The Orchard

A stirring memoir of a young, single woman's laborious struggle to save her family’s New England apple farm from going under during the Great Depression.

The Orchard is an exquisitely beautiful and poignant memoir of a young woman’s single-handed struggle to save her New England farm in the depths of the Great Depression. Discovered by the author’s daughter after the author’s death, it tells the story of Adele “Kitty” Robertson, young and energetic, but unprepared by her Radcliffe education for the rigors of apple farming in those bitter years of the early 1930s. Alone at the end of a country road, with only a Great Dane for company, plagued by debts, broken machinery, and killing frosts, Kitty revives the old orchard after years of neglect. Every day is a struggle, but every day she is also rewarded by the beauty of the world and the unexpected kindness of neighbors and hired workers.

Animated by quiet courage and simple goodness, The Orchard is a deeply moving celebration of decency and beauty in the midst of grim prospects and crushing poverty.

In addition to a foreword and epilogue by Betsy Robertson Cramer, the author's daughter, this edition includes a new afterword by award-winning author Jane Brox.

Praise for The Orchard

“Brave and beautiful . . . tells us who we are and where we live.” —John Updike

“Robertson writes with evocative clarity.” —New York Times

“Robertson’s prose is clean and fluid . . . [she is] a keen observer, both of nature and her fellow humans.” —Washington Post

“Lusciously vivid . . . emotionally piercing.” —Boston Globe

“Robertson manages to convey the sense in which self-knowledge and peculiar joy can flow from hardship.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer