Books & Java

The Orchardist

by Amanda Coplin

 

Synopsis:

 

Set in the untamed American West, a highly original and haunting debut novel about a makeshift family whose dramatic lives are shaped by violence, love, and an indelible connection to the land.

You belong to the earth, and the earth is hard.

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 story takes place in Wenatchee, WA during a time when the Pacific Northwest was just starting to flourish and other than the big cities of Seattle and Spokane, many lived in a very rural setting. It is turn of the century and life is hard for the middle aged Talmage.  He has lived in his little cabin on his apple and apricot orchard since the death of his mother when he was 12 and the mysterious disappearance of his sister when he was 15. He keeps to himself for the most part except for his occasional visits with his life-long friend Caroline Mitty and his mute friend Clee. He is content with his uneventful life until 2 pregnant runaway sisters show up on his farmland and become what he considers to be his new-found responsibility. The two sisters, Jane and Della, are distrustful but desperate to escape a life of physical and mental abuse by what we believe to be their own father. Talmage protects them and even helps to birth one of the girls babies. These young women have decided and made a pact that they would rather die than return to the life that has robbed them of their innocence. Everything is against them - the laws, the land, circumstance. But Talmage is a good, honest person who simply wants them to have a chance at life. The life he feels his sister never got. 

The story takes us through the death of one sister and the survival of the other. Talmage assumes full parental responsibility of Angeline, Jane's surviving child and raises her there on the orchard as best as he can. Angeline however is not made aware of how her life came to be until Talmage has to confront her with the truths about the life of her mother and aunt. Talmage, goes on a personal mission to make things right for the surviving of the two sisters so that Angeline has a connection to family he feels is very important. 

This story is about love, self-discovery, the damage caused by mental and physical abuse, redemption, truth, and family. Although his blood-relatives are not part of that family, Talmage manages to create a family as a result of the ties created by Jane, Della, Caroline, Clee, and Angeline. 

Beautifully written and well-developed story. Although it is heart wrenching at times it does seem to paint a picture of how hard it was to be a woman at the turn of the century and how tough it was to make a life in the desolate Pacific Northwest.