THE APPLE KING

This historical novel presents the classic story of immigrants building better lives through faith in the American dream, hard work, and solidarity.

Nikola Markovich, a second son, leaves Croatia around 1880 to seek work in America. After a series of setbacks and misadventures, Nick settles in Watsonville, California, south of San Francisco, a place well known for the apples that are grown, packed, and shipped from there. But challenges still loom. Eastern Europeans are resented and reviled by the ruling class in Watsonville, the Irish. There is violence, particularly arson. But the Slavs, a mixed group in Europe, stick together in Watsonville. Nick marries Jelena Babich, a worthy Croatian girl, and they prosper. Nick’s brother, Francis, is enticed to leave home and join his sibling in the apple business. Eventually, Nick becomes a real mover and shaker in his adopted town and a rich man. History deals blow after blow—the San Francisco earthquake, World War I, the Spanish flu, and so forth—but the Markoviches are, above all, survivors. King is a competent, though sometimes uneven, writer. Some phrases are surely anachronistic (“This is not my first rodeo”; “That’s way out of my wheelhouse”) and several are a bit silly (“The train bobbed and weaved” along the track; “He took a flying leap out the door”). And the dialogue is often stilted. But the author has a lot of historical information to get across, and that can make for a scripted tone. Fortunately, the Croatians are admirable characters—Watsonville was and still is a Croatian enclave—and many readers enjoy uplifting tales, which this moving story certainly is. Nick’s first ride is in a horse and buggy, and in the end he is the proud owner of a Studebaker. Ultimately, there is a whole passel of Croatians in Watsonville. The town becomes known as the Apple Capital of the World, thanks largely to the diligence and vision of a Croatian peasant who saw his chance and took it.

An engaging and heartwarming tale about an enterprising Croatian immigrant in California.