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Where the Apple Ripens is the story of Isabel Emslie, a young girl facing up to her last day at school and an uncertain future in service in the town. On the very threshold of womanhood, Isabel's overwhelming zest for life and desire for new experiences leads her to the door of the local Lothario. An intense, highly charged view of rural Scotland, where sensuality wars against Calvinist repression, this novella is one of Jessie Kesson's finest achievements.Like much of Jessie Kesson's work, the ten short stories also included in this volume draw heavily upon her own experiences. Once in Royal is a moving account of the excitement Christmas brought to the deprived children of the Lane in Elgin, The Bridge follows these children to the River Lossie, Good Friday is set in the mental hospital where Kesson was once a patient, and Stormy Weather is a poignant tale of teenage love and longing. Many of the stories are set in rural Aberdeenshire where the author grew up; all of them are a skilful distillation of fact and fiction, and a celebration of her extraordinary ability to make the most of every environment in which she found herself.