At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier (2016)

Another excellent book by Chevalier. Obviously she has moved away from her art history novels, and I was just recently reminded of her Lady and the Unicorn about tapestry making. I was recently at the Getty, where they had a special Louis XIV exhibit of tapestries where I watched some videos on how tapestries are made. All I learned from Chevalier was now supplemented by new and visual information.

Back to At the Edge of the Orchard. This is American history from pioneer days in Ohio - the Goodenough family landed in some swampy land east of Cleveland from what I could tell. Land could be claimed if one got 50 fruit trees growing and bearing fruit. The father James loved his apple trees almost over all else. His wife Sadie could not stand this life and drank heavily. John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed is part of the story, bringing the Goodenoughs apple seedlings and saplings. Though Sadie bore 10 children, at the start of the story only five have survived, Robert being the youngest, who learns to care for the trees from his father.

We later see Robert making his way across the country, participating in the gold rush fever, but then finding a man collecting seeds and saplings in California for the rich in England. This ties in with a couple of other books I have read - Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, where a son of a garner in England is sent all around the world to gather specimens for English gardens. Gregory's Earthly Joys, which was about one of these English gardens.

Robert was an interesting character and I am glad energetic Molly comes into his life at the end. I still have a hard time visualizing the beginnings of San Francisco, but this gave me more colorful threads to fill in my tapestry of understanding about the westward bound history of the U.S. in the mid 19th century.