Where Wild Peaches Grow is set in Natchez, Mississippi, and depicts the dissolution and resolution of the Davenport family, primarily through the eyes of Nona. Thinking she has been betrayed by her family, she leaves them and heads to Chicago. There, she becomes a professor of African American studies and has a boyfriend, Eli. She’s forged a promising future in Chicago as a professor of African American Studies. She never goes back to Natchez—until she’s notified of the death of her father. On her return, she must confront all the people she left behind and learns that the assumptions she made, those that caused her to abandon her family, may not have been true.
The characters, (Nona; her sister, Julia; their parents; new and old boyfriends; childhood friends; and neighbors), are often deeply flawed but very human. They are well developed and seen from multiple points of view. When secrets, miscommunications, and misunderstandings are revealed, the characters must rethink their lives, their choices, their inner selves, and their relationships with each other. The miscommunications are not a mere plot device but depict a complicated reality. The characters withhold information and tell outright lies for multiple reasons.
Bentley handles racial issues with grace, not focusing on them, but working them into her story at an oblique angle. In particular, the character, Sanganette, is a white teacher who wants children to learn the white-washed version of the Civil War to the point of teaching that slavery wasn’t so bad and most Negroes were content with their lot. Overall, this is a compelling story blending familial relationships, family history, southern history, and African American cultural heritage.
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Where Wild Peaches Grow: A Novel (Lake Union Publishing, August 30, 2022) is available through:
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