The Orchard: A Memoir

Adele Crockett Robertson

Feb 2024 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Alexandra Cohler

Audiobook

6 hr 56 min

Unabridged

Eligible

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About this audiobook

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 a 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.

About the author

Adele Crockett Robertson was born in 1901 at her family's farm in Ipswich, Massachusetts. After the orchard years, she was a writer with the WPA and worked in a shipyard and in a factory. A beloved local figure, Ms. Robertson served as Ipswich selectwoman, and her commentary on current events and politics was widely read.

Alexandra Cohler is a witty, whimsical chick with a snarky sophistication-the flirty girl with a tomboy edge. She specializes in language-driven pieces and has a special place in her heart for romance and historical settings. Fluent in French and English, she is adept at character voices and various accents.

Jane Brox is the author of Silence (an Editors' Choice by The New York Times Book Review) and other award-winning works of nonfiction. She lives in Brunswick, Maine.

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