At the Edge of the Orchard

Tracy Chevalier is the author of eight novels, includingThe Last Runaway, Remarkable Creatures and Girl with a Pearl Earring an international bestseller that has sold over five million copies and won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award. Born in Washington DC, in 1984 she moved to London, where she lives with her husband and son.

Praise for At the Edge of the Orchard:‘Chevalier’s prose is by turns muscular, raw and sumptuous… a delight’ INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY‘Chevalier has carved out a middle-point between writing literary fiction and its page-turning, commercial counterpart and this book will serve both those audiences’ INDEPENDENT‘A rollicking yarn of 19-century America’ THE TIMES‘A densely packed tale of fruit, roots, family and hardship’ FINANCIAL TIMES‘A wonderful book; rich, evocative, original. I loved it’ Joanne Harris‘A stunning read’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING‘A kind of arboreal love song … an absorbing depiction of the harshness of pioneer life and the impossibility of escaping familial ties’ MAIL ON SUNDAY‘Dark, brutal, moving, powerful’ Jane Harris‘Powerfully realised … [A] fine novel’ DAILY MAIL‘It’s her best since Girl with a Pearl Earring, telling the story both of America and a pioneer family with acuity, freshness and zest. I was captivated by it’ Amanda Craig‘Tracy Chevalier serves up a rollicking yarn of 19th-century America. What Deborah Moggach did for tulips, Chevalier may well do for apples’ THE TIMES‘This novel of raw beauty touches themes Chevalier explored in her novel, The Last Runaway. It’s a richly rewarding read’ EXPRESS‘With Chevalier’s excellent storytelling ability and gift for creating memorable characters, this novel paints a vivid picture of the hard and rough-hewn life of American pioneers on their Westward journey’ STARRED LIBRARY JOURNAL REVIEW‘Wonderful descriptions of apple grafting and plant-hunting in a 19th century New World America. Chevalier weaves an enthralling, feverish narrative through a backdrop of exploratory horticulture’ TOAST