The Tale of Applebeck Orchard

Table of Contents

 

 

 

THYME OF DEATH
WITCHES’ BANE
HANGMAN’S ROOT
ROSEMARY REMEMBERED
RUEFUL DEATH
LOVE LIES BLEEDING
CHILE DEATH
LAVENDER LIES
MISTLETOE MAN
BLOODROOT
INDIGO DYING
A DILLY OF A DEATH
DEAD MAN’S BONES
BLEEDING HEARTS
SPANISH DAGGER
NIGHTSHADE
WORMWOOD

 

AN UNTHYMELY DEATH
CHINA BAYLES’ BOOK OF DAYS

 

 

 

DEATH AT BISHOP’S KEEP
DEATH AT GALLOWS GREEN
DEATH AT DAISY’S FOLLY
DEATH AT DEVIL’S BRIDGE
DEATH AT ROTTINGDEAN
DEATH AT WHITECHAPEL
DEATH AT EPSOM DOWNS
DEATH AT DARTMOOR
DEATH AT GLAMIS CASTLE
DEATH IN HYDE PARK
DEATH AT BLENHEIM PALACE
DEATH ON THE LIZARD

 

 

 

THE TALE OF HILL TOP FARM
THE TALE OF HOLLY HOW
THE TALE OF CUCKOO BROW WOOD
THE TALE OF HAWTHORN HOUSE
THE TALE OF BRIAR BANK
THE TALE OF APPLEBECK ORCHARD

 

 

WRITING FROM LIFE
WORK OF HER OWN

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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 

Frederick Warne & Co Ltd is the sole and exclusive owner of the entire rights titles and interest in and to the copyrights and trade marks of the works of Beatrix Potter, including all names and characters featured therein. No reproduction of these copyrights and trade marks may be made without the prior written consent of Frederick Warne & Co Ltd.

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

Copyright © 2009 by Susan Wittig Albert.

Interior map created by Peggy Turchette.

 

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-13363-7

1. Potter, Beatrix, 1866-1943—Fiction. 2. Women authors—Fiction. 3. Women artists—
Fiction. 4. Country life—England—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3551.L2637T343 2009
813’.54—dc22
2009012791

 

 

Cast of Characters

Beatrix Potter
* is best known for the series of children’s books that began with
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
. She lives with her parents,
Helen and Rupert Potter
, at Number Two, Bolton Gardens, in London, but spends as much time as possible at her farm, Hill Top, in the Lake District village of Near Sawrey.
Mr. and Mrs. Jennings
and their three children live in their part of the Hill Top farmhouse.

Will Heelis
* is a solicitor who lives in the nearby market town of Hawkshead. Well-known to everyone in Sawrey, he helps Miss Potter with her property purchases.

Adam Harmsworth
is the owner of Applebeck Farm at the edge of Far Sawrey. His wife,
Ernestina
, keeps the house, helped by Mr. Harmsworth’s fourteen-year-old orphaned niece,
Gilly
.

Thomas Beecham
(known to the villagers as Auld Beechie) is a former employee of Mr. Harmsworth’s. He now works as odd-jobs man at the Tower Bank Arms.

Major Roger Ragsdale
is president of the Claife Heights Ramblers, an association of fell-walkers. A retired military man, he lives in Teapot Cottage, Far Sawrey.

Sarah Barwick
operates the Anvil Cottage Bakery in Near Sawrey.

Captain Miles Woodcock
, who lives in Tower Bank House, is justice of the peace for Sawrey District and a trustee of Sawrey School.
Elsa Grape
cooks and keeps house for him.

Vicar Samuel Sackett
is the vicar of St. Peter’s Church in Far Sawrey.
Mrs. Hazel Thompson
(a cousin of Agnes Llewellyn) keeps house for him.

Margaret Nash
is head teacher at Sawrey School. She lives in one of the Sunnyside Cottages with her sister,
Annie Nash
, a piano teacher.

Bertha Stubbs
and her husband,
Henry
, live in the Lakefield Cottages. Bertha, a tempestuous character, cleans Sawrey School; Henry operates the Windermere ferry.

Dimity Woodcock Kittredge
, Captain Woodcock’s sister, is married to
Major Christopher Kittredge
, of Raven Hall. The Kittredges have two children, little
Flora
and baby
Christopher.

Mathilda Crook
boards visitors at Belle Green. Her husband,
George
, is the village smith.

Agnes and Dick Llewellyn
live next door to Belle Green, at High Green Gate.

John Braithwaite
is the constable for Near and Far Sawrey; he and his wife,
Hannah
, live at Croft End Cottage.

Caroline Longford
, sixteen, lives with her grandmother,
Lady Longford
, at Tidmarsh Manor. Caroline has set her heart on becoming a musician and composer. Also at Tidmarsh Manor: Caroline’s governess,
Miss Cecily Burns
, a friend of Miss Potter’s.