The Blue Orchard: A Novel by Jackson Taylor
The critically-acclaimed novel, hailed as a 'modern classic' by Publisher's Weekly, based on the life of the author’s grandmother, a child of Irish immigrants who assisted an African-American doctor with ‘illegal surgeries’ in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from 1920 to 1955 and was eventually indicted amid a media firestorm. A dazzling portrayal of the changes in early twentieth century America.
"In this powerful, vivid debut novel, Taylor parses issues of race, power, and religion in unflinching terms while believably inhabiting the mind of a conflicted woman." --Publisher's Weekly, Starred Review
"A work of overwhelming tenderness, unflinching veracity, delicacy, and restraint. I was engaged and moved from start to finish by Jackson Taylor’s storytelling art." -- Phillip Lopate, author of Notes on Sontag
"This novel re-creates wonderfully a time, a place, and a circumstance in American life that drove women and men alike to break a law that could never—and will never—be obeyed. I found myself stirred repeatedly." -- Vivian Gornick, author of Fierce Attachments
"The Blue Orchard is a classic, a great American novel that will astonish and quicken
dead and bored parts of our hearts. If Jackson Taylor never writes another word he has
made his mark with The Blue Orchard." -- Sapphire, author of Push