In a North Carolina town, two estranged sisters from a family with peculiar gifts are drawn back together around a very unusual apple tree
An apple tree that knows too much
Everyone in Bascom, North Carolina, has a story about the Waverley women. Their garden holds an apple tree that throws its fruit at people, and whoever eats one is said to see the biggest event of their life. Claire Waverley, who has never left the family house, runs a catering business using flowers and herbs that can change how people feel. Her life is orderly and solitary until her younger sister Sydney comes home after ten years away, with a young daughter and a past she is running from.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoy cozy magical realism, sisterhood stories and gentle romance with a Southern setting.
What you will get
A charming, cozy novel of magical realism about two estranged sisters, an enchanted apple tree and the healing power of home.
Garden Spells Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Romance · Magical realism · Sisters · Southern small town
Length
336 pages · ≈ 10 h
More about this book
Sydney has escaped a dangerous relationship and wants a fresh start for her daughter, Bay, who has her own Waverley gift: she always knows where things belong. Claire's carefully guarded world is disrupted further by a cheerful new neighbor, an art teacher named Tyler, who is determined to win her over. Meanwhile, their elderly cousin Evanelle keeps handing people objects they do not yet know they will need, from a spoon to a set of lightbulbs.
Allen's writing is light and luminous, and the magic is woven so naturally into daily life that it never feels like a gimmick. The real subject is the way old hurts shape people and how hard it is to trust others. The sisters' slow reconciliation is moving, and the food, herbs and flowers give every scene a sensory richness. The darker thread of Sydney's past is handled with restraint and resolved in a satisfyingly unusual way.
The romances are sweet but predictable, and the villain is thinly drawn. Readers looking for complexity may find it slight, but as comfort reading it is lovely. About 336 pages in the Hodder paperback.
Chocolat
The Night Circus
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Something Blue
Love Comes Softly
Vision in White
Attachments
P.S. I Still Love You
Evvie Drake Starts Over
The Wedding
The Rescue