Review: The Marvelous Orange Tree by Betsy L. Howell

In The Marvelous Orange Tree by Betsy L. Howell, readers are transported from the simple plains of the Midwest to the murky Civil War battlegrounds of the deep South and everywhere in between, following the lives of two star-crossed souls as they struggle for acceptance, purpose, love, and survival.

Jennie Edwards and Robert Taylor lie firmly at the center of this story – one a rebellious young woman eager to hone newfound skills and masquerade as a man for the adventure of a lifetime, the other a directionless soldier coping with life in the military, crises of faith, and the constant threat of violence that hasn’t fully ended. Although their lives take them on wildly different paths, they manage to find themselves together in the fizzling crucible of the Civil War.

Far from a traditional romance, the story centers on the history and impact of this time period, viewed through the distilled lens of a few detailed characters. The families, friends and brothers in arms linked to these characters are painstakingly developed, giving the novel a sprawling cast of engaging players. Robert and Jennie are caught up in the brutal and nation-defining conflict, so the existential weight of the book is already present, but the characters are sketched impartially, without the overarching seriousness we so naturally place on this part of history.

The characters’ apparent naivete highlights the destructive nature of war and the lost innocence of America, while also putting a distinctly human face on a conflict too often referred to in the form of statistics. The delicate interweaving of magic and whimsy, largely through Jennie’s character and early in the book from Owl, also occasionally lighten the mood of the story. Perhaps more importantly, the philosophy and conversations around illusions, magic, secrecy, and misdirection are cleverly written as the microcosm of much larger questions surrounding the war.

Swirling with sincere descriptions and the attention to detail of a civil war reenactment pro, Howell depicts the intricate intimacy of a family chat as expertly as the crazed smoke and flurry of a battle. There is an intensity in the prose where words are never wasted – the clear sign of a confident storyteller. Some scenes are slow moving, but the dialogue remains crisp and authentic, with colloquial phrases and accents subtly detailed in the writing, putting flesh on the bones of the story. Howell is obviously intimately familiar with the lifestyles and attitudes from this era, and she is able to masterfully translate them into a vivid and engrossing tale.

A book capable of giving deeper insight to one of the most well-studied conflicts in history is a worthwhile read, but the story is also rich and beautifully told. The occasional lag in the pace of the prose could potentially be remedied by abbreviating some conversations, rather than explicating them from beginning to end, but that is a small critique, and one that few readers will note.

As a complete work, The Marvelous Orange Tree is an intoxicating tangle of history, mystery, romance, and self-discovery set against a vivid backdrop of America at its darkest, and most hopeful.