by Joan Crate
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Joan Crate
Phyllis Bruce Editions, published by Simon & Schuster Canada
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This Simon & Schuster Canada edition March 2016
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Jacket design by Elizabeth Whitehead
Jacket image © Gabrielle Lutz / Stocksy
Raven © Shutterstock
Author photograph by David Chittick
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Crate, Joan, 1953–, author
Black apple : a novel / Joan Crate.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4767-9516-4 (bound).—ISBN 978-1-4767-9518-8 (ebook)
I. Title.
PS8555.R338B53 2016 C813'.54 C2015-905966-6
C2015-905967-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-9516-4
ISBN 978-1-4767-9518-8 (ebook)
Contents
Part One
Chapter 1: Baby Bird
Chapter 2: Mother Grace
Chapter 3: St. Mark’s
Chapter 4: The Naming
Chapter 5: Stealing Anne
Chapter 6: Girls, So Many of Them
Chapter 7: Fire Worms
Chapter 8: Beasts of the Field
Chapter 9: Visiting Hour
Chapter 10: New Territory
Chapter 11: Voices
Chapter 12: Forgiving Ruth
Chapter 13: The Prodigal Son
Chapter 14: Works of Mercy
Chapter 15: The Mystery of Godliness
Part Two
Chapter 16: Womanhood
Chapter 17: Blue
Chapter 18: A Very Good Age
Chapter 19: Heat
Chapter 20: Juggling
Chapter 21: Happy Birthday to You
Chapter 22: Dead Chickens
Chapter 23: You Make Your Bed
Chapter 24: Iikss-tah-pik-ssi-wa
Chapter 25: A Burning Bush
Chapter 26: Jam
Chapter 27: Mould and Charcoal
Chapter 28: The Confessional
Chapter 29: Paperwork
Chapter 30: The Visitation
Chapter 31: Destiny
Part Three
Chapter 32: A Wolf Paw
Chapter 33: The Assignment
Chapter 34: The Orphans’ Prayer
Chapter 35: Earthly Pleasures
Chapter 36: The Letter
Chapter 37: Confession
Chapter 38: Mass
Chapter 39: Coal Dust
Chapter 40: The Reply
Chapter 41: When Skies Are Grey
Chapter 42: Bobcat with a Rabbit
Chapter 43: Intentions
Chapter 44: Undeserved Extravagances
Chapter 45: Stud
Chapter 46: Departure
Chapter 47: Possibilities
Chapter 48: Her Own
Afterword
Acknowledgements
About Joan Crate