About The Language of Trees
- Paperback: 368 pages
- Publisher: Avon A (July 20, 2010)
Devastated over the breakup of his marriage, Grant Shongo returns to his hometown of Canandaigua Lake, a little community where everyone knows everyone’s business, though they may pretend not to. Living in isolation at his family’s old cabin, Grant begins to wonder if he isn’t being haunted by the spirit of Luke Ellis, a young boy who mysteriously drowned one night in the lake. Grant is drawn back into the world when a young man, Lion, pleas for help to find his missing wife, Melanie. Theories abound about her disappearance — has she skipped town like she used to on a drug-induced relapse, or could something far more sinister be at play? Is her abduction in any way related to her brother’s death all those years ago?
Sparks fly when Grant’s first love Echo returns to town, and with the chance at enjoying life again, the pair becomes hopeful about nursing old wounds together. But will uncovering the truth about Melanie’s disappearance threaten their blooming happiness? As the past inexorably draws Grant and Echo in, long-buried secrets will surface that will affect everyone involved in the rescue effort for the rest of their lives.
Praise for The Language of Trees
“The Language of Trees, like Whitman’s Leaves of Grass though in a magic realist vernacular, refreshingly asserts that deeply American conviction: the gravest natural instinct is to heal and be healed. A shimmeringly heart-felt story.”
— Gregory Maguire, author of the Wicked series
“The Language of Trees is a haunting novel about the enduring power of love. Crafted with suspenseful pacing and delicate imagery, Ilie Ruby’s book combines the qualities of an irresistible ghost story with a healing tale of redemption. It’s a vivid and compelling read.”
— Elizabeth Rosner, author of Blue Nude and The Speed of Light
Ilie Ruby’s haunting story seems to spring fully formed from the mystical setting she so beautifully describes. The Language of Trees will make you believe that spirits live on, that hands can heal, and that if you open your heart wide enough, the world is full of second chances.
— Diane Chamberlain
“Rarely do debut novels cover the complicated emotional terrain of The Language of Trees. This is no simple right-of-passage story but rather an eloquently written journey that explores our strengths and vulnerabilities, our love of those who most need us, and whom we need most. Ilie Ruby is a shining new voice, powerful and true, worthy of our closest attention.” -James Brown, author of The Los Angeles Diaries
About Ilie Ruby
Ilie Ruby won the Phi Kappa Phi Award for Fiction, the Edwin L. Moses Award, a Kerr Foundation Fiction Scholarship, the Wesleyan Writer’s Conference Scholarship in NonFiction, and the Barbara Kemp Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship. She has published poems and short stories in literary and online magazines, and is the former fiction editor of The Southern California Anthology. A graduate of the Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California, she has worked for PBS in Honduras, as well as taught elementary school in Los Angeles. Ms. Ruby lives near Boston. This is her first novel.
Connect with Ilie Ruby on Facebook.
Ilie Ruby’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS
Tuesday, July 20th: I’m Booking It
Wednesday, July 21st: Café of Dreams
Monday, July 26th: Library Queue
Wednesday, July 28th: Fizzy Thoughts
Monday, August 2nd: Chaotic Compendiums
Wednesday, August 4th: Take Me Away
Thursday, August 5th: Booksie’s Blog
Monday, August 9th: Jenny Loves to Read
Thursday, August 12th: Books Like Breathing
| http://cafeofdreams.blogspot.com/ |
Thursday, August 19th: Chefdruck Musings