Unlike some other reviewers, I've not read anything from this author before. I just found the book concept interesting as farm life is not something I've personally experienced. The language used throughout the book is very poetic and quite lovely to read. The book doesn't shy away from the more difficult aspects of this time in the authors life and I appreciated that. I just feel as though I would've enjoyed it more if I had a personal investment, and if I was already acquainted with the author.

I don't usually read memoirs, but since is from one of my favorite authors I had to read it.
There are so many emotions reflected in this work that I can only say how impressed I am and how lucky to have the chance to read it.

This was a fascinating read. It's a memoir, a love story, a scream at the state of modern farming, and it's about apples. I have an orchard myself. A small, domestic orchard, unsprayed, hand pruned, full of old, local varieties. I've read quite a few books about orchards, and they've all been English orchards, and the books have all been about connecting with a traditional way of life. These books show the orchard as a romantic place full of romantic people doing romantic things with apples.

This is a completely different book. Its a romance, but it's not romantic. A girl with a car crash life meets a boy with a messed up back story, and they fall in love. They move into a shack on his parents' farm. They are both emotionally abused by their parents - he's held too tightly, she's pushed away - but somehow they work together. Anne Frasier uses flashbacks to tell the story of her childhood and adolescence. She shows us a world of rural poverty, where farmers put themselves and their families at risk to keep their farms going, because the farm is the most important thing of all. There's a cloud of pesticide floating through this book, permeating the pages the way it permeates everything on the farm. The thing that keeps the farm alive creates the tragedy that is killing the farm.

It's one of those books that makes you feel you can relax back. Not that it's an easy subject, it's more that Anne Frasier's writing style makes you feel you are in a safe pair of hands. Whatever happens, her writing is going to carry you through in utter belief that this is real. Nothing is going to jar and break the spell.

I don't generally pick up memoirs, but Anne Frasier is one of my favorites. This book reads like fiction; I couldn't put it down. Her life hasn't always been easy, but her words are so poetic she makes you long for the struggles and beauty she has experienced. I feel lucky that she has shared her story with us. Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this as it is not available to buy in the US. If you can get a copy, though, you should.

I received a free e-book copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Orchard tells the story of the author's youth and the circumstances surrounding the beginning of her marriage to Adrian, an apple farmer. However, while the eponymous orchard may seem a location out of a fairytale, in reality it conceals hard, unforgiving work, unwanted familial responsibilities and, the darkest secret of all, the use of pesticides in order to keep the apples healthy and beautiful.

It is a beautifully written book. The language and the descriptions are simply gorgeous. It is worth re-reading some paragraphs a couple of times to notice how deliberate and precise the author's turns of phrase are. The true craftsmanship of The Orchard definitely lies in the language.

The story itself is sometimes difficult to read due to how unpleasant it can be (especially with regards to realities of farm life and health hazards involved in this way of farming), but it is also quite engaging and touching. Actually, though, I would appreciate it if the book had been a little longer, and some issues a little better explored; it feels somewhat as if the author had intended it to be more in-depth, but she had run out of steam partway through the writing and finished everything sooner than she'd planned to. Still, as it is, The Orchard is a good book, if not a perfect one.