The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

Most recently I finished The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin.  In some ways it reminded me of Charles Frazier's writing (author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons, both recommended reads...even if you already saw the Cold Mountain movie...books are always better! Ahem.)  My husband loves books where it shows what it means to be a man, dealing with struggle and pain and loss. This book is one I intend to have him read for those reasons, but also because the main character, Talmadge, has a quietness about him that made his simple life choices in the face of turmoil all the more poignant. 

Here is the synopsis from Amazon: 

"At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest, a reclusive orchardist, William Talmadge, tends to apples and apricots as if they were loved ones. A gentle man, he's found solace in the sweetness of the fruit he grows and the quiet, beating heart of the land he cultivates. One day, two teenage girls appear and steal his fruit from the market; they later return to the outskirts of his orchard to see the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, the girls take up on Talmadge's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Just as the girls begin to trust him, men arrive in the orchard with guns, and the shattering tragedy that follows will set Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect but also to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past."