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Published Aug 2012
448 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest, a reclusive orchardist, William Talmadge, tends to apples and apricots as if they were loved ones. A gentle man, he's found solace in the sweetness of the fruit he grows and the quiet, beating heart of the land he cultivates. One day, two teenage girls appear and steal his fruit from the market; they later return to the outskirts of his orchard to see the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, the girls take up on Talmadge's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Just as the girls begin to trust him, men arrive in the orchard with guns, and the shattering tragedy that follows will set Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect but also to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.
Transcribing America as it once was before railways and roads connected its corners, Amanda Coplin weaves a tapestry of solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and misfortune. She writes with breathtaking precision and empathy, and in The Orchardist she crafts 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.
"Starred Review. [An] immensely affecting first novel." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Superb work from an abundantly gifted young writer." - Kirkus Reviews
"Starred Review. A breathtaking work from a genuinely accomplished writer… Coplin's lyrical style and forceful storytelling provide many unexpected twists before the poignant conclusion." - Library Journal
"The prose abounds with poetic imagery, and the quotation-mark-free dialogue, which could seem like an affectation in a different type of story, emphasizes the melding of these solitary characters with the vast, wild place they choose to call home." - Booklist
"[A] mysterious, compelling, elemental novel… In The Orchardist, Amanda Coplin shows us what's unknowable." - Bonnie Jo Campbell, author of National Book Award finalist, American Salvage
"Within this world are compelling characters and their equally compelling stories. The Orchardist is an outstanding debut." - Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author of Serena and The Cove
"Coplin is a masterful writer, the teller of an epic, unvarnished tale that sits comfortably with other novels in the tradition of great American storytelling." - Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of The Hour I First Believed
This information about The Orchardist was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amanda Coplin was born in Wenatchee, Washington, and raised amid her grandfather's orchards. She received her BA from the University of Oregon, and MFA from the University of Minnesota. A recipient of residencies from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts and the Ledig House International Writers Residency Program in Ghent, New York, she lives in Portland, Oregon.
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