39 pages • 1 hour read
The Cider House Rules
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Cider House Rules is the sixth novel by the American Canadian author John Irving. It was published in 1985 by William Morrow and Company. The novel was made into a movie directed by Lasse Hallstrom in 1999. Other works by this author include Avenue of Mysteries, A Son of the Circus, and Until I Find You.
This guide uses the 2012 William Morrow Kindle Edition of The Cider House Rules.
Plot Summary
The Cider House Rules is a Bildungsroman, or a coming-of-age novel; it is set in the 1930s through to the 1950s. Its protagonist is Homer Wells, an orphan in rural Maine. Homer lives in an orphanage called St. Cloud’s, in a poor inland valley town of the same name. The town was once a prosperous logging town but now is mostly abandoned. The director of the orphanage—which is also a maternity hospital—is Dr. Wilbur Larch. Dr. Larch is also a secret abortionist; at the time, abortion is illegal. He believes that delivering women of unwanted children is “the Lord’s work” and has made it his mission both to help these women and to document his work and the history of the town (67).
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By John Irving
