Lil is stubbornly loyal to her land and the covenant her mother passed on to her. How does this responsibility impact her life? Do you believe her relationship to the orchard is a gift or a burden?

Lil is stubbornly loyal to her land and the covenant her mother passed on to her. How does this responsibility impact her life? Do you believe her relationship to the orchard is a gift or a burden?

I think that it started as a gift, but ended as a burden.

I believe for Lil the orchard is a gift and a burden. Her mother gave her the land and I am sure Lil was pleased, knowing that her mother knew she was the one to care for it. But it is a lot of work and responsibility for one person. She has no time for enjoyment. When Jason wanted her to go away with him she chose the orchard over him and love. Actually choosing a lonely, hard life. Since she knows the history she also has the burden of protecting Sasha.

As I read it, I thought it was a love/hate relationship with the land. Loyalty, sure; but quite a burden for Lil! Loved the book, though.

The gift is a burden and I was surprised that any mother who had been burdened with that responsibility would pass it on to their child.

I think Lil thought it was a gift, but it was a burden. She was tied to it forever.

Lil's relationship to the land is both a burden and a gift. She felt a loyalty to her mother and to her home. She also felt a longing for going somewhere else to live her life...a bit envious sometimes of Sasha. I think many of us experience such conflicted emotions about a situation.

Lil's loyalty to the land is both gift and burden but I think burden wins out. Her resentment toward Sasha being able to leave and explore the world reminds Lil of the responsibility she feels. The promise to her mother weighs her down.

I think ultimately Lil's relationship with the land was a great burden and kept her "stuck" and not able to explore and grow, like her sister.

Lil loves the orchard and the pleasure of collecting the pecans especially during times of bountiful harvests. So, in that way it’s a gift. However, she is bound to the land and her role as its caretaker. It’s surely a burden which restricts her life and prevents her from attending college and following Jason and her friends as they leave home and pursue careers and a life elsewhere.

I think the orchard is a gift as well as a burden. The orchard has kept her from living the life she desires for many years. Her joy comes with keeping the orchard viable with great pecan yields as well as honoring her mother's wishes.

Her burden is certainly lifted at the end of the book with Sasha and Autumn taking on the orchard and all it demands. Interesting that Sasha and Autumn commit to this. Could it be they have found each other and that has become a worthy way of spending life. They are everything to each other after many years desiring each other.

Lil is five when she finds the tree and the pond, and her mother tells her it is "like an arm that the pond reaches out to us. They're meant to be a gift. Lil trusts her mother. In her senior year of high school, Jason wants her to apply to college and go together. Her mother finds the college brochure and reminds her that Clearwaters are stewards of the land. Sasha has to go, so Lil has to take over the stewardship. Lil throws the brochure away. When Sasha does return, Lil resents that she "can't be bothered to lift a finger" to help. Later, when Sasha asks Lil if she regrets the role she has played, Lil wants to know "Is it bad if I say yes? Mom made the choice for her. She says, I never got to live . . . I want to go back to school. I want stupid twenties in a big city, making bad decisions." It would seem that Lil does not belief the stewardship was a gift at all.

Because of personal experience with my husband’s family, I am certain that land inheritance is a burden always

It was a burden and a sacrifice that she did out of love and some sense of obligation. Obligation to what? Her mother? A family legacy? A dead or dying town? To the golden pecans and pond? I'm not sure.

I think it's more of a burden. It's especially a burden for people who have a hard time letting go.

Probably both - a gift by way of living a good life - albeit a hard existence and a burden for keeping her solely stuck with a large responsibility.