Apple Picking Season Summary
The novel begins in the Fall of 1666. The main character, Anna Frith, is a servant to the village priest, who she tries to get to eat some apples, but he is despondent and broken. Everyone looks weary and Anna thinks back to happier times when she married Sam Frith at age fifteen and left a drunken father and stepmother who overworked Anna. Sam dies, but she has two sons. She cares for Michael Mompellion, the preacher, because his wife, Elinor, is dead. Anna is lonely at night when her empty house gives her no comfort, her children having died in the plague. The next morning, she milks her cow and carries some milk to Michael. At the rectory, she encounters Elizabeth Bradford, whose family fled the village and the plague. When Anna announces Elizabeth's presence, Mompellion tells Anna to tell her to go to hell. Elizabeth forces her way into the house to plead for Mompellion's attendance on her ill mother. Mompellion says that the Bradford family deserted the village in their time of need so he wants nothing to do with them. …show more content…
Maggie's been dismissed without a moment's notice and she asks Anna to help gather her belongings. Michael Mompellion enters and appeals to Colonel Bradford to do his duty, but the Colonel is says it's foolish not to flee the plague. Mompellion warns the Colonel that his reputation will be forever ruined in the village and that God's wrath will be greater than any plague. As the Bradfords leave, some servants beg for help and find homes in the village. Maggie and Brand did not swear in church to stay, so they travel to stay with kin. Later, Anna and other villagers watch as goods are delivered at a distance. A list of the dead are given to the delivery person to share with kin and friends in nearby