Where the Apple Ripens

Collection of short stories which draw heavily upon Jessie Kesson’s own experiences of growing up in a small town in Scotland. The title story, Where the Apple Ripens, is the story of Isabel Emslie, a young girl facing up to her last day at school and an uncertain future in service in the town. On the very threshold of womanhood, Isabel’s overwhelming zest for life and desire for new experiences leads her to the door of the local Lothario. An intense, highly charged view of rural Scotland, where sensuality wars against Calvinistic repression, this novella is one of Jessie Kesson’s finest achievements.