The Fallen Fruit
Madison’s new time-slip novel spotlights 200 years of the Bridge family history, from the 1760s to the 1960s. Cecily Bridge-Davis has never spoken to another Bridge family member, nor been told the fate of her father, but in 1964, she receives an unexpected inheritance—a 65-acre orchard in Virginia. This lonely, abandoned place tugs at her childhood memories, and when she discovers a worn mail carrier’s tote containing a carefully preserved bible, its unusual notations send her delving into her paternal history.
The first to fall (through time) was Luke, in 1770, his situation perhaps the beginning of the ‘curse’, but unique to the events which follow. After that, in each successive generation, one child born to each Bridge male falls to the family curse before age 27, disappearing without trace. No one knows who or when it will be, so preparedness is vital. In 1919, Isaiah is never without his heavy survival pack and rolled-up freedom papers, but his sister, Millie, is quite sure it will be her until one day, when she and Isaiah are preparing packs and ‘Bridge rules’ for future travelers, Isaiah disappears. Now Millie alone must aid travelers who arrive at the orchard from future generations.
The division of dated chapters into five parts makes it easy to follow the remarkable history of the Bridge family, living together on sheltered acreage, with the fear of never knowing which of their children will fall, or how they can protect each other and assimilate their losses. Family anecdotes are compassionately narrated with limited plot threads, too many of which could easily overwhelm a story about multiple generations. I was drawn to the Bridge family lives through Luke’s astonishing story and Rebecca Raley-Bridge’s subsequent meticulous recordings in the family bible. Millie’s legacy is the revelation which spurs Cecily into a new determination about her previously unknown family. A poignant and beautifully realised journey through time.
