It was like being able to major in eating chocolate.'Īfter graduation in 1994, Allen began writing seriously. In college, she majored in literature-because, as she puts it, 'I thought it was amazing that I could get a diploma just for reading fiction. North Carolina novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction-a captivating blend of fairy tale magic, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility.īorn and raised in Asheville, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allen grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). But then the apple tree started throwing apples and the story took on a life of its own. 'It was supposed to be a simple story about two sisters reconnecting after many years. Garden Spells didn't start out as a magical novel,' writes Sarah Addison Allen. Currently-lives in Asheville, North Carolina.Education-B.A., University of North Carolina, Asheville.Lose yourself in Sarah Addison Allen's enchanting world and fall for her charmed characters in this captivating story that proves that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost. When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before.

But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke? Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has. With each passing day she longs more for a baby- a namesake for her wonderful Henry.

Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. Though her handcrafted confections-rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds-are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts. But this year, first frost has much more in store.Ĭlaire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree.and all the magic that swirls around it. It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly.

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen