Garden Spells

About this book

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence tucked away behind a small quiet house in an even smaller town is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree and the extraordinary people who tend it. The Waverleys have always been a curious family endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit and its edible flowers imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures. A successful caterer Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plantsfrom the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile her elderly cousin Evanelle is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleysexcept for Claires rebellious sister Sydney who fled Bascom the moment she could abandoning Claire as their own mother had years before. When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own Claires quiet life is turned upside downalong with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in Sydney takes stock of all she left behind as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacyif they are ever to feel at home in Bascomor with each other. Enchanting and heartfelt this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own.