Apple Tree Lean Down

Apple Tree Saga #1

by Mary E. Pearce

After a family tragedy, Beth Tewke and her mother go to live with quick-tempered Grandfather Tewke. Beth soons shows her grandfather that she is a strong-willed young woman with clear ideas about her future. Her choices have far-reaching consequences, as she experiences happiness and heartbreak, triumph and sorrow.

A heartwarming tale of everyday country life in an English town at the turn of the nineteenth century. Mary E Pearce paints a loving but authentic picture of the people and places of a bygone era.

The first title in the five book Apple Tree Saga.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1976

Reviews

[Chrisl · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those oldies but goodies that I read when it was new. It left a good feeling and the memory of some interesting characters.


KIRKUS REVIEW

This pleasant four generational saga is a thatch or two removed from Delderfield's more affluent squire-and-yeomen milieu and mainly concerns toiling farmers and artisans in the decades before the close of WW I. Prime movers are a handful of interrelated, tough-minded go-getters who are, with the exception of ""Grumpa"" Tewkes (""cross as two sticks""), also capable of great tenderness and love. Tewkes may be the Napoleon of his carpenter shop, but he cannot control his granddaughter Beth nor prevent her from marrying the gentle shop goat, bumbling Jesse. Meanwhile down the road a piece, Jack, a crippled itinerant laborer, is on his way to becoming bailiff of fertile acres after reclaiming a decaying farm. It is Jack's daughter Linn who will comfort the last days of orphaned Tom, who has survived the war only to become blind and face a murder charge. Violent deaths, joyful marriages, and some grim battlefield scenes intervene, but the family events are supported throughout by the country matters the author knows so well--from pastures ""sweetening"" to cottages repaired with wattlework and hazel rod weave. God is an Englishman right enough, but this time walks behind the plough.

[Katherine McKay Skipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. Where do I begin???? When I began this book I wasn’t sure what to expect but I anticipated that it would be similar to A Land Remembered because of it taking place over 100 years ago and the story being told with multiple generations. I loved the writing style, it was very easy to follow and I felt that Mary E. Pearce was never wanting this story to end and thank goodness there is a sequel!!!


This book follows 2 different families that come together in the end. It follows Beth’s family until she marries Jesse Izzard and it follows Jack Mercybright until he gets married.

It follows the ups and downs of marriage, love, friendships and life. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ this book definitely gives you the feels and it is full of mixed emotions about so many things!

I highly recommend it!

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book. It is fiction but very much in the same vein as Lark Rise. Set in a farming village in the 1890s, it mainly tells Beth's story of growing up and marrying and then having a family. They were hard times, the like of which we can hardly imagine. Destitution was always nearby, poverty stalked these hardy people, who could literally not afford to become ill as they could neither pay a doctor or take time off work.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an English pastoral novel that spans (roughly) the years 1875-1918. It covers a lot of historical territory and three generations of English farmers near the Welsh border. I found the story riveting, the characterization excellent, and the author's historical sense quite remarkable. Pearce had a wonderful grasp of how world events and economic trends have an impact on the lives of ordinary people. She also understood the basics of human psychology--what allows some to survive hardships with equanimity, and others to fester and become bitter. The conflicts in this book are true to life and full of insights.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was a little hard to get into at first, but once I did it was very ejoyable. It was really two stories in one, and at the end the two blended together. I love reading about the olden days, simpler times. Makes me wonder if I could have existed then. I could not put it down towards the end of the book.

[Peter McGinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had read this book over 40 years ago and liked it. Recently I saw another of her books and bought it. Then I learned Apple Tree had two sequels. So I wanted to read them first, but it turns out Mary Pearce’s books are difficult to find in the U.S. these days. I found a paperback copy containing the whole trilogy..

So the short observation is that I still liked the book. Her research is obviously exhaustive and her descriptions take you to that time and place so long ago in England. There is a good mix of characters and they are all treated with some depth. No two-dimensional villains here.

A funny thing happened near the end of the book. When Betony gets together with Jim and they pal around together, the story really comes to life. Or to be more precise, the dialogue blossoms. I write novels in my spare time, and I like to think a strength of mine is the wit and dialogue, the banter, of many of my characters. Betony and Jim together, and then even more so when his Auntie Jig came into the story, are witty and funny and remind me of my characters (much better done, no doubt) and caused me to wonder where the humor and banter was up to then. I suppose the new life situation for Betony drew it out as she lived a different sort of life back home.

I hope Pearce’s other books show more of this spark, for I like to read books with the same humor and wit I attempt in my books, and I have several more of hers lined up.

[Chris VanAllen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book while out thrifting and bought it for a whopping $.60 because James Herriot had written the review on the front cover. So glad I bought it! It's three books in one, with the first two books telling the stories of two different families that come together in the final book. All three books take place in the English Countryside from the late 1800's through the end of WWI. The writing is lovely and the characters and situations are happily and sadly believable. It read like the perfect lazy afternoon BBC - even better with a hot cup of tea. Would highly recommend if that's your jam. Happy reading!

[Nightwitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The start of a family saga, apparently, this was written in the 1970s but set around the turn of the (20th) century. Enjoyable and endearing but not compelling enough for me to immediately continue with the other books in the series. Nothing seriously bad happens, generally, giving it a cozy feel despite its depiction, at times, of serious poverty and unjust death.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big silly soap opera of a novel, along the lines of The Thorn Birds but not as well-written. I will say that the section in which a couple of the characters go to fight in World War I is exceptional and one of the best depictions of that experience I've ever read.

[Chloe' Costilla]

I love how this story has enthralled me. I finished it in two nights. Rarely does a book these days consume me as much. It's mostly clean, very to the point, filled with detail, and the best part: proof that the lives of ordinary, poor people are book worthy and interesting.

[Candice Walsh]

This was my mother's favourite book back in the 70's. I enjoyed it, and all the motifs of country living.

[Vijayamala Supramaniam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair


The story started off well but got boring in the middle.
I finished reading it anyway though not great. It passed my time

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a lot darker than I was expecting, but well written. I would read more by this author.

[Rachel Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

They just don't write books like this anymore. So beautiful.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5. Sweet little book about days gone by, given as a book club secret Santa. Good choice as I would probably never have come across it and it was a good read.

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great historical fiction. While it pulled you in and made you love the characters, it also gave a glimpse of life in the late 1890's, early 1900's. The description of the WWI experience was very vivid-to the point that I actually skipped some of it, but I felt like it was very realistic based on history's account. I was sad when the book ended. I wanted to keep hearing about the families and their experiences.

[Carmen something · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easily one of the first 'big books' I ever read--I stole it from my grandmother's book shelf.

And then on to Gone With the Wind. Ew. Good thing I learned to pick 'em better as I got older.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mom gave me this book when I was a teenager. It's a romance of the sort she favors- spanning generations of Brits. I loved it passionately in my youth and haven't read it in a very long time. There's one line in it that I loved especially, something about warm rains soft fields and a man sowing seed...

[Jessica Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire time I read this I kept wondering why it was called Apple Tree Lean Down ... the namesake of the book doesn't arrive until very towards the end, and doesn't exactly hold such an important part. Other than that though, I did enjoy it. I just had to repeatedly remind myself that this was taking place in England and not in the Prairie land such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's books!!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful novel of strong women who loved flawed men and helped those men to successful lives. The courtships centered on the women and their thoughts; the marriages centered on the lives of the men (who continued to love and appreciate the women). Wise advice of one of the men: "She won't change so the best thing is to take no notice."

[Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually books pick up speed the more I read of them but this was just the opposite. This book started off interesting and I was zooming through it. But the more I read, the more disinterested I became and had to just skim through the last of it. Especially after the author started making subtle political insinuations about marriage and divorce.

[Carlie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried. I really did. It sounded good. I had a great title....and it just didn't work for me. I read the first chapter or two and couldn't enjoy it and found I was squinting as I read and forcing myself to keep it up. No good. They can't all be winners. I quit.

[Marjean]

This book is full of living and dying. These are the people Jane Austin didn't write about living near London and experiencing lots of life. I was engrossed in their world while I read.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book about country life in England between 1886 and 1920!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

currently re-reading for the fourth (?) time

[Joanne Holmes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my favorite book and maybe that is because it took me so long to get into it. It has three stories. They finally come together in the end.

[Mari-Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago, I think it was in '78 or so.
I did enjoy it, so much so that I went ahead & bought the other 2 books in the trilogy, Jack Mercybright & The Sorrowing Wind.