The Bookshelf

The Orchard: a Memoir by Theresa Weir.  Weir, an author of nineteen novels covering popular genres, has written a memoir about her life which reads like fiction. It’s a powerful story about a young woman who impulsively marries the son of a prominent Illinois apple farmer.  The marriage begins on shaky ground.  Not only must  Theresa  learn how to adapt to the difficult, isolated life on an apple farm but must come to terms with Adrian’s  hostile controlling  parents and her new husband’s  reluctance to stand up to them .  Eventually they have two children, a girl and a boy, and Adrian becomes as devoted to his children as he does to his apple orchard.  The perils of apple farming are well illustrated here.  Adrian spends much of his time spraying the apples with pesticides which he considers essential to producing a perfect apple.  Unfortunately the new type of apple he’s developed, the Sweet Melinda, although perfect on the outside, succumbs to a moth which completely devastates the orchard. The story makes us aware of the dangerous, sometimes tragic consequences of pesticide use at the same time it illustrates the power of human love and acceptance of loss.  This is an unforgettable story beautifully told.