The temperature doesn't often go down in Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, which is good because it's the growing season. We've got Lusa learning about farming and bringing female scientific thinking to a very male practice. We've got Deanna, fighting to keep her mountainside clear of the bad stuff that will harm her animals, which might include a new man. And we've got Nannie Rawley who simply wants to grow her apples organically, but her grumpy old neighbour Mr Walker has all sorts of rigid ideas that need sorting out, both about her and about breeding. A hot and intensely absorbing novel about burgeoning life, for readers who crunch up their novels like apples.