{"product_id":"love-like-apples-jeff-zentner-paperback","title":"Love, Like Apples -- Jeff Zentner, Paperback","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lyrical, deeply felt story of an artist and the great love that defined his life, set against the electric, delirious backdrop of 1970s New York City and the tumultuous years prior--for readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Kristin Hannah.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A wonder of a book.\" -Kevin Wilson, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e bestselling author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNothing to See Here\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGrowing up motherless and under the cruel eye of his alcoholic, emotionally distant father, Tiller Loomis seems destined for a hardscrabble life. In the 1960s, the small Appalachian town of Sawyer, Tennessee offers few opportunities outside of working arduous hours on his family's apple orchard. The one ray of light is his older brother Smith, a compassionate and gentle boy who salvages what might have otherwise been a brutal childhood. Kindness, he teaches Tiller, is a choice. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut when Smith is drafted into the Vietnam War, Tiller's world collapses. Directionless and grief-stricken, he stumbles into a children's puppet show at his church and ultimately finds purpose and joy through the strange, tender art of puppetry. Chasing his dream of puppeteering full time, Tiller lands in the gritty, graffitied, bohemian hothouse of 1977 New York City, where experimental artists and misfit idealists are using puppets to try to reach teens with a message of hope on a PBS show called \u003ci\u003eImagine Nation\u003c\/i\u003e. In \u003ci\u003eImagine Nation\u003c\/i\u003e's cast, Tiller finds a chosen family of dreamers and creators who will change his life forever, chief among whom is the beautiful Julie DiFrancesca, a fiercely vivacious woman who offers Tiller a chance at a life he never thought possible. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNarratively framed as a present-day documentary production about\u003ci\u003e Imagine Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLove, Like Apples\u003c\/i\u003e takes us from the 1970s into the modern era, tracing how the ripples from one controversial but forgotten TV show and a complicated love affair continue outward over decades, while also exploring the indelible power of radical empathy and the lives of the artists who carry its flame in their hearts. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAN AUDIBLE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK FOR FALL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jeff Zentner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Grand Central Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/03\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.95h x 5.34w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781538773604\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 08\/01\/2026 pg. 70\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/21\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e 10\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJeff Zentner\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eColton Gentry's Third Act, The Serpent King, \u003c\/i\u003e which Kirkus Reviews named one of the best books of the 21st Century, as well as \u003ci\u003eIn the Wild Light\u003c\/i\u003e, and more. Among other honors, he has won the ALA's William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award twice, the Muriel Becker Award, the International Literacy Association Award, been longlisted twice for the Carnegie Medal, and is a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist and a Tennessee Book Award finalist. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. He lives in Nashville.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jeff Zentner","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68132172038372,"sku":"9781538773604","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0611\/9587\/8628\/files\/9781538773604.jpg?v=1793865778","url":"https:\/\/bookandmortar.com\/products\/love-like-apples-jeff-zentner-paperback","provider":"BookandMortar","version":"1.0","type":"link"}