The Apple Orchard

As Wiggs (Fireside) begins a new series, Magnus Johansen, an elderly orchard owner in Sonoma, California, has a fall, the effects of which cascade through many lives and reveal numerous secrets. Young, driven Tess Delaney never knew her father and rarely sees her traveling mother. While preparing for a potentially life-changing meeting, she receives news that she is to inherit half of a major apple orchard from an unknown grandfather and that she also has a half-sister. The shock triggers a panic attack that sends her to the hospital where she is admonished to make serious lifestyle changes. Complicating matters is that the messenger, Dominic Ross, is a handsome banker and longtime friend of Magnus. When the fiercely independent Tess goes to meet Isabel, her half-sister, she is thrust into a close community of caregivers, beginning with Magnus, whose reputation dates back to his childhood in wartime Denmark. As Isabel and Tess sort through old papers, they discover an intricate web of secrets that not only bind them together but make the new happier Tess realize Magnus has also taken care of her. This is classic Wiggs, with its emphasis on the strength of family and friends, and a landscape integral to the plot. (May)