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.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 173 reviews)

great book

This book is well written and a good read. It does have a magical quality to it.
January 06, 2009

Tidy ending doesn't hamper the magic of this one

Charming, captivating and enchanting story of the Waverley women -- Claire, Sydney, Bay and Evanelle -- discovering their places in the world, learning to trust one another and relying less on their gifts and more on the people who love them. Sydney, in particular, became a very real, fragile and kind character -- someone with whom I would love to be friends. The pacing of the book was great, and I devoured it over the course of a few days. I wasn't sold on the tidy ending, but that was a small problem in comparison to the greatness of the book overall.
December 24, 2008

Captivating, sweet and magical.

This novel relies on the imaginative use of magical realism and it brings to us a refreshingly unusual story.

Claire Waverly has an enchanted apple tree on her garden; this tree throws apples at you if it wants you to see the most important event of your life, and it is usually very playful and moody. Claire who had no stable home growing up feels safe and content when her mother takes her to her grandmother's house to live in and to take refuge in. She embraces her family's peculiar gifts and becomes a caterer in her grandma's hometown of Bascom, North Carolina.
Claire's half sister Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before is back in Claire's life and she is accompanied by her own daughter Bay.

This novel tells us the story of this curious family and it does it through Claire's voice as well as Sydney's, mixing horticultural folklore, the supernatural and a big dose of southern flavor it will bewitch you and you will devour it in one sitting.

December 24, 2008

Magical, Enchanting book! Highly recommended!

There are clearly numerous positive reviews. I will opt to keep mine brief. This book is amazing. I have fallen in complete love with the characters and needless to say the story. It is the kind of book that read become so enraptured with that when you finally stop reading at 3:30am, you close your eyes, catch your breath and remember that this is only a book- an enchanting, amazing, endearing book- Highly recommended!
December 17, 2008

You could do a lot worse than to pick up Garden Spells

Garden Spells is a lovely little book about the Waverly family who have an unusual apple tree in the backyard and a legacy of being "magical" in their home town. he book centres of Claire, and her sister Sydney (and Sydney's daughter Bay) who has recently returned home after a lifetime of running away from what it means to have the magic Waverly touch. I love the descriptions of the lovely food Claire cooks from the magic garden and her almost-relationship with the boy next door is sweet. I've read some scathing reviews of this book, and I think they were a little harsh. I once described a book as being like cotton candy - sweet, fun and good while you're eating it, but basically unfulfilling - and I think Garden Spells is another one of those books. I read some of the other reviews and a lot of people likened Garden Spells to the movie Practical Magic. It had been a while since I saw the movie, so I could only remember some vague similarities. However it was on tv last night and I watched it again and yeah, pretty much the exact same storyline. But the book is still a fun, light and fluffy read.
December 11, 2008

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