Peaches

The debut novel by Jodi Lynn Anderson, a New York Times bestseller, tells the story of three girls whose lives collide during one summer in Georgia peach country. Each arrives at the orchard for a different reason, and none of them is thrilled about it.

Murphy McGowen is known in Bridgewater as the girl who causes trouble and somehow always gets away with it. Her luck runs out when she is caught stealing from the Darlington Orchard. To pay back what she took, she must spend her days picking peaches in the summer heat.

Leeda Cawley-Smith is used to being admired, and her boyfriend certainly thinks so. Her parents, however, have stopped allowing her to be close to him. Her plans for a leisurely season at the country club are replaced by a job at her uncle's peach farm. Birdie Darlington once loved wandering her family's orchard and picking peaches for fun. Now that her parents are separating, she would much rather stay in the air conditioning with a box of mint cookies, but she has no real choice.

When the three are forced together at Darlington Orchard, they begin to figure out what a true soul mate might look like, what friendship means when it is tested, and that an attractive boy can know a surprising amount about peach cider. They also pick up the knack for choosing a ripe peach. The summer, they discover, is going to be sweet and messy.