Three generations return to a family orchard where the kitchen clock has stopped at a different hour for each of them. Alternating narrators piece together a missing summer through recipes, letters and harvest records. A reflective novel about memory, inheritance and unreliable stories.
Book ID
book-002
Reading level
Intermediate
Currency
GBP
Category
fiction
familymemorymultiple narratorsliterary
This is a fictional book in a demonstration store. It is not available to buy.
Reader reviews
6 fictional reviews · 3.3 / 5
★★★★★5 out of 5
Three voices worth following
Each generation notices different details in the same orchard. The recipe pages added meaning on a second reading rather than simply decorating the story.
★★★★☆4 out of 5
Rewarding once I settled in
I needed a few chapters to learn the narrators. After that, the disagreements over the missing summer made this a satisfying family novel.
★★☆☆☆2 out of 5
The clock idea goes nowhere
I expected the stopped clock to drive the plot. It becomes a repeated symbol instead, and the family arguments did not keep me interested.
★★★☆☆3 out of 5
Beautiful passages, slow middle
The harvest descriptions are excellent. Several middle chapters revisit the same memory without adding much, although the final letter brings the strands together.
★★★★☆4 out of 5
Not a straightforward timeline
I kept notes on which narrator was speaking and found that helpful. Readers who want events in order may find the structure frustrating.
★★☆☆☆2 out of 5
Hard to tell the narrators apart
The premise appealed to me, but the three family voices sounded too similar. I repeatedly checked the chapter heading to work out whose memory I was reading.