The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

Synopsis from Goodreads: At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a solitary orchardist named Talmadge carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he has cultivated for nearly half a century. A gentle, solitary man, he finds solace and purpose in the sweetness of the apples, apricots, and plums he grows, and in the quiet, beating heart of the land-the valley of yellow grass bordering a deep canyon that has been his home since he was nine years old. Everything he is and has known is tied to this patch of earth. It is where his widowed mother is buried, taken by illness when he was just thirteen, and where his only companion, his beloved teenaged sister Elsbeth, mysteriously disappeared. It is where the horse wranglers-native men, mostly Nez Perce-pass through each spring with their wild herds, setting up camp in the flowering meadows between the trees.

One day, while in town to sell his fruit at the market, two girls, barefoot and dirty, steal some apples. Later, they appear on his homestead, cautious yet curious about the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, Jane and her sister Della take up on Talmadage's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Yet just as the girls begin to trust him, brutal men with guns arrive in the orchard, and the shattering tragedy that follows sets Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect them, putting himself between the girls and the world, but to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.

Writing with breathtaking precision and empathy, Amanda Coplin has crafted an astonishing debut novel about a man who disrupts the lonely harmony of an ordered life when he opens his heart and lets the world in. Transcribing America as it once was before railways and roads connected its corners, she weaves a tapestry of solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and misfortune, bound by their search to discover the place they belong. At once intimate and epic, evocative and atmospheric, filled with haunting characters both vivid and true to life, and told in a distinctive narrative voice, The Orchardist marks the beginning of a stellar literary career.

My review:

This is a quiet book about flawed people, what your upbringing can turn you into and why even when given a fighting chance some people can’t get over what was done to them. This isn’t a great drama, or a thrill ride it is really just Talmadge’s story told in a sad way, rueful and regretful.

Talmadge is a quiet man working his orchards and still not over the disappearance of his sister years ago, when one day 2 young girls dirty, hungry and pregnant have wandered onto his property looking for food. The girls Jane & Della & Talmadge finally come to tentative understanding that he will leave them food and he will not try to touch them or talk to them. When the girls go into labor only one baby lives; Angeline, who becomes a huge part of Talmadge’s life, but there is a man looking for these girls and the events of that day will haunt all their lives forever.

This is not a happy story but there is something about it that grabs at your heart plus the imagery of the orchard and the time period is done so beautifully. I am finding it very hard to put into words the emotions this book evoked.

I think this is one of those books that will stay with me awhile and the sad people in it, yet this books is so beautiful , lyrical and flowing. What amazes me is this is a first novel I think Amanda Coplin will be an author to watch and I look forward to more from her!

4 Stars