to England. His story is told in part through his letters back home, to which he receives no response although his beloved sister Martha has also been diligently sending off letters. The author does revisit Ohio to tell of the tragedy that sent Robert away from home and what Martha endured after Robert left.
This author is meticulous in her research, not only into the lives of those who lived in the swamps of Ohio during that period of time and the California Gold Rush, but also the growing and nurturing of trees, which I found to be very interesting. This is a very good story about an unforgiving land and those who tried to endure there.
This book was given to me by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member Iambookish
My lack of enthusiasm for this book came down entirely to the subject matter. Do I think Chevalier is a fantastic author? Yes. Did I want to read about a family living in the Maumee Valley planting an apple orchard while consorting with Johnny Appleseed? Not really.
I began reading with a bad
I began reading with a bad
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attitude, and nothing in the body of the narrative did anything to turn my frown upside down. Just not my cup of tea (or cider). Show Less
Original language
English
Original publication date
2016