The Peach Thief

By: Linda Joan Smith

Narrated by: Harrie Dobby

This shimmering middle-grade debut set in 1850s Lancashire, England, explores longing, belonging, and the courage it takes to find your place—and bloom.

The night that workhouse orphan Scilla Brown dares to climb the Earl of Havermore's garden wall, she wants only to steal a peach—the best thing she's ever tasted in her hard, hungry life. But when she's caught by the earl's head gardener and mistaken for a boy, she grabs on to something more: a temporary job scrubbing flowerpots.

If she can just keep up her deception, she'll have a soft bed and food beyond her wildest dreams . . . maybe even peaches. She soon falls in with Phin, a garden apprentice who sneaks her into the steamy, fruit-filled greenhouses, calls her "Brownie," and makes her skin prickle.

At the same time, the gruff head gardener himself is teaching lowly Scilla to make things grow, and she's cultivating hope with every seed she plants. But as the seasons unfurl, her loyalties become divided, and her secret grows harder to keep. How far will she go to have a home at last?

Beautifully crafted with classic middle-grade themes of fate and ambition, identity and personal responsibility, this stunning debut features brisk pacing, crackling dialogue, and deep insight into what makes a garden thrive—and a heart and mind flourish.

©2025 Linda Joan Smith (P)2025 Tantor Media

A real page turner

The voice of the main character. So unheard awakens to a new environment, new hopes, new challenges, and a heartfelt attempt to become part of this new life.

Peaches!

This is a terrific book, for young adult readers and adults as well. There is much to be learned about the treatment of women and young girls who had few options in their lives despite their intelligence, fortitude and honesty.