What if the fate of a town lay in the eating of a apple? And not just your supermarket variety, either - the fruit in question is a particular type that must be eaten by a yearly appointed Apple Queen and an unknown suitor. To do so insures good luck for Appleton, a coastal village in Western Scotland. But things have been going awry for years, and in very recent days, quite so...
Such is the setting for Lisa Tuttle's latest, a fantasy novel with a focus on three American women and a handsome stranger whose memories go much further back than his looks belie, and whose presence is key to the town's future. Two of the three are drawn to him, but which is the appropriate match? As The Silver Bough progresses, things get stranger in the microcosm of Appleton, after a landslide cuts it off from the outside world, and the peninsula it is on becomes an island, and a reality, unto itself.
For the folks who like the mystery and magic of Celtic myth, this one has it, and Tuttle can write a great blend of fantasy and mystery - just the ticket for a vacation book. I know this for sure, as I read it on my time off last week, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The longish chapters and ubrupt changes in points of view can be a challenge to keep up with, but read on. It's highly worth it.
(William Hicks, Information Services)
