Orchard: A Novel - Hardcover

Watson, Larry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 037550723X ISBN 13: 9780375507236

Publisher: Random House, 2003

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of Montana 1948 comes the explosive story of an artist, his muse, and the staggering price they pay for their chance at immortality.

Ned Weaver, an internationally acclaimed painter, is famous in Door County, Wisconsin, for his luminous work—and for his affairs with his models. His wife, Harriet, has learned to accept these dalliances in the belief that his immense talent will ultimately make up for his shortcomings as a husband.

Sonja Skordahl, a Norwegian immigrant, came to America looking for a new life. Instead, she married Henry House, only to find herself defined, like so many other mid-twentieth-century women, by her roles as wife and mother. As circumstances and destiny land Sonja in Ned’s studio, she becomes more than his model and more than an object of desire—she becomes the most inspiring muse Ned has ever known. When both Ned and Henry insist on possessing her, their jealousies threaten to erupt into violence, and Sonja must find a way to placate both men without sacrificing her hard-won sense of self.

With the stark, lyrical prose that Larry Watson is known for (“as fresh and clear as [a] trout stream” —The Washington Post Book World) and vivid characters who seem to breathe on the page, Orchard explores the lives of four very different people bound together by beauty, art, obsession, and betrayal.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

“Marvelous...Showing a deep maturity and craft, Watson surpasses himself in [Orchard].” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Praise for Montana 1948

“As universal in its themes as it is original in its peculiarities, Montana 1948 is a significant and elegant addition to the fiction of the American West, and to contemporary American fiction in general.”
—The Washington Post Book World

“Larry Watson is one of those good writers few people know about, a writer whose work is worthy of prizes.”
—Los Angeles Times Book Review

“A beautiful novel about the meaning of place and evolution of courage...wonderful.”
—Louise Erdrich

“A real page-turner...very thoughtful, very artistic, beautifully written. In short, it has everything.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Montana 1948 stands out as a work of art.”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“Montana 1948 is a superbly rendered novel. The writing is clean, the characters finely drawn, the whole book deeply felt and honest....It is a spare, unpretentious, but riveting book.”
—Houston Chronicle

About the Author:

Larry Watson is the author of In a Dark Time, Montana 1948, Justice, White Crosses, and Laura. He has won the Milkweed Fiction Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Association Regional Award, and many other literary prizes. Watson and his wife, Susan, live in Plover, Wisconsin.

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 037550723X
• ISBN 13: 9780375507236
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256