The Peach Rebellion
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
From the author of The Running Dream comes a heart-swelling historical tale of friendship, family, and the power of sisterhood to help heal the wounds of the past and step boldly into the future.
Ginny Rose and Peggy were best friends at seven, picking peaches on hot summer days. Peggy’s family owned the farm, and Ginny Rose’s were pickers, escaping the Oklahoma dust storms. That didn’t matter to them then, but now, ten years, hard miles, and a world war later, Ginny Rose’s family is back in town and their differences feel somehow starker. Especially since Peggy’s new best friend, Lisette, is a wealthy banker’s daughter.
Still, there's no denying what all three girls have in common: Families with great fissures that are about to break wide open. And a determination to not just accept things as they are anymore.
This summer they will each make a stand. It’s a season of secrets revealed. Of daring plans to heal old wounds. Of hearts won and hearts broken. A summer when everything changes because you’re seventeen, and it’s time to be bold. And because it’s easier to be brave with a true friend by your side.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a historical novel set in 1947 California, Van Draanen (Hope in the Mail) chronicles the friendship of two presumed white teens whose friendship is constrained by societal attitudes. Ten years before this book's present, 16-year-old Ginny Rose's little brothers died of dysentery in a shantytown after the family lost everything in Oklahoma. Now, her father's permanent job at the Ferrybank train yard means a settled home for the family, which previously took on work as migrant farmers. Her childhood friend, Peggy—whose family owns a peach farm where Ginny's dad once worked—is happy that Ginny's back, though both families disapprove of their friendship's disregard for class boundaries. While Ginny Rose navigates a grueling new job and protects her sisters from their grieving mother's increasingly unpredictable moods, Peggy learns uncomfortable truths about those closest to her. Soon, the teens commit to a risky plan to bring closure to Ginny's family's painful past, and their bond offers them both a new feeling of freedom. Exploring gender roles and class hierarchies alongside postwar U.S. attitudes that resonate today, Van Draanen's heartfelt telling captures the close bond of two lovable heroines. Ages 12–up.
Customer Reviews
An indispensable roadmap to bravery
I love this book. People here are navigating the rapids of discovering who they are, while also achieving something else quite difficult. Safe passage is intricate, unlikely, edge of seat perilous. Looking away as they transit those rapids? Impossible.
Extraordinary characters steer this tale. I’d watch them anywhere. Some differ enough to mix explosively, so watching that hazard at work? Again impossible to look away. Each time I read this book I am grateful to linger in the company of its people. They fortify one another, those around them, and me.
Interactions between people are so astutely drawn that they are mesmerizing. Choose something you care hugely about, and imagine watching it begin, as events large and small occur, in all their complexity. To discern nuances that make friends for life, or make history, and know what all are thinking. I’d read (or watch) that over and over, because there are so many points of focus to watch. One look is insufficient.
Do not spoiler yourself on the meticulous plot… life is intricate. Not just what people are doing, but how they do it shows who they are, how they think. Those illuminating details are all here, spare but clear. Seeing them revealed, and studying them, helps me understand complex perspectives different from my own.
Readers who love action should discover this view, as action is often the result of deep thought. Much of life happens subtly. Interpersonal action has non-stop detail, and here it is seen. The potential for disaster is real. Humor is found in unlikely places. A roadmap for rebellion that evades so much hazard? Invaluable! Both narrators are female, but all can relate to their keen observations. Because cads are unforgettable also, and no one wants to be one.
Some rebels are easy to see. Others resist less visible forces, yet lead outstandingly by choosing how to conduct life when choices are few. Their choices could be mine, or yours. Whether or not they make history books or the news, they are indelible. That is true of the quiet rebels here. Though set in a precise place and time, this tale is timeless and universal.
My daughter allowed me to read aloud, a rare gift as she is now adult. She too fell hard for the people, and wished to kidnap them to now. One evening she appeared slowly, asking “is there chocolate?” She cared so much, she had to know if all ends well, spoiler averse or no. This book can connect readers decades apart, and confronts darkness without becoming dark. That is a remarkable feat, as darkness has gravitational pull. Bravery is needed from characters, author, and readers alike. It is tempting to close the door on dark. Close the book at need, but return, because the people here will fortify you against all manner of darkness.
One might think a novel of 400 pages long. Yet not a word is wasted. I’d have read further.
Don’t miss this book, don’t miss its people. I rarely review. Those books I do are gems which sustain me. Like peaches that drip juice everywhere, so surprisingly hard to find, this book is worth the effort it asks of you. Treasure is like that.