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How long does it take to read Garden Spells?

Sarah Addison Allen

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen takes about 5 hours 27 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 5 hours 27 minutes

A weekend read

First published 2007. 297 pages, about 81,675 words.

11 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 9 hours 5 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 5 hours 27 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 3 hours 24 minutes

The page count is the median across 11 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small house in the smallest of towns, is an apple tree rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree and the extraordinary people who tend it. The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation. For the Waverly history is in the soil. And so are their futures. A successful caterer, Claire Waverly prepares dishes made with her mystical plants--from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin Evanelle distributes unexpected presents whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys--except for Claire's rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire as their own mother had years before. When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire's quiet life is turned upside down. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind the Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. Soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy--if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom...or with each other. "Sarah Addison Allen has crafted a wonderful story that will cast a spell on everyone who has the pleasure of reading it." --KRIS RADISH "As irresistible as it is unforgettable." --DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK This description comes from the 2008 Bantom Books trade paperback edition.

Subjects: Fiction, family life, North carolina, fiction, Sisters, fiction, Sisters, Fiction

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