Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard

In a sunlit apple orchard thick with magic, a wandering minstrel named Martin Pippin encounters a young man weeping for love. Robin Rue has lost his Gillian to a well-house guarded by jealous milkmaids, and he cannot reach her. But Martin Pippin carries a lute and an irrepressible spirit, and he refuses to let a good lament go unanswered. What follows is a fever-dream of a quest: winning past the milkmaids, retrieving a flower and a ring, discovering that the orchard itself seems to plot alongside the lovers. Farjeon weaves old songs, riddles, and folklore into a story that feels less like a novel than like a fairy tale being told aloud, with all the warm illogicality that implies. The narrative folds back on itself, stories within stories, as Martin charmingly insists that every problem can be solved with the right song. This is escapism at its most generous, a book that believes deeply in the transforming power of music and stubborn, foolish, beautiful love.