Farm Girl

by Corinne Cunningham

When Beatrix Hampton, a travel photographer with a passport full of stamps but no permanent address, finds herself searching for stability she heads to the quiet town of Cumberland, Massachusetts. Here, she is embraced by the people and town she spent much of her childhood with, including family friend Cliff Finley and his apple orchard. Bea finds solace in the rhythms of harvest season, but as secrets are unearthed she discovers her ties to the orchard are more than sentimental. Bea must make a will she run like she always does, or stay and help save Finley Orchards?

Genres: Fiction

393 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 3, 2019

About the author

Corinne Cunningham is a writer, mother, avid reader, knitter, and tea enthusiast. She lives with her family in the woods of Maine. FARM GIRL is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Tracie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel took me away to a place I wanted to just stay for a very long time, like forever! The small town, the local diner I wanted to hang out at and catch up with the locals, the family owned hardware store and of course the apple orchard. The characters are easy to endure and each time our main character is referred to as farm girl, I would tear up. Read it and find out why? It's a perfect book for the season too. Farm Girl

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

For fans of Anne-Girl and Half-Pint

This book was beautiful. This lovely descriptive and steady and steady reminded me of the best parts of Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie. I feel I’ve lived at that orchard a little now and it might well join my well-loved bookish places right alongside the Lake of Shining Waters and Laura’s house. Read this one for the escape and the love.

[Jen Precourt · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first page of Farm Girl I was hooked on the story of Beatrix, Cliff and Graham. With beautiful imagery of the New England landscape and a great attention to the details of life on an orchard, Corinne has woven a timeless story of family secrets, love, devotion and the special stubbornness that is a part of all New Englanders. I loved this debut novel and look forward to reading many more of Corinne’s stories.

[Laney Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Farm Girl is a compelling, well written tale of a small New England town and a woman finding herself and her place on the world. The characters are interesting and relatable. You'll find yourself wishing there was more!
Be warned, you will fall down a hole "one more chapter" to find you have been reading all night.

[Anna Lovind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delicious and heartwarming, this is one of those books you become nostalgic about even before you've finished it. I love the New England setting, I love the orchard and the people there, I love that it has just the right balance between predictability and suprise. It's a beautiful story of place and home and, ultimately, love.

[D.F. Matthews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dazzling

This a remarkable debut full of sweetness missing in this day and age. Romance abounds. The story grabs you from the first page as you find yourself invested in each character. Bravo!

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous and immersive

Destined to join my collection of “comfort” reads, this is a perfect balance of beautiful imagery, masterfully woven with a genuine feel-good story of hope and redemption. The world needs more books like this.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into with this book…I thought it had some tones of romance, of girl meets boy & they dislike each other for some silly misunderstanding but eventually will fall in love. This book had a hint of that but the story was more focused on the girl and her family struggles with her mom & dad. I loved the imagery and felt it was very well written. Decent story that had me tearing up at least once.

[Debbie Aruta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing! I could smell the apples, see the characters, and feel all the loss and love. The book is filled with vivid descriptions of the people, the orchard, and everything else. This is a five star novel and one that is not to be missed!!!

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

“...But time does that. It changes things in small nearly unnoticeable ways. But the core of life, the heart of a place stays the same.”
I just finished Farm Girl with a smile on my face and a wish that we will be able to revisit these characters again some day. It was the perfect novel to read before Thanksgiving, with its themes of community, connection and family. At its heart it is a love story, not only the love and connection between two people but also about a love of place, of the land that calls to you time and again, the place you call home. Bravo, Corinne! With all the anger in the world today this story is a balm and a beacon.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I read a book by a friend I’m always a bit nervous, I want to like it, you know?! I’m so thrilled with my friend and independent author Corinne Cunningham’s debut novel. It reminded me a bit of Hallmark in all the best ways without the corny aspects. There’s the theme of finding community by going back to the place where one grew up, but Cunningham pulls out more depth in that experience than the common romance. She creates compelling characters and a setting you just want to enter into. The perfect novel for anytime of year but especially perfect for autumn!

[Biz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful character-driven novel had me aching for small town New England and fresh apple pie. Beyond that, it is a sweet and sometimes heart-wrenching story about a woman opening herself up to the possibility of finding out who she really is and can be. I felt sad to close the book and leave the town of Cumberland and its inhabitants behind, but I am sure I will come to visit them again some time when I am in the mood for a cozy story and a good reminder about what really matters in life.

[Jennifer Compa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one sitting. I was enthralled with the story from the beginning and it delighted throughout. The cover is phenomenal- the artist being the author’s brother. It is so finely crafted that it ties nicely with the fabulous tale Mrs. Cunningham wove.
I really loved this novel and am excited to give out the additional copies I purchased to friends and family so they can fall in love with the characters of Cumberland as well!

[Keri Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The characters are so alive; I didn’t want this story to end! With a backdrop in beautiful and rustic New England, Bea, a young woman on the verge of self-discovery, goes through a whirlwind of devastation, surprising compassion, beauty in unexpected places, and a longing to belong. All of this (and more) to learn of the heart in human experience. What a stunning debut!

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, enjoyable story. I loved the characters, and wanted more! Such potential - but I got bogged down by the technical errors. Comma splices and run-on sentences in every paragraph, multiple instances where the wrong word was used (verses instead of versus, for example). As such, my enjoyment in reading was terribly diminished. An editor would have made all the difference.

[Abigail Satnarine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am truly impressed with the author’s ability to portray characters that speaks to the beauty and compassion of the human heart. Bea, the protagonist is truly a beautiful soul and a joy to read. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a great read.

[Sarah Neofield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corinne Cunningham's "Farm Girl" is a truly impressive first novel. Bea, used to an exotic life of constant travel as a photographer, is back home - or in the town she thinks of as home. The town where her grandmother once lived, leaving behind stacks of old books on birds, recipes, and a house that now belongs to someone else. Who happens to be a rare book seller that Bea takes an immediate dislike to.

It's difficult to review Farm Girl without giving away any spoilers. The plot twists and major events of this book were invariably surprising and unpredictable to me.

Many novels, especially debut novels, start well before they really should. Long before any sort of inciting incident, dragging on in danger of losing the reader's interest. That's certainly not the case with Farm Girl. In fact, if anything, I found myself wishing that we got to glimpse a bit more of Bea's travel, so that we could better understand what she was giving up (or escaping from) as well as what restlessness she might be feeling. (Though this could be my own bias as someone who grew up in a small town and now lives on the road!)

Farm Girl is a book about loss and belonging. How places can feel empty when someone we love is gone - but also how continuing their work keeps us connected. It's an exploration of what it means to belong to a family, and to a town. While family may indeed be "so much more than blood" (and belonging to a town may be more than just where your parents and grandparents came from), Farm Girl perfectly showcases true small-town mindsets where these topics are concerned - all the whole challenging them, showing that it's not just who you are and what you do, but also how you feel - your intentions behind your actions. Highly recommended to anyone looking for a well-written story about the decisions we make when life gives us apples.

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely and nostalgic

[Keishua · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

I really enjoyed this book. From the first page it was delightful and engaging book. The characters were well written and the plot was steady.