Welcome to Walls of Water, North Carolina. A quiet town where everyone knows their place, their station, and how to behave in public. Once a prankster, with dreams of escape, Willa Jackson, descended from the town’s founders, and runs a shops catering towards outdoorsy types and coffee lovers. Paxton Osgood, daughter of the current town royalty, works hard and reigns over the Women’s Society Club founded by the girls’ grandmothers. These two are not enemies, but they are not friends either. They have no reason to be near each other. They go about the confines of their lives, trying to fulfill their parents’ expectations. Thing start to change with the restoration an old mansion in town, the very place where the Women’s Society Club was formed. Colin, Paxton’s twin brother comes back to town to oversee the final landscaping of the mansion, which also happens to be the former home of the then prestigious Jackson family. The stress is getting to Paxton as well, so she constantly seeks solace in the company of her platonic friend Sebastian.
What the people in town have failed to notice is the increase in strange little things. Odd smells, birds behaving strangely, papers disappearing from one place and reappearing in other, and people blurting out their darkest secrets for no tangible reason. Stranger still are the items unearthed during a tree removal at the mansion. Objects that put the town into a small uproar. The connection between Paxton and Willa’s grandmothers draws them together, starting them on a quest into the past that may turn up some very surprising things. Throw Colin and Sebastian into the mix and there is not telling what is going to happen.
To put it in its most simple terms, I love the works of Sarah Addison Allen. This love affair began when quite by accident I stumbled across her book Garden Spells when it first came out. Since then, I have been a fan, reading all of her books and eagerly awaiting the next one. Never have I been disappointed. I’m never sure how to catergorize her books. There are realistic fiction to a point, then they have a bit of romance and always a touch of the fantastic or magical. Whatever you want to call it, the magic incorporates itself so seamlessly into the everyday workings of the characters lives you believe that it is real. The mystery in this novel is also wonderful. The information cannot be simply searched for online and there was no real newspaper at the time of the incidents, so the characters are limited to society papers on microfiche and people as primary sources, making it even more intriguing.
The moral to the story, is there is such a thing is something like: believe wonderful things can happen, it’s still ok to be figuring out who you are even if you are supposed to be an adult and most importantly take care of your friends. None of these things are heavy handed, just a natural outflow of a beautiful story. My thanks go to Sarah for another well crafted tale that I could not put down. If you are looking for an enjoyable read, with a bit of love, a bit of mystery, a bit of growing pains, a bit of magic, pour yourself a glass of iced tea, set aside some time and pick up Sarah Addison Allen’s The Peach Keeper.
- Publisher: Bantam
- Author’s website: http://www.sarahaddisonallen.com/
- Date of Publication: March 2011
