
An orphan raised in a Maine orphanage grows up under a doctor who performs illegal abortions
Homer Wells grows up in an orphanage in St. Cloud’s, Maine, where Dr. Wilbur Larch cares for children and also provides women with illegal abortions. Homer becomes Larch’s apprentice but refuses to perform the procedures. He leaves for an apple orchard and tries to live by a different set of rules.
Readers who like long, character-driven novels.
A classic of American fiction. It was adapted into a 1999 film.
Literary Fiction · Orphanage · Medicine · Moral choices
560 pages · ≈ 16 h
Homer Wells, Dr. Larch and the people of the orchard.
St. Cloud’s, Maine, and a coastal orchard.
A big, old-fashioned novel about a controversial moral issue.
Warm, detailed and serious.