The Fallen Fruit

The Fallen Fruit is a dynastic historical fantasy by Shawntelle Madison. Released 3rd Sept 2024 by HarperCollins on their Amistad imprint, it's 448 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out from the same publisher in Sept 2025. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. 

Not at all derivative, but the vibe is reminiscent of The Time Traveler's Wife, and fans of the work will likely find a lot to like here. Apart from the comparisons, this is a truly compelling, sensitively told, -engaging- family saga history and the curse/mechanic that the author employs here is fresh and unique with the additional conflict of the main character's ethnicity and gender being dangerous throughout much of history. 

It's told in 5 parallel parts, each one detailing a different family member's time-slip (two members in one part). As a parallel time-slip story told in several disparate parts, a print copy is just about required. The unabridged audiobook (run time: 14 hours, 11 minutes) is very well narrated, but the story itself is highly intertwined and complex and will be difficult to follow in audio format.

Four stars. It's an intelligently written, complex, and compelling story, but will require concentration. It would be an excellent choice for public library acquisition, home use, or for a book club study. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.