The Beekeeper's Ball ( Bella Vista Chronicles) (Reprint) (Paperback) by Susan Wiggs

About the Book

Isabel Johansen, a celebrated chef who grew up in the enchanting Sonoma town of Archangel, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school--a unique place for other dreamers to come and learn the culinary arts. Bella Vista's rambling mission-style hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel's project ... and the perfect place for her to forget the past. But Isabel's carefully ordered plans begin to go awry when swaggering, war-torn journalist Cormac O'Neill arrives to dig up old history. He's always been better at exposing the lives of others than showing his own closely guarded heart, but the pleasures of small-town life and the searing sensuality of Isabel's kitchen coax him into revealing a few truths of his own.

Book Synopsis

#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs returns to sun-drenched Bella Vista, where the land's bounty yields a rich harvest...and family secrets that have long been buried

Isabel Johansen, a celebrated chef who grew up in the enchanting Sonoma town of Archangel, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school--a unique place for other dreamers to come and learn the culinary arts. Bella Vista's rambling mission-style hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel's project...and the perfect place for her to forget the past.

But Isabel's carefully ordered plans begin to go awry when swaggering, war-torn journalist Cormac O'Neill arrives to dig up old history. He's always been better at exposing the lives of others than showing his own closely guarded heart, but the pleasures of small-town life and the searing sensuality of Isabel's kitchen coax him into revealing a few truths of his own.

Review Quotes

Wiggs' carefully detailed plotlines, one contemporary and one historical, with their candid look at relationships and their long-term effects, are sure to captivate readers.

-Booklist, starred review

A dazzling intergenerational tale.

-Publishers Weekly

A satisfying, engaging read.

-Kirkus Reviews

Highly recommended.

-Library Journal

Wiggs tells a layered, powerful story of love, loss, hope and redemption.

-Kirkus Reviews on The Apple Orchard, starred review

This brilliant and epic family drama...fills the senses...courtesy of Wiggs's amazing narrative and supreme skill as a writer.

-RT Book Reviews on The Apple Orchard, Top Pick!

A tale with universal appeal.

-Booklist on The Apple Orchard

This is classic Wiggs, with its emphasis on the strength of family and friends, and a landscape integral to the plot.

-Publishers Weekly on The Apple Orchard