Title: Under the Apple Tree
Author: Rebecca Brockway
Publisher: BlueInk Media Solutions
ISBN: 978-1641339452
Pages: 282
Genre: Non-Fiction
Reviewer: Barbara Bamberger Scott
Hollywood Book Reviews
Writer Brockway presents a glowing memoir revealing with honesty and depth her adventures and the lessons learned along life’s winding path. Born in 1957, she, with siblings, parents and maternal grandparents lived on a ranch near Toston, Montana, on the Mississippi River. Her early childhood included weighty wisdom from her father, who offered the apple tree as a salient metaphor and through it alerted her that, “Bringin’ up a tree is hard work, and not always pleasant, just like livin’ your life.”
Brockway’s early years offered cheerful immersion in family, though she had one private, prickly reservation – she was the only one in her generally dark-haired family who had bright red tresses. That feature, along with her emerging intelligence and friendly demeanor, would be an asset as the family moved to Toston and thence to the big city – Helena. In high school, Brockway began to date Neil, a handsome football hero. But she was heroic herself, entering a talent contest which led to her becoming Miss Helena, overcoming her natural nervousness to step more boldly into the wider world, even accepting a brief, memorable appearance on a locally produced Bob Hope show. Meanwhile she and Neil continued an often-problematical relationship; pregnancy led to their marriage, and marriage, unfortunately, to separation and divorce. Not long after this trauma, the author met Ryne, with whom she has now been happily married more than thirty years. With a perspective view of parental and grandparental blessings, a rewarding happy marriage, and the mixed prospects of growing older, she still recalls the “apple tree” wisdom her father shared with her long ago.
Brockway, who has excelled in many phases and aspects of life, spices up this enjoyable, human-scale narrative with sensitive, sensible meditations focused on where she has been and where she yet hopes to go. Revealing her talents as a wordsmith, she uses her father’s metaphor – an apple tree’s growth from a tiny seedling and its struggles with the diversities of nature, maturity and inevitable aging – for her life’s continual twists and turns, the storms that have at times endangered it and the fruits it has so generously, often surprisingly, offered. Her intimate recollections – familial loves and crises, the ups and downs of prideful and humbling occurrences, a woman’s often conflicting feelings when caught within a budding love affair or a withering relationship – will engage thoughtful readers, who will doubtless find identification with her experiences, and enlivening insight in her thoughtful perspective.
Readers will find themselves reflecting on their own lives and connections as they read this book. Under the Apple Tree is a compelling read for anyone seeking a story that touches the heart and stirs the soul.