Golden Apples of the Sun

The blossoming of a unique friendship with an elderly apple orchard keeper draws a young mother into a world where humanity and nature co-exist in balance—and where she gains a new perspective on a way of life that is increasingly under threat in the modern world

After moving with her family to a rural area in England, Hana Loftus comes across an empty shed by the side of the road—an “honesty store” with unusual varieties of apples that she can purchase by leaving money in a slot. As she becomes acquainted with rare apple varieties like the Cockle Pippin, Adam’s Pearmain, and the King of Tomkins County, she eventually meets Andrew, the septuagenarian orchard keeper who has farmed them for decades.

Over the years, Hana and Andrew forge a tentative friendship, and she is allowed into his hidden world. She comes to learn his life story: how he came to inherit the sixteen-acre orchard planted by his grandfather, that has supported his family and fed their community over the decades. At the same time, it gives her unique perspective into his struggles to preserve the orchard, and the ways farming culture is rapidly evolving in the modern world—not only changing the way crops are raised and the foods we eat, but rural life itself.

Moving and poetic, The Growing Season is both the story of an extraordinary friendship that crosses backgrounds and generations, and an insightful, sympathetic view into a way of life that is rapidly disappearing in our technology-fueled age.

Hana Loftus is an architect and writer. She has published widely in the areas of architecture and land use, contributing to a many books including Common Treasures, an anthology of essays about the challenges faced by rural communities, and has been shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize. Hana Loftus grew up in East Suffolk, lived in London and rural Alabama, and for the last two decades has lived in North Essex. This is her first book.