The Orchardist

Coplin, Amanda. The Orchardist. New York : HarperCollins. 2012. Print

First Sentences:

His face was as pitted as the moon.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and thick without being stocky, though one could see how he would pass into stockiness; he had already taken on the barrel-chested sturdiness of an old man. His ears were elephantine, a feature most commented on when he was younger, when the ears stuck out from his head; but now they had darkened like the rest of his sun-exposed flesh and lay against his skull more than at any other time in his life, and were tough, the flesh granular like the rind of some fruit.





Description: 

Sometimes an author can make me care so deeply about the characters portrayed in a book that I becomes totally engrossed with them, their decisions, their activities, and the people they encounter. Amanda Coplin is such an author as she wonderfully proves as her debut novel, The Orchardist.

Set in the late 1850s, the book follows the life of William Talmadge, an orchardist who raises apricots, apples, and other fruit on his farm in an isolated valley in Washington. Talmadge has run the orchard alone after the death of his mother and the mysterious disappearance of his sister during their teenage years. His life and orchard move steadily forward with little change over the years - until two young, pregnant girls stumble onto his property.

Jane and Della are spotted by Talmadge one afternoon, looking like two startled young animals at the edge of his forest. Over the next weeks, they watch him distrustfully from a distance, and only grudging sneak out from their hiding spot to accept the food he leaves for them. They refuse to speak to him, sleep only in the forest, and secretly follow him as he tends to the orchard. 

Eventually, their babies are due and Talmadge along with the town's herbalist/midwife must finally be brought into their lives. Gradually, their' past unfolds, revealing the dark world they are fleeing. Talmadge is soon faced with decisions, whether legal or not, that will affect the futures of these girls and himself, a truly good man facing people and situations which challenge everything about his previous world of his orchard.

Additional other strong characters are sprinkled into this world: Caroline Middey, childhood friend of Talmadge and herbalist; Clee, the silent Nez Pierce horse wrangler who hunts, trains, and sells wild horses; and Michaelson, the man who holds the key to the dark history of the girls and who wants to take them away from the orchard. Michaelson's arrival into Talmadge's world touches off events that affect all characters and set in motion the actions each person must take in response.  

Coplin's writing style and plot slowly and inexorably drew me into this world and its inhabitants until I cared so deeply about each person that I became a part of Talmadge's world, living in his time and environment with him and each character until their emotions and actions became deeply rooted in me. 

A wonderful book.

Happy reading. 


Fred
www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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