At the Edge of the Orchard

For some reason, I'm really attracted to novels from this same time period - a time of western expansion, when life was constant work. Work to keep a house, to make a living, to grow and slaughter your own food. It's just so different from how we live today (at least, a lot of us). These stories always have such romance to them; romance for nature, growth and hard work.

It's for this reason, coupled with Chevalier's unique way of crafting a story, that I really enjoyed this book. In fact, I gobbled it up, page by heart-wrenching, romantic page. Although the main narrator of the book was tough for me to connect with (a life-hardened young man), she expertly pulled me into his head, and I understood him. I could feel how conflicted he was throughout, and how affected he was by his scandalous, difficult and life-wrenching childhood.

Full review at http://www.literaryquicksand.com/2016/06/review-edge-orchard/