The Fallen Fruit

Every year, at winter’s end, Millie and her brother Isaiah explore their family’s farm in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Isaiah carries a backpack full of survival gear, the most important being fabricated freedom papers. Millie is more carefree. She travels light, looking in wonder at the landscape surrounding them, transfixed by the indifferent cold of winter. They stumble across a man’s body stuck fast to the frozen grass. He has fallen not through space but through time. Such is the curse of their family; unless someone can get to the rotted root of the matter, the same fate awaits either Millie or Isaiah. Madison’s (Lowdown Pawn Shop Leprechauns) latest offers a promising story concept, but the character development and rushed plot might be disappointing to some readers. The novel is redeemed, however, by thoughtfully researched historical references and insight into Virginia’s Black history.