The award-winning author of The Mysteries returns with another captivating novel in which modern-day enigmas and age-old myths come together with spellbinding results. Here is an enchanting tale set in a land rich with folklore–and ripe for a rekindling of the old ways. Nestled on the coast of Scotland, Appleton was once famous for its apples. Now, though the orchards are long gone, locals still dream of the town’s glory days, when an Apple Queen was crowned at the annual fair and good luck seemed a way of life. And outsiders are still drawn to the charming village, including three very different American women. Enchanted by Appleton’s famously ornate, gold-domed library, divorcée Kathleen Mullaroy has left her cosmopolitan job to start anew as the town’s head librarian. Widowed Nell Westray hopes for a quiet life of gardening in the place where she and her husband spent their happiest moments. And young Ashley Kaldis has come to find her roots, and learns that the town’s fortunes turned when her grandmother was crowned Apple Queen–then mysteriously disappeared. When a sudden landslide cuts Appleton off from the wider world–and the usual constraints of reality–the village reveals itself to be an extraordinary place, inhabited by legendary beings, secret rooms, and the blossoming of a rare fruit not seen in decades. Most unexpected is a handsome stranger who will draw all three women into an Otherworld in which luck and love will return to Appleton–if only one of them will believe. Lush with the romance and allure of ancient traditions, The Silver Bough will propel you into a land where, as in Eden, the bite of a single apple can alter the whole course of reality. *Starred Review* Small, quiet, coastal Appleton, Scotland, was famous for its apples. But the orchards were removed for crops, and the town lives on memories of past glory. Legend says Appleton's bad luck began with the crowning of the last Apple Queen in 1950. The would-have-been queen and her consort didn't eat the once-in-a-generation, magical golden apple, and didn't marry and live in Appleton. Nearly-queen Phemie simply disappeared. Now, three women converge on Appleton, each drawn for different reasons. And when a shabbily dressed but drop-dead-handsome young man appears, an earthquake causes a landslide that cuts Appleton off from the rest of the world. Odd things begin to happen. In a small, walled orchard, a single golden apple appears, of a variety thought to be extinct. It will give town and townspeople a second chance at prosperity. For a special few who believe, it offers a chance to realize their hearts' deepest desires. Tuttle's lovely story moves at Appleton's gentle pace and, like it, abounds with charm and magic. Readers will want to take their time with it, to savor its layers of nuance. Tuttle seamlessly blends times past and present and adds Celtic magic to the mix in an utterly believable way. Beautifully done! Paula Luedtke Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "Tuttle seamlessly blends times past and present and adds Celtic magic to the mix in an utterly believable way. Beautifully done!"— Booklist , starred review "Superior fantasy.... Full of delightful characters, engagingly fey imagery and well-researched Celtic lore.... [with] a juicy denouement fit for a queen."— Publishers Weekly, starred review Lisa Tuttle was born and raised in Houston, Texas, won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1974, and now lives with her husband and daughter on the west coast of Scotland. Her first novel, Windhaven, was written with George R. R. Martin. Other novels include Lost Futures, which was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, The Pillow Friend , and The Mysteries . Chapter One Ashley Kaldis leaned her head against the cool glass and gazed through the bus window at the Glasgow streets. Although this was her first foreign city, she couldn't get excited about it; she just didn't feel she was really here. Something about the quality of the milky light, the greyness of the streets, reminded her of old black-and-white movies made long before she was born--before her own parents were born--from a vanished, untouchable era. She looked at it all as if from a very great distance, and wondered if what she felt--or didn't feel--was simply the effect of exhaustion and jet lag. It was late September. At home, it was still summer, with everyone wearing shorts and tee shirts or bright summer dresses, but here it looked like winter already, with people on the streets all bundled up in coats and jackets. The chilly air carried the scent of rain mixed in with traffic exhaust and fuel smells. She sank a little farther into her seat and shut her eyes as the bus grumbled and shuddered and made its slow, complaining way from one stoplight to another through the teeming city streets. She'd made it to the last leg of her journey and there was nothing else she had to do, nothing to worry