Paul Valenti is the most celebrated young writer of his generation — a philosopher, novelist, and spiritual force whose books have stirred Europe and America. But as war darkens the world, Paul finds himself paralysed by the suffering he cannot prevent. He has inherited Mereworth Towers, an old English estate of orchards, gardens, hidden rooms, and uneasy memories, yet beauty brings him no peace.

Then his old friend Captain Donald Hartree arrives on leave and gives him the charge that will change his life: write the book only Paul Valenti can write. Speak to the grief of the age. Rebuild what war and hollow faith have broken.

That same day, in the bluebell woods, Paul sees Linnet Ferrers.

Wild, penniless, fearless, and gifted, Linnet can charm hares from the ferns, sketch living creatures with uncanny truth, and face down men twice her strength. She is the daughter of the soldier who saved Don Hartree’s life, and Don is determined that she shall have her chance. Under his protection and Paul’s patronage, Linnet comes to London to study art.

There she discovers a world of studios, critics, patrons, temptations, and dangers — including the predatory portrait painter Orlando Vane and the mysterious Jules Mordaunt, whose influence over Paul grows darker with every page Paul writes.

Paul’s great book, The Gates, becomes a sensation. To some, it is revelation. To others, heresy. To Linnet, who loves Paul more deeply than she dares admit, it is something more frightening: a work of genius touched by a power she does not trust.

As Paul is drawn toward a second and greater book, The Key, he must choose between the intoxicating dream of remaking the world and the living truth of the heart.

Lush, romantic, and philosophical, THE ORCHARD GATES is a novel of genius, war, art, spiritual temptation, and love — where the gates to paradise may open only when ambition kneels before the soul.