The cider house rules/john irving

Set among the apple orchards of rural Maine, it is a peverse world in which Homer Wells odyssey begins.

As the oldest unadopted offspring at St Clouds orphanage, he learns about the skills which, one way or another, help young and not-so-young women, from Wilbur Larch, the orphanages founder -- a man of rare compassion and an addiction to ether.

Dr Larch loves all his orphans, especically Homer Wells.

It is Homers 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.