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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a little courage and a helping hand could make room for a fresh start?
In Apple-Blossom Time by Clara Louise Burnham carries the subtitle A Fairy-Tale to Date. It frames rescue, courage, and new beginnings as the promise of a gentle romance. Kind people, small misunderstandings, and acts of courage belong to its warm-hearted world, where the hope of a happier life gives quiet moments their weight.
The title calls up spring orchards, where apple blossom stands for a fresh start. Burnham's romance invites an easy pace, with polite manners and gentle humor rather than fast action or dark complications. Its hopeful spirit makes room for love and for the thought that old troubles need not have the last word.
What you’ll discover
- A Fairy-Tale to Date Explore the book's fairy-tale framing through its promise of rescue, courage, and new beginnings.
- A helping hand Discover rescue as a theme that makes kindness part of the story's hopeful appeal.
- Spring's promise of change Let the image of apple blossom invite thoughts of fresh starts beyond old troubles.
- Gentle humor and manners Settle into polite exchanges and a light touch that reflect the story's own time.
- Room for quiet hope Enjoy a warm-hearted love story whose appeal lies in comfort rather than dark complications.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy fairy tales set in the modern world, warm humor, brave heroines, kind older friends, daring pilots, seaside villages, and love stories where a good heart wins out.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young woman faces false ownership
- Miss Upton notices a stranger
- Kindness finds a clever ally
- Geraldine protects someone weaker
- Hope asks Geraldine to act
- Rescue brings new responsibilities
- Respect offers another kind of rescue
- Geraldine wants love beyond beauty
- Character matters more than rank
Who’s who
- Geraldine MelodyA lovely, shy nineteen-year-old left penniless by her father's death, who wants only honest work and a place where she is safe.
- Mehitable UptonA stout, kindhearted village shopkeeper who befriends a crying stranger and uses her kindness and her cleverness to protect her.
- Ben BarryA daring young law student and flyer who wants to rescue Geraldine and win her trust without breaking his word.
- Rufus CarderA rich, grasping farmer and landlord who wants to own Geraldine and holds a secret over her dead father.
- PeteA bowlegged, ill-treated farm servant who adores Geraldine and wants only to serve her and never go back to his master.
- Charlotte WhippA gloomy widow who complains about everything, loves Miss Upton and her cat Pearl, and is softened by Geraldine.
- Mrs. BarryBen's proper, queenly mother, who wants her son's happiness and her own order and must decide what she thinks of Geraldine.
- Mrs. CarderRufus's timid, overworked mother, who fears her son and urges Geraldine to keep him from becoming angry.
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In Apple-Blossom Time in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
In Apple-Blossom Time
A girl locked on a treeless farm waits in a white dress for a pilot who has sent her only a note.
Easy read2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“Courage. Walk in meadow. Wear white.”
In short
Would you put on a white dress and walk into a bare meadow every afternoon because a stranger's note told you to? Geraldine Melody does.
In Apple-Blossom Time at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 50 min3 h 5 min fast, 4 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 54,900 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
An umbrella wins a table and a friend
The story opens with a footrace for a seat. Miss Mehitable Upton, a very stout shopkeeper from the village of Keefe, is in the city buying stock for her summer trade. Across the room she spots a young girl sitting alone, and she sets off at her best speed.
A lantern-faced man in a collar far too large heads for the same table. Miss Upton slides her umbrella into his path and arrives first. The girl is Geraldine Melody. She says she has no folks, and she is so discouraged that she hints at ending her life.
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Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 20 min
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Burnham, Clara Louise. In Apple-Blossom Time. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-apple-blossom-time.
Burnham, C. L. (2026). In apple-blossom time. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-apple-blossom-time
Burnham, Clara Louise. In Apple-Blossom Time. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-apple-blossom-time.
@book{burnham2026appleblossom,
author = {Burnham, Clara Louise},
title = {In Apple-Blossom Time},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/in-apple-blossom-time}
}
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What is In Apple-Blossom Time about?
It tells of Geraldine Melody, a penniless young woman rescued from a grasping farmer by a kind shopkeeper and a young pilot. It follows her escape, her friendships, and the question of whether a proud mother will accept her.
Who is who in the fairy-tale cast list?
The good fairy is Miss Upton, the princess is Geraldine, the ogre is Rufus Carder, the dwarf is Pete, the prince is Ben Barry, the grouch is Charlotte Whipp, and the queen is Ben's mother.
Why does Geraldine wear white in the meadow?
A hidden note tells her to walk in the meadow and wear white. Ben plans an airplane rescue, and the white dress helps him spot her at once among the cows and fields.
The author
Clara Louise Burnham
1854–1927 · American novelist
Clara Louise Burnham (1854–1927) was an American novelist. She was born in Newton, Massachusetts, and lived for much of her life in Chicago. Her father was the composer George Frederick Root. She wrote novels in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including In Apple-Blossom Time.
“Courage. Walk in meadow. Wear white.”
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