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Garden Spells (Bantam Discovery) | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Publisher: Bantam Discovery
Category: Book
List Price: $5.99
Buy New: $2.50
You Save: $3.49 (58%)
New (33) Used (18) from $2.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  145 reviews
Sales Rank: 4273
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0553590324
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780553590326
ASIN: 0553590324
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: perfect condition.
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Product Description
In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.…
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.
When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.
Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own….
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 140 more reviews...
 Magic in South Carolina August 18, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The waverley women have a long streak of magic that runs through their lives. Long ago, they were a very prosperous family who built a grand house in the middle of town. Then, some generations ago, they lost their fortune and are now solidly middle class. However, the garden behind the house has a way of interacting with them in unique ways. While they all have a touch of magical abilities, the Apple Tree in the garden is the star.
Evanelle is the "old lady" who occasionally is driven to give seemingly odd items to people. However, these are items that those people will need in the forseeable future and will then put them to good use. Giving money (like two quarters) may not seem that far out, but what do you do with a Mango Seed Corer? Or, a red silk shirt that is several sizes too large for the recipient of the gift?
There are also two sisters: Claire and Sidney. Claire is in her mid-thirties and has had a terrible childhood so she resolutely turns away from anything new or spontaneous and spends her life catering other people's events. Her magic is to make things grow in the garden that are incorporated in to her cooking and that affect people in strange and inexplicable ways. Sidney, was the wild one of the family who escaped when she was 18 and has travelled around the country attracting one dangerous man after another to her - until she landed with an abusive boyfriend who not only gave her a little girl, but also plenty of bruises and beatings.
This story is of the coming back together of the family, and how their magic helps in this as well as in their blossoming relationship and integration into the wider world around them. It is a romance novel, a family coming together story, and a story full of magic. The writing is adequate for the job and the scenes that tell the story are almost believable - except for some glaring problems.
Let's leave aside the problem of how the Waverley name gets passed on when several generations of women are born - no sons; We'll leave aside the problem of the gunshot that does not kill, but wound someone severely, and yet the police are not involved; We'll leave all of those but they do bother me after reading the whole book - as they bothered me at the time that I read them. So, I am discounting the book for that reason by one star. The other star was lost in the descriptions of the graduating high school class for Sidney. Her big romance was with someone who was "above" her station and many of the friends of that man are now content to rub it in to the sisters that they are poor. That whole set of interactions and people sounded so false and jarring that I was looking to see what plot twists would involve them. As it turns out, the man in questions is a very decent human being and puts to shame all the womanly plots that swirl around him. That was the second star that was lost in this book. This was totally unnecessary and detracted from the story.
 Entertaining but we've already seen the movie.... August 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this in about a day and a half (extended time for sleep and work involved). It was an entertaining read and the author paints an excellent picture, BUT we've already seen this book as a movie.
Practical Magic sound familiar?
 Wonderful Read August 10, 2008
I couldn't put this book down. It completely surprised me. It is not over the top on magic and has some real life advice to give. Wonderfully enjoyable, you'll be sorry you missed it once you read it.
Pure Magic August 10, 2008
I loved this book! I look forward to reading more books by this author.
 A little magic, a little love. What's not to like? August 8, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I began reading this book without any knowlege of it beforehand. I'm glad I approached it in that way, otherwise I might have passed it by and never experienced this sweet debut novel. If this book is anything to go by, Sarah Addison Allen will have many years of writing warm, enjoyable novels to keep readers entertained.
The book was a magical, joyful ride for me. Not terribly complicated but just deep enough to show the reader a family in need of healing. A contemporary romance with some dark overtones about what can happen when people make the wrong choices in their lives. Claire made the wrong choice when she decided to separate herself from the townspeople in Bascom, North Carolina. The memories she had of the life her mother had led made Claire desperate to cling to the things which would never change. She didn't even want to admit the indesputable fact that all things change and she would need to learn how to change with them.
Sydney made the wrong choice when she decided to separate herself from her entire family by leaving Bascom as soon as she had graduated from high school. It took her ten long years to realize that everything she was running from was exactly the thing she needed in order to make her life have a purpose. Her daughter, Bay, deserved the stability living life as a Waverley family member could give her. Bay was portrayed as a remarkable child, old and wise beyond her six years. And this author made me accept that level of maturity in one so young. She had already seen the dark side of life and it had left its mark on her. But there was also fun and laughter and delight and love. Sydney suffered all the physical and psychological abuse because she had originally wished to be just like her mother, a free spirit, with nothing to tie her down. Neither sister really knew the other. Just as it can happen in any family, you think you know a sibling, a parent, a child, but then something happens to make you realize you only know as much as another person allows you to know.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. This author did not start out by explaining anything about the abilities of the Waverley women. But by reading deeper and deeper into the book each of their abilities was revealed. This is not a book about witchcraft or doing magic tricks or spells. The magic portrayed here is much, much more subtle. Did the apple tree really have any power? Or was it just that people believed that it did and that made their lives change? I can't wait to see how Ms Allen handles her second book. I'm glad to say that this gentle, Southern voice rings clear and true.
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