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Set among the apple orchards of rural Maine, it is a perverse world in which Homer Wells' odyssey begins. As the oldest unadopted offspring at St Cloud's orphanage, he learns about the skills which, one way or another, help young and not-so-young woman, from Wilbur Larch, the orphanage's founder, a man of rare compassion and with an addiction to ether. Dr Larch loves all his orphans, especially Homer Wells. It is Homer's story we follow, from his early apprenticeship in the orphanage surgery, to his adult life running a cider-making factory and his strange relationship with the wife of his closest friend. 'John Irving has been compared with Kurt Vonnegut and
J.D. Salinger, but is arguably more inventive than either. Wry, laconic,
he sketches his characters with an economy that springs from a feeling
for words and mastery over his craft. This superbly original book is one
to be read and remembered' 'The Cider House Rules is difficult to define
and impossible not to admire' 'Like the rest of Irving's fiction, it is often
disconcerting but always exciting and provoking'
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