Joy and Stan Delaney have four kids, a strong marriage, and the best doubles tennis game in town. They sold their business, where they coached kids to new tennis heights, and now they are enjoying their retirement. Or, that’s what everyone though, until Joy went missing.
It was unlike Joy to go missing, but she had texted the kids that she was going off-grid. The text was unusual, and later her phone was found under her and Stan’s bed. So technically, anyone could have sent the text. And Stan did have scratches on his face. And they did have that young woman staying with them for a while. What was that about?
The Delaneys’ four kids all have their own ideas about what happened. Amy tries to keep the peace, even though Savannah was staying in her room, the bedroom she used from time to time, when her latest job isn’t working out. But she found a place to live, a shared house with a bunch of younger adults, and she found a food tasting job that she really likes, so she hasn’t needed to move home for a while. And she’s seeing a new therapist. Maybe this one will really help her with her anxiety. She doesn’t want to think that her father could hurt her mother, but there were some things that he couldn’t explain.
Logan is a business communications professor, and he’s still trying to figure out why his fiancée left. He thought he’d been supportive. He didn’t just get up and walk away, the way his father would sometimes. He had tried to be supportive. He had a steady job. He wasn’t passive, like people said. In fact, he was the one who had went to Savannah’s ex-boyfriend’s place to find out more about her. And what he found out didn’t make her look very good.
Troy travels from Sydney to New York a lot. As a successful trader, he has the resources. And he’s always been enterprising. He was the only one who had accepted the tennis scholarship in America. All his siblings chose to stay in Sydney, while he got a first class education and used his tennis skill to land him a lucrative job after school. He was the only one to call out that cheater Harry back when they were teenagers. Sure, Harry was the one who went on to play at Wimbledon, to win top tournaments, but Troy never regretted jumping over the net and hitting Harry right in the face. He deserved that. But it was his mother who has soothed things over with Harry’s father and kept Troy from getting in too much trouble for that.
Brooke, the youngest, has always fought the hardest to keep up and compete with her sister and brothers. Now she has her own physical therapy clinic, and she works hard to keep it afloat. She’s the one who finds a criminal lawyer for their father, just in case he needs it. The others may call her a Daddy’s girl, but she’s just being smart. The police are asking pointed questions. There are some things that don’t make her father look good. She just wants him to have an advocate, if it comes to that.
Meanwhile, the police are trying to put together a case. Mothers of four don’t just go missing for weeks without contacting their children. Joy was a small woman. She was in her late 60s. Stan had scratches on his face. He had his car cleaned right after she disappeared. Her phone was found in their bedroom. What were they supposed to think?
Apples May Fall, the newest novel form Liane Moriarty, is a study of a complicated family. Told through the eyes of each of the Delaneys, as well as the police and friends and acquaintances, the story of this family comes together slowly, one puzzle piece at a time. It’s not until the very end that you see the whole picture, each piece snapping into place, overlapping and intertwining, until it all comes together. The construction of this story is intricate and delicate, like the perfectly balanced apple crumble, sweet but pungent with cinnamon, filled with soft baked apples but crunchy on top.
I really enjoyed this book, the way the answers come slowly. But it did take some patience to get all the way through. There are times it flows easily and times that you wish things would hurry up; but overall, I’m very glad I made it all the way to the end. I listened to he audio book, and narrator Caroline Lee kept me firmly planted in Australia with her charming accent. I thought the story brought up a lot of interesting questions about family, about our responsibilities in a family and what happens when the family fails us.
Also, there is a lot of tennis talk, which I loved, but I’m sure others would find less interesting. The theme of competition runs throughout, so if you’re not a sports person, you might find that tedious. But there is so much more to the story that I hope you won’t let that scare you off. It’s really about family, all the good parts and the other parts, and I think we can all relate to that.
A copy of the audio book for Apples Never Fall was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.
