The Pear Orchard is a hallelujah chorus to soft-hearted women who are tough, funny, courageous, lovable, and by golly ready to take on whatever comes their way, like it or not. They will make you laugh, cry, and consider emulating them, however farfetched that may seem. Follow them on their paths across the country, into the woods, street dancing in Japan, and even coming out of the country and into town to become famous as the best cook in three counties. You know women like these, but you haven't had them all together like this before now. Once you meet Sally, even before you taste her fried country ham or her Black Bottom Pie, you know when you choose up sides you want to be on hers. You won't want to mess with De Poon, ladylike though she seems. Even more, you'll envy Mattie Workman's eighty-five-year-old energetic love of traveling the bus lines and her unshakeable belief in the goodness of us all. Marie restores our faith in switching horses in midstream and sends us out searching for new ways of looking at the world. These women make believers of us all, and so we sleep better.