The Light Between Apple Trees - by Priyanka Kumar (Hardcover)

About the Book

Featured on NPR's Living on Earth
Foreword Reviews' Book of the Day
Food Tank's Fall Reading Recommendation

As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruit--especially apples. These biodiverse orchards seemed worlds away from the cardboard apples that lined supermarket shelves in the United States. Yet on a small patch of woods near her home in Santa Fe, Kumar discovered a wild apple tree--and the seeds of an odyssey were planted. Could the taste of a feral apple offer a doorway to the wild? In The Light Between Apple Trees, Kumar takes us on a dazzling and transformative journey to rediscover apples, brilliantly weaving together science and childhood memories with the apple's storied history.

The Light Between Apple Trees is a lyric odyssey that will forever change how you look at an "apple a day." Kumar shows how--if we follow untamed paths--the tang and texture of an apple can lead us back to the wild.

Book Synopsis

Featured on NPR's Living on Earth
Foreword Reviews' Book of the Day
Food Tank's Fall Reading Recommendation

"A deeply meditative book in the vein of Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass."
--Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus

As a child in the foothills of the Himalayas, Priyanka Kumar was entranced by forest-like orchards of diverse and luscious fruit--especially apples. These biodiverse orchards seemed worlds away from the cardboard apples that lined supermarket shelves in the United States. Yet on a small patch of woods near her home in Santa Fe, Kumar discovered a wild apple tree--and the seeds of an odyssey were planted. Could the taste of a feral apple offer a doorway to the wild? In The Light Between Apple Trees, Kumar takes us on a dazzling and transformative journey to rediscover apples, unearthing a rich and complex history while illuminating how we can reimagine our relationship with nature.

Apples are popular, but in our everyday lives we rarely encounter more than a handful of varieties: of the sixteen thousand apple varieties once celebrated in America, scarcely a fifth remain accessible. Kumar reveals the richness of a hidden world, bringing readers to the vibrant forests and orchards where historic trees still survive. These mature and wild orchards offer more than just fruit: they are havens for creatures from hummingbirds to bears and a living connection to generations past. She brilliantly weaves together science and childhood memories with the apple's storied history, from its roots in Kazakhstan to Spanish orchards in the Southwest and Thomas Jefferson's beloved Monticello fruitery.

The Light Between Apple Trees is a lyric odyssey that will forever change how you look at an "apple a day." Kumar shows how--if we follow untamed paths--the tang and texture of an apple can lead us back to the wild.

Review Quotes

"

Ecological awareness and activism often begin with a personal story or connection to nature, and Kumar has zeroed in on an iconic fruit that is part of American lore. She knows that rediscovering our relationship with nature, however imperfect, is a fundamental step toward stewardship. The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit. . . illuminate(s) how even a single fruit can evoke deep connections and serve as a launching point for environmental action.

"---Matthew Clark, American Scientist

"A captivating cultural history of the heirloom apple, The Light Between Apple Trees delivers an urgent message about maintaining biodiversity during a time of ecological tumult."-- "Foreword Reviews"

"A delicious book to savor from an author who's impeccable research and 'field work' in orchards and along river trails in Northern New Mexico combine with visceral memories from her native Himalayan foothills. A journey around the world through apples, this book essentially defines what's really happening with climate change. Climate change through the core of the apple!"---Carly Newfeld, The Last Word on KSFR

"A tour de force. This book is a joy and a profoundly serious work."---Robert Scheer, Scheer Intelligence

"Can a book about apple trees change the world? Priyanka Kumar's visionary book transformed the way I look at biodiversity and the wild, and I feel certain it will do the same for you."-- "Psychology Today"

"Enchanted by apples, Priyanka Kumar takes the reader along on a wide-ranging exploration of the fruit. The Light Between Apple Trees is a unique book about family, the environment, cultivation, and the need for the preservation of wild places. Priyanka Kumar is one of the most interesting and enjoyable voices in contemporary natural history writing."---Mark Lynch, host of Inquiry on WICN

"Nature writer Kumar (Conversations with Birds) explores the history and diversity of apples in this thorough mix of memoir and ecology. . . readers will be inspired to reconnect with nature."-- "Publishers Weekly"

"The transatlantic travels of the apple are also fascinating, extending from New Mexico to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, who was a devoted grower and admirer of apples in his 8-acre 'fruitery'. The essayist and broadcaster Priyanka Kumar has just explored them in her new book, The Light Between Apple Trees."---Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times

"[An] incredible memoir."---Brian Watson, Hippocampus Magazine

"

For gardeners and orchardists, Kumar's work is a treasure. . . . The Light Between Apple Trees transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. An apple is no longer just fruit; it is a story of human cultivation, ecological loss, and hope for the future.

"-- "Local Gardener"

"

Her book explores the history of the fruit's first presence several centuries ago as it has traveled across oceans and continents. The saga of her quest is revealed on the pages of The Light Between Apple Trees. [It] takes readers on a journey from past to present, locating cultivated orchards and feral apples, many tastier than the dozen choices offered in our supermarkets.

"---Jane Manaster, Seattle Book Review

About the Author

Priyanka Kumar is the author of Conversations with Birds, widely acclaimed as "a landmark book" that "could help people around the world rewild their hearts and souls" (Psychology Today). Kumar's essays appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, Orion, and Sierra magazine. She has been featured on CBS News Radio, Yale Climate Connections, and Oprah Daily, and her awards include an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award, an ICJS Fellowship, a New Mexico/New Visions Governor's Award, an Aldo Leopold residency, a Canada Council for the Arts Grant, and an Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Fellowship. She holds an MFA from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts and is an alumna of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She wrote, directed, and produced the feature documentary The Song of the Little Road, starring Martin Scorsese and Ravi Shankar, which premiered at Telluride and is in the permanent collection of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Kumar taught at the University of California Santa Cruz and the University of Southern California, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Leopold Writing Program. She completed a Climate Master certification in 2025.