The Orchard by Peter Heller
Peter Heller is a longtime contributor to NPR, and a former contributing editor at Outside Magazine and National Geographic Adventure. He’s an award-winning adventure writer and the author of eight novels, as well as four works of literary nonfiction and countless essays. He writes dystopian literature, wilderness thrillers, and outdoor adventure stories. His range is deep and wide – so when I learned he was publishing a coming-of-age tale about a young girl and her mother who retreat to a rustic cabin in Vermont – I was intrigued.
Hayley and her seven-year-old daughter, Frith, live in a rustic cabin with no electricity in the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains. One of the world’s most renowned translators of poetry from China’s Tang dynasty, Hayley walked away from her career and her drug-addicted husband to raise Frith alone in a land populated not by ambition-fueled academics but by hawks, beavers, and other wild things — including their exuberant Bernese mountain mutt, Bear. They get by on what little they earn from their overgrown apple orchard and the syrup they make from their maple trees. Frith — precocious, homeschooled, and a voracious reader — considers herself queen of this backwoods paradise. She is too young to understand the pain and regret that followed her mother here.
The heartbeat of this novel is the relationship between mother and daughter. Hayley translates poetry by candlelight late into the night while Frith sleeps – achingly beautiful poetry that echoes Hayley’s own longings. During the day, she homeschools Frith and introduces her to the healing power of nature and a few faithful friends. Frith is a spitfire – precocious and unafraid. Their lives are full and rich and become even more so when a new friend shows up at their door. Rosie, a fiber artist who lives nearby, soon joins them on their adventures – swimming in the quarry, picnics in the woods, and competitive games of horseshoes. They lead an idyllic and charmed existence, until tragedy strikes and the three of them must face fear and uncertainty.
In this evocative tale, Heller shows us how nature can be a healing balm for the most heartbreaking times. Listen to my author interview with Peter Heller on Superior Reads on Thursday, December 25 at 7pm and Saturday, December 27 at 6am on WTIP Radio, 90.7 Grand Marais, or stream it from the web at www.wtip.org.
