The Silver BoughThe award-winning author of The Mysteries returns with another captivating novel in which modern-day enigmas and age-old myths come together with spellbinding results. Here is an enchanting tale set in a land rich with folklore-and ripe for a rekindling of the old ways. Nestled on the coast of Scotland, Appleton was once famous for its apples. Now, though the orchards are long gone, locals still dream of the town's glory days, when an Apple Queen was crowned at the annual fair and good luck seemed a way of life. And outsiders are still drawn to the charming village, including three very different American women. Enchanted by Appleton's famously ornate, gold-domed library, divorcee Kathleen Mullaroy has left her cosmopolitan job to start anew as the town's head librarian. Widowed Nell Westray hopes for a quiet life of gardening in the place where she and her husband spent their happiest moments. And young Ashley Kaldis has come to find her roots, and learns that the town's fortunes turned when her grandmother was crowned Apple Queen-then mysteriously disappeared. When a sudden landslide cuts Appleton off from the wider world-and the usual constraints of reality-the village reveals itself to be an extraordinary place, inhabited by legendary beings, secret rooms, and the blossoming of a rare fruit not seen in decades. Most unexpected is a handsome stranger who will draw all three women into an Otherworld in which luck and love will return to Appleton-if only one of them will believe. Lush with the romance and allure of ancient traditions, The Silver Bough will propel you into a land where, as in Eden, the bite of a single apple can alter the whole course of reality. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 17
Page 109
... Fairest , as these dappled , cone - shaped beau- ties are never to be met with in England . The reason is not that they do not travel well , for in fact , properly packed and stored they keep beautifully , and indeed , for maximum ...
... Fairest , as these dappled , cone - shaped beau- ties are never to be met with in England . The reason is not that they do not travel well , for in fact , properly packed and stored they keep beautifully , and indeed , for maximum ...
Page 111
... Fairest would raise the quality of the whole vat . The Fairest is , as you might well imagine from the details given above , a red apple , although even at its ripest retaining that undertone of yellowish - green that can appear like a ...
... Fairest would raise the quality of the whole vat . The Fairest is , as you might well imagine from the details given above , a red apple , although even at its ripest retaining that undertone of yellowish - green that can appear like a ...
Page 119
... Fairest ? " They'd come to the door in the wall and stopped . He gazed at her eagerly , and she frowned . What was he playing at ? " You should know the answer to that . " " You mean ... that's why I've come ? " He was staring at her ...
... Fairest ? " They'd come to the door in the wall and stopped . He gazed at her eagerly , and she frowned . What was he playing at ? " You should know the answer to that . " " You mean ... that's why I've come ? " He was staring at her ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alexander McNeill Apple Queen apple trees Appleton Appleton's Fairest Ashley asked breath cabinet of curiosities Celts cider dark Dave door dream Emmeline empty eyes face fairy feel felt first-footer Frances Macdonald Freya front garden gave gaze girl Glasgow golden apple gone Graeme guess hand happened heard heart hill Jade Kathleen kelpie knew Lachlan landslide librarian LISA TUTTLE living looked magic Marian McNeill McClusky mind Miranda mother museum Nell's never night nodded Orchard House painting Phemie picked pulled rain remembered road rocks Ronan Wall Scotland Scottish seemed seen she'd Shona shook her head shrugged side sight smell smiled someone sound Southport stared stopped stranger street sure talk tell There's thing thought told took town turned voice wait walk Westray What's who'd window woman wondered