From Publishers Weekly
An apple orchard provides the atmospheric background for Smith's (A Place to Call Home) ninth novel, but a farfetched romance reduces it to hijinks. Hush McGillen introduces her family's apple farming history in the mountains of Georgia, where they raise a renowned hybrid apple, the Sweet Hush. Hush has been involved with the orchard since her father died when she was 12. She assumed responsibilities for the business as well as for her little brother, Logan, after her mother died when Hush was 16, the same year she fell pregnant and married race car driver and womanizer Davy Thackery. Davy isn't responsible, but he is a loving father to his son Davis, and proud of Hush as she builds her orchard into a multimillion dollar industry. After Davy's death in a car accident, the story jumps 23 years forward to when Davis brings home Edwina "Eddie" Jacobs, a fellow Harvard student and the daughter of the president of the United States. History has repeated itself; Eddie is pregnant, and the couple has fled to the orchard to elude Eddie's surveillance team of Secret Service agents. Hush battles with the irate First Lady over how to handle the situation. She also meets the president's nephew, Nick Jabokek, a weapons specialist, who alternates narration with Hush and falls for the apple magnate. In contrast to Hush's salty, humorous language ("I would rather eat dirt and shit roots first"), Nick's voice is that of a cliched tough guy: "I slept with the kind of women who moved fast and left damage behind." Together, they try to prevent the unwelcome barrage of negative publicity from revealing buried family secrets. Although the plot is implausible, Hush McGillen's voice is rich enough to keep the reader hooked.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Hush McGillen Thackery is named after her family's resilient and captivating Sweet Hush apples and in many ways takes after them. Driven since the day she was born, Hush overcomes one obstacle after another to make the family orchards prosper. Through lean times and back-breaking seasons, she marries young, gives birth to her son, and becomes a widow, and Sweet Hush Farms, Georgia, flourishes, but Hush has her regrets and painful secrets. When her son appears with his surprising new wife--Eddie Jacobs, the daughter of the president of the U.S.--so does the media, and Hush is forced to face her past and protect her own. Then Nick, Eddie's mysterious and handsome uncle, arrives. Nick is immediately attracted to Hush's boldness and beauty, while Hush is drawn to his commanding presence and underlying sweetness, but they tread carefully before edging into romance. Will their love be enough to overcome the secrets that threaten to destroy them? Full of enchanting folklore and southern charm, Smith's latest is a beautifully written and touching tale.
Megan KalanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
