Debbie Howe

I have just completed reading what I think is a gorgeous book - read even on a phone! The prose and descriptive writing is outstanding and the layers of intricate messaging within the entire novel and its characters and places resonated and touched me on many, many levels. As a woman, as a younger girl, as a mother, as a lover of the natural world and as a human being amongst other human beings. It follows the land and the lives wrapped within it over a number of years initially from a peach farm in Colorado. We follow Torie as a young, innocent, isolated and naive as eventually a lone female in a house of men and without her mother. Without knowledge, information, guidance and interest she deals with her own developing nature, learning as she goes. Again, I found the writing evocative in every sense and at every stage. It reflects different times in history, a time where the simple godly good life also had its share of drama and loss. A time where females had to fit in as their surroundings dictated, with often little voice, little choice and little control, simple dealing with any consequence practically, as best they could. As the story develops so did my understanding of the impact and ripples of just such times for a female. It is about love, loss, injustice, determination, solidarity, judgement and all of the human condition, intertwined with the contrasts, colours and nature of a vivid Colorado backdrop. Set over a number of years it also captures the essence and consequence of key social and political US/worldwide events, perhaps highlighting that things haven't change so much after all...and the consequence of actions taken by others and their far reaching damage and impact. As an environmentalist, a feminist, lover of the great outdoors, and thinker it made reflect on how slow some things/people are to change or even if they really do; how greed, ignorance, bigotry, politics still sadly infiltrate some elements of our life and world. But I loved it for that too. For me if a book can stir such depths in me with a constant, thought-provoking storyline then thats a good thing. Enjoy.