Part 2, Chapter X and XI Summary

In Chapter X: The Astrakhan Apple Tree Blooms, the Astrakhan apple tree bears fruit for the first time that warm spring. Kristina's mouth waters in anticipation of their ripening in August when her children will first taste fruit from a tree from her home country and she will "be able to show her children how she had transplanted part of her childhood from the Old Country to the New" (p. 92). While Kristina fully recuperates, there is no change for Karl, since he knows her next childbed will kill her so they cannot share a bed. Both miss the bodily contact they have shared for twenty years, and though Karl dreams of being with his wife, he endures his denial for months as Ulrika's warning resounds in his ears.

One evening in May, Kristina informs Karl...