A sweeping, simmering and lush debut novel of love, lost innocence and secrets long-hidden on an apple orchard in Upstate New York.

Vie Clairmont doesn't know who she is without the Clairmont land - without the sweet scent of the apples, the beehives, the secret swimming hole... and the graves she visits with her infirm father each week. So when she learns that he took out a loan decades before, that will become due for repayment upon his death, she realises that unless she stops it they will lose everything they have worked for.

Her husband wants to sell anyway, but Vie can't bear to leave the legacy her ancestors built. When a mysterious young man turns up looking for work, and promising her his help to save the orchard, she is instinctively drawn to him - partly because he stirs memories of her secret childhood sweetheart Arno, who died when they were teenagers. As the heat rises, Vie realises she will finally have to delve into the truth of what happened that summer: her best friend's betrayal, a lie which destroyed her innocence, and a loss which she has never moved on from...