In the Orchard
A novel
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A novel about womanhood, modern family, and the interior landscape of maternal life, as seen through the life of a young wife and mother on a single day.
At night, Maisie Moore dreams that her life is perfect: the looming mortgages and credit card debt have magically vanished, and she can raise her four children, including newborn Esme, on an undulating current of maternal bliss, by turns oceanic and overwhelming, but awash in awe and wonder. Then she jolts awake and, after checking that her husband and baby are asleep beside her, remembers the real-world money problems to be resolved amid the long days of grocery shopping, gymnastics practices, and soccer games. From this moment, Eliza Minot draws readers into the psyche of the perceptive and warmhearted Maisie, who yearns to understand the world around her and overflows with fierce love for her growing family.
Unfolding over the course of a single day in which Maisie and her husband take their children to pick apples, In the Orchard is luminous, masterfully crafted, revelatory—a shining exploration of motherhood, childhood, and love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Minot (The Brambles) ponders motherhood in her nuanced if glacially paced latest, set during a day of apple picking. Maisie Moore, who just delivered her fourth child by C-section, dreams of the good life for her children and husband, Neil, while they spend beyond their means. Maisie is a protective mother but becomes as easily frustrated by looming financial woes as she is moved by the softness and smell of newborn Esme's skin. She's hypersensitive at events like an ambulance passing her or seeing an injured deer on the roadway, and is moved when her husband interacts with their children. The orchard trip provides more opportunities for the soul searching and memories that comprise most of the narrative, but Maisie's impressions are continually clouded over by florid exposition: "How strange it was that feelings and reactions were what make up lives!" Sometimes these feelings are provocatively expressed; while chatting with a young mother at the orchard, Maisie compares Esme wrapped across her chest to a "small automatic weapon." Though these observations offer an intimate view of a mother vexed by worries, they don't cohere into a narrative. It's a convincing portrait, but the lack of plot or tension makes it tough to stay interested.
