The Orchardist

The Orchardist is a historical novel by Amanda Coplin. First published in 2012, the book follows what happens when a lonely elderly man lets new people into his life. Praised by critics for its portrayal of early twentieth-century America, the book won both the 2013 American Book Award and the 2013 Washington State Book Award for Fiction. Coplin served as a Fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She has a BA from the University of Oregon, and an MFA from the University of Minnesota. The Orchardist is her first novel.

The book is set in the Pacific Northwest during the early 1900s. William Talmadge is a forty-year-old orchard owner who spends most of his time working. Shy and reserved, he doesn’t know how to make friends because he doesn’t get out much. It doesn’t help that he has a mild disfigurement; having almost died from smallpox when he was younger, the scars make him self-conscious about his appearance.

William didn’t have an easy life growing up. He lost his father in a mining accident, his mother died of the smallpox he survived, and his sister went missing. William doesn’t expect happiness anymore. He doesn’t want to risk further heartache or disappointment. The orchard makes him feel safe and comfortable because no one can hurt him there.



On a hot summer’s day, visitors show up at William’s door—two teenage girls who desperately need a place to stay. William doesn’t know what to do with them, but he can’t turn them away, either, especially when he sees they are both pregnant. He lets them stay in an old cabin to the back of the property and he goes into town for extra supplies.

A man stops William when he visits town. The man, Michaelson, is looking for two girls, Della and Jane. William suspects these are the same girls living on his orchard, but he doesn’t reveal their whereabouts. When he goes home, he asks the girls if they know a man called Michaelson. They do, but they won’t tell William anything about him.

Some time passes, and William knows that the girls need a midwife. William’s friend, Caroline, who has worked as a midwife, is happy to help the girls. In the meantime, William wants to find out more about Michaelson. He discovers that Michaelson runs a brothel in Ruby City. The girls worked there, but once they got pregnant, they skipped town. Michaelson wants them back because they owe him money.



A few months’ later, the girls give birth. Although Della loses her baby, Jane keeps hers. Jane wants to keep her baby safe from Michaelson. Feeling very protective of the girls, William promises to defend them with his life. He is forced to honor his promise when Michaelson comes around looking for the girls.

In the commotion, William loses sight of Jane. Della grabs Jane’s baby and hides in the apple trees. Jane hangs herself from an apple tree because returning to the brothel with Michaelson is a fate worse than death. Devastated, William promises to help Della raise Jane’s baby. They decide to call her Angelene.

Michaelson confronts William again. He wants Jane’s baby. William asks if there is anything he can do to convince Michaelson to leave the baby alone. Michaelson wants money, and so William gives him every penny he has. Michaelson and his thugs take off, and William plans a small funeral for Jane.



Della stays at the orchard with William. She tends to his horses and helps him care for the apple trees. William becomes a father figure to her, and for the first time, he feels whole. Everything changes, however, when Della leaves home one day and doesn’t return. Leaving Angelene with William, she doesn’t tell him where she’s gone. Della knows that if William knew what she plans to do, he wouldn’t have let her go.

Della plans to kill Michaelson. He is in jail, and so she must find her way inside. She gets into a drunken fight and stabs a local man. She turns herself in and the police throw her in jail. Now, she is one step closer to Michaelson. It is only a matter of time before she sees him again. Before long, William finds out what happened.

Meanwhile, Angelene grows up. When she is a teenager, she asks William about her mother. William tells her everything. He promises to do everything he can to get Della out of jail. He convinces Della to escape one night, but they are both caught, and William is locked up for conspiring with a prisoner.



When William gets out, he immediately returns to the orchard. He grows old and dies there. Angelene eventually sells the orchard when she is in her twenties because she wants to move on with her life. She still visits Della in jail, and she finds out that Michaelson died years ago from natural causes. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever see Della again. Moreover, she knows that the orchard will never be the same under new ownership; it’s time to find her own way.