The Memory Trees

Narrator Kim Mai Guest invites listeners to join Sorrow Lovegood as she returns to her hometown in search of answers about her older sister's mysterious death eight years earlier. Infused with magical, historical, and suspicious elements, the tale of the Lovegood women is impeccably relayed by Guest. While defining Sorrow and other characters with tones of curiosity, suspicion, and malice, Guest simultaneously uses breathy whispers to set the atmosphere of small-town Vermont and the mercurial apple orchard of the story. Her tone shifts from hostile to understanding as long-held family secrets are brought to light. Though the pace of this audiobook seems slow, its vivid descriptions allow listeners to immerse themselves in the Lovegoods' strange history. V.C. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-A family feud lasting 12 generations is at the heart of this introspective novel. Eight years ago, Sorrow Lovegood's 16-year-old sister was killed in a fire, her mother suffered a nervous breakdown, and Sorrow was taken away to live with her father in Florida. Now Sorrow, at 16, returns to the Vermont apple orchard where she grew up in order to fill in the hazy parts of her memory. She is immediately reminded of the fierce animosity between her historically matriarchal clan and the neighboring Abrams family, who have been trying to take the Lovegood land for centuries. Flashbacks of Sorrow's reclusive ancestors depict many hardships, including the murder of nine-year-old twins by an Abrams man and a Lovegood mother who killed her children rather than have them starve during a harsh winter. Slowly, Sorrow begins to piece together what happened during the last days of her sister's life, and her own role in the tragic events. But a startling suicide and more heartrending revelations occur before understanding and healing can finally begin. The slow-paced, mostly quiet narrative is interrupted several times by short bursts of anger that generally involve Sorrow or another character uncharacteristically flinging F-bombs. This brooding tale of a strange family and its secrets may appeal to readers who enjoy lyrical stories of grief and redemption. VERDICT A good choice for large YA collections.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT

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Starred review from July 15, 2017
Seeking understanding about the circumstances surrounding her sister's death, Sorrow returns home for the first time since the tragedy eight years earlier.Following her 16-year-old sister's death and her mother's breakdown, 8-year-old Sorrow began living with her father in Florida. Now, realizing that she has forgotten many details surrounding the fire her sister died in, the white teen demands to return to the family apple orchard in Vermont. Started by a female relative 12 generations ago, both the orchard and the strongly matriarchal family structure have endured the ravages of hard times and loss--much of which is exacerbated by their longtime feud with the neighboring Abrams family. Flashbacks capture the feud's beginning as well as unflinching scenes highlighting the terrible ways both families have escalated the conflict. Sorrow's interactions with the Abrams sisters signal that the animosity continues in the youngest generation. But spending time in the gorgeously mystical orchard begins reviving Sorrow's memories, raising questions about the feud and the fire. Sorrow's quietly fierce determination to break through the family's silent secrets exposes the grievances that tie the families together as much as they hold them apart. The novel is Sorrow's story of loss, the story of a family feud, and occasionally an expose on how small-town traditions perhaps unwittingly encourage a bubbling animosity to continue for generations. An absorbing, lyrically drawn mystery, examination of grief, and cautionary tale. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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