Hazel Victoria Reid

As the Apple Tree Stands Hazel Victoria Reid

AS THE APPLE TREE STANDS is a novel set in the 1930s in the Mississippi Delta. A dangerous riverboat gambler, Duke LeBlanc, has paid cash for a plantation and, before he can foreclose on another plantation, he falls in love with the owner's daughter, Annette. He "courts" her and realizes he has fallen deeply in love with her. A foil to Annette is Miss Zerle Wingo, an elementary school teacher. She has been devastated by her marriage to a ne'er do well. A plantation owner and amateur painter, Gig Porter, falls completely under the spell of this ice queen. The two relationships hold the story together and allow room for accounts of fires, tornadoes, and killings.