THE ORCHARDIST by Amanda Coplin, 2012.
This debut novel is a lush period saga set in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the nineteenth century and it continues forward into the early decades of the twentieth, and depicts how several individuals brought together by circumstances are forged into a sort of family.
   The major character in this vividly written story is William Talmadge, who had moved into the valley during the Civil War, lost his family there, and then remained a fairly solitary figure, tending to and extending his orchards of apricot and apple trees, with help only from a roving band of horse herders. A gentle, quiet sort of man, he asked for little and remained a fairly self-sufficient person for many years. Until one day, when his peaceful existence is shattered by two scared young girls who steal his fruit in the town market and then follow him into the shelter of his orchards.
   Jane and Della are sisters, running from a drug and alcohol addict named Michaelson, and have been living some months in the wild. Talmadge cautiously takes them in and tries to protect them from whatever they have left behind.Their existence in the orchard is kept fairly quiet, except from the local midwife/herbalist, Caroline Middey, who kindly aids them over the course of the story in many ways.The girls, feral and distrusting even of Talmadge's kindness, uneasily hang around, and even give birth on his property, but Della's twins both die, while Jane's daughter, Angelene, survives.Then one day, the harmony in the valley is disrupted when Michaelson and his henchmen show up, leading to an unexpected tragedy that sets off a chain of events that changes all their lives.
  Coplin has written a very readable story about how the compassion in one man is awakened and he learns to care, to open himself to others and their problems, to realize what he's missed, and to live a fuller life with all its accompanying challenges and rewards. She does a credible job with her setting, with period description, adding good details about fruit picking and marketing, the coming of the railroad to the area, life in local prisons, provides a good glimpse of changing times in the Pacific Northwest. Her language is lush and flowing, the narrative moves along at a good pace, and she takes her time with developing her characters. At times it did seem somewhat slow and a bit too lengthy. However, Coplin's sensitive and realistic portrayal of the relationships between Talmadge, Della, Jane, and Angelene were well done and sympathetic, and the wise and motherly Caroline is a real standout. Dramatic and rich with emotion and power, Coplin's novel is an intelligent and engrossing character-driven story.

HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL by Robert Goolrick, 2012.
Brownsburg, Virginia, in 1948 is a quiet and peaceful village nestled in the beautiful Valley of Virginia. Everyone knows everyone else and everyone knows their place in life. The world is slow paced here, meant to be enjoyed calmly and serenely.
   One day a stranger arrives, carrying with him two suitcases and not much else. One suitcase has personal items and a lot of money in it; the other contains a set of butcher knives. As the townspeople soon discover, the handsome and friendly man is Charlie Beale, and he wants to settle in their peaceful community. He becomes enamoured of some acreage along the river and wants it for himself, as well as employment, which he finds with the local butcher, Will Haislett. The Haisletts, Will and his schoolteacher wife Alma and their six-year-old son Sam, become a huge part of Charlie's life in the village.
   Charlie, a personable and charming character, adjusts to life in the community and learns his way around, helped along by the Haisletts. He enjoys the companionship of Sam, who becomes like a son to him, and Sam finds a kindred spirit in Charlie--they share a love of baseball, dogs, and being outdoors. Along with the dog Charlie purchases and names Jackie Robinson (for the baseball player), they become a familiar sight around town. However, their easy relationship changes from the time Charlie first sees the teenaged Sylvan Glass, wife of the richest resident of Brownsburg--he is certain that the two of them are meant to be together. Blonde and lovely and from a remote area of the county, Sylvan had been bought and paid for by Boatwright Glass, to be his wife and to live the sort of Hollywood/movie star life she's always dreamed about. But once Charlie enters her orbit, events are set into motion that will change the lives of those who dwell in Brownsburg and ultimately lead to a shockingly heartbreaking tragedy.
   Goolrick knows how to tell a story. With his nicely paced narrative, he pulls the reader into a deceptively simpler time that is no more and adroitly makes his characters come to life. His descriptions of Brownsburg and the surrounding landscape are wonderful and add so much to the telling of the story: details of cars, fashions, movies, buildings, the way the farmlands look, the old trees and the river, names of real places in the county, all meld together to create a meaningful atmosphere, a real sense of time and place. His characters are multifaceted and so human, easy to relate to and have feelings for, to be concerned about. I kept reading because I wanted to know what would happen to these people, I had to find out how their stories and conflicts would turn out. His principal characters are well done and believable as people: Charlie, with his desire to belong and his obsession with Sylvan; Sylvan's passion to live her life as something out of a movie; Boaty's greed and jealousy and vulgarity; Claudie Wiley (who deserves a book of her own), the solitary black seamstress who could almost magically sew anything and keep herself aloof; and young Sam, who practically hero-worships Charlie, who becomes a part of Charlie's and Sylvan's illicit affair and who ends up experiencing situations that no kid should.
   Emotional and satisfying, at times painful, part Gothic romance and part nostalgia, with unflinching language and beautiful description and involving characters, it's a tale that has it all: Power, money, grand ideas, golden dreams, lust, doomed love, suspense, growing up, acceptance, baseball. Personally, I found this novel a thought-provoking and moving story about life and relationships in a small town, and a very worthwhile read.
  

SECRET LIFE OF BEES by Sue Monk Kidd, 2002.

This Southern novel has been on my to-read list for a long time, and as soon as I began reading it, I was pulled in. Kidd is a fine writer who knows how to tell a story, is super with her characterizations and dialogue, and really puts some feeling into it.
   Set in South Carolina during the first part of 1964, President Johnson has just signed the Civil Rights Act. Shortly after that event, 14 year old Lily Owens, unhappy with who she is and her treatment by her unlovable father, T. Ray (who blames Lily for her mother's early death), goes into town with Rosaleen, the kind black woman who has raised her. Rosaleen intends to register to vote, but on the way she insults three of the town's racists, and the two females are thrown into jail. Once freed, Lily springs Rosaleen, and the pair take off for Tiburon, S.C., a place known to Lily only from the back of a picture of a black Madonna that Lily found among her mother's things and kept in a box in her room. Once they reach Tiburon, they are taken in by three black beekeeping sisters, May, August, and June. Lily, anxious to discover the connection between her mother and the town, manages to insinuate herself into their lives in the hopes of sticking around a while. The kind, rather eccentric sisters protect the two refugees and provide a temporary haven from their troubles.
   August takes the teenager under her wing, and Lily learns about beekeeping and making honey, about relationships and memories and stories and living the life you are given. She and Rosaleen soon fit right into the ladies' routine; they are even invited to the sisters' somewhat unorthodox religious services surrounding the figurehead of a ship, which they call the "Black Mary," and meet other community members who attend their services. As stories are told and old secrets emerge, bits and pieces of information fall into place and the full story is revealed gradually to Lily, who realizes just how important these women are to her life. When the mystery of her mother's connection with these black women becomes clear, it means everything in the world to Lily and her future.
   Kidd has created a beautifully told story, with an interesting plotline, great descriptions of beekeeping practices and honey making, and colorful characters that the reader can care about. I found it enjoyable and homey and comfortable, a good read.

TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis, c1968.
  I remember my grandfather reading this novel when it was first released; at the time it didn't interest me, as I was never a big fan of western stories. I believe I watched the older movie version of the novel that starred John Wayne once or twice on TV and enjoyed it; only recently I viewed it again and then saw the recent remake of the film and realized that the original was actually the more satisfying of the two films for me, even though the newer film hewed closer to the book.
  When a colleague chose the book for our library book discussion group, I decided I'd read it also, but my wife snatched the book and read it first; when I finally got it, it really took hold of me. It's a wonderfully written story that has it all: the wild landscape of the 1870s West, nasty villains, brave lawmen, lots of violence, and a precocious teenage heroine out for justice. Such entertainment! After reading it, I wondered why I hadn't before now.
  The story is relatively straightforward: feisty 14 year old Mattie Ross comes to Fort Smith from near Dardanelles, Arkansas, to avenge the death of her father, Frank, who was shot by a drunken Tom Chaney, who has since fled into the lawless Indian Territory. She hires Rooster Cogburn, one of the local Federal marshals to assist her, because she was told he has "true grit." They are joined by a Texas Ranger, LaBeouf (called LaBeef), who has been tracking Chaney (aka Chelmsford) for murdering a Texas senator. Mattie wants revenge, plain and simple, and she insists she will ride with them, even though they try mightily to dissuade her; she determinedly plunges ahead and manages to hold her own as they travel through Indian Territory searching for clues to locate Chaney, who they discover has likely joined the vicious Ned Pepper's gang. On their journey, they meet an assortment of characters good and bad (including thieves and murderers) and make use of their survival skills to combat weather, rivers, and injuries. After they get too close to their quarry, Mattie accidentally runs into Chaney at the river and is taken captive by him, which leads to the final showdown between Mattie and Chaney, as well as one between Cogburn and Ned Pepper.
  Portis writes with a huge sense of humor and deceptively simple language that rings believably true, his characters are human and vibrantly portrayed, with my two favorites, Rooster Cogburn larger than life in his personality and Mattie a determined, plucky teenager who can give as good as she takes, real standouts among his characters. The narrative flows swiftly and effortlessly, and I found myself involved, totally caught up in their adventure, hoping that Chaney would be caught and justice served. I think Portis was smart to have Mattie tell the story looking back over the years, and while the book's ending was not as satisfying to me as the original film version's ending, it was still well done and effectively tied up the strands of the plot. I would happily recommend it for anyone who enjoys stories of the West, coming of age stories, or a good adventure yarn.

PEACE LIKE A RIVER by Leif Enger, 2001.

Set in 1962-63, this is a coming of age story about an asthmatic 11 year old boy. Reuben Land lives with his somewhat unconventional father, his older brother Davy, and younger sister Swede in a small town in Minnesota. His father, a school janitor and deeply religious man, has kept the family together after the mom walked out years before. Davy, a tough and tender 16 year old, protects the younger siblings. Rube's sister is enthralled and fascinated by Western novels and stories, and spend much time writing her own, as well as poetry. When Davy shoots two teenage bullies who have invaded their home and threatened the family, he is arrested and jailed, but escapes and flees to parts unknown during the harsh winter. The rest of the family decides to leave town after the dad loses his job, towing a new Airstream, to search for Davy. They have unusual adventures and meet some interesting people as they ride off into the Bad Lands of the Dakotas. They are eventually taken in by a lone woman, Roxanna, who has personal issues of her own and becomes attached to the family. As the search for Davy intensifies, Rube learns some very hard lessons concerning love and forgiveness.
I found this novel a bit difficult to read, I think mainly because I didn't care for the writing style. Too choppy, abrupt, didn't have a good flow to it for my taste. Enger's descriptions of the winters in that part of the country made me feel cold all the time, and the interactions between Rube and Swede were interesting and often funny. But I just wasn't as involved with any of them as I could have wished. I was interested enough in the story and in the characters enough to read to the end, but it was not a totally satisfying reading experience. It was okay, but I was glad when I was done with it.