THE LIGHT BETWEEN APPLE TREES: REDISCOVERING THE WILD THROUGH A BELOVED AMERICAN FRUIT

THE LIGHT BETWEEN APPLE TREES by Priyanka Kumar

The Light Between Apple Trees is really two books mixed together and offered up as one. On the one hand, you have the science of the apple tree: origins of different varieties, the fact that once upon a time there were 16,000 different varieties and now there is just a fraction of that, the conditions to grow them in, the hardships they are enduring, etc. On the other hand there is the love relationship Kumar has with one of America's icons. However, she takes us on journeys outside the borders of the US to chase down heritage and also personal childhood memories. Apples don't just belong to America!

For me there is a lot of beauty written into the pages of this book. Following Kumar as she searches for remnants of historical orchards that disappeared, the description of nature around the found trees (presence of bears enjoying the apples, etc), the taste of biting into heirloom varieties, the sharing of her journey with her husband and children, these parts are soul-filling. There is such a feeling of leaving the hustle and bustle path of life and embarking on the slower, rewarding one.

There is also frustration. I am not an evolutionist and that is the explanation for the arrival of the apple and other things. I can easily read past that. But the reference to Europeans messing things up and later in the book noticing a group of ATVs bearing the Punisher Flag "a popular right-wing symbol with a likely nod to January 6" pushes me just a bit too far. She goes on to talk about how she thinks this group is "distracted" by false threats instead of the ones she deems more serious such as wildfires. Assumptive reaches like this detract from the focus of the book.

HEADS UP- Evolutionary content. Climate change. A few negative contents, as stated above, about topics such as Europeans and right-wing individuals.