The Simplicity of Cider: A Novel

Sanna is a stubborn apple orchard owner who wants her world to remain a stagnant rock, even as things change around her. She mixes ciders and grafts trees with her father, Einars, until mounting debt threatens her orchard and her worldview. Single father Isaac is traveling away from home to escape facing his ex-wife’s death. Along with his son, Bass, they happen upon Sanna’s orchard and decide to stay and help for a while. When Einars breaks his leg, Sanna and her brother, Anders, along with Isaac and Bass, must make tough choices about the orchard.

The business-and-life-in-mild-turmoil story is something you might have read before. Recently, I’ve read no less than four books with the exact same cookie-cutter narrative. Sanna is, throughout the book, bordering on unlikable. She’s content to live life as it always has been, but is forced to change only marginally. I appreciate that the story isn’t always sympathetic to her views, but in the end, many of the outlying characters concede to her whims.

The Simplicity of Cider is a good weekend read, if you don’t mind a story that’s been done before.