Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own. 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. 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. 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. 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. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. 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.

Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it. 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.

Garden spells book series