The Killing Tree
By Rachel Keener
(Center Street, Paperback, 9781599951119, 336pp.)
Publication Date: March 2009
Categories: Christian - Suspense
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It's the summer after Mercy Heron graduates from high school, and she's living in the household of her domineering grandfather and a grandmother whose behavior has always been erratic--some folks even call it crazy. They've raised Mercy since her mother died giving birth to her under the June apple tree, after Father Heron locked her out and ignored her pleas for help.
Mercy's days are spent working at the local diner, and hanging out with her wild best friend Della. Unlike Della, she's never seriously considered leaving the insulated community on Crooked Top mountain. Not until that summer when she meets Trout, a man who opens Mercy's eyes to a world beyond what she's known--both physically and emotionally. Their relationship must be kept secret, because Father Heron won't approve of his granddaughter being involved with a migrant worker. But when Mercy tries to escape, she'll learn just how powerful, and ruthless, her grandfather can be. And the truth of her past will threaten to forever bind her to the mountain.
Rachel Keener was born in the mountains of southwest Virginia in 1978. After graduating from Carson Newman College, she attended law school at Wake Forest University. She graduated in the top of her class at the age of twenty-three. Today, Rachel lives in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina with her husband and two sons. This is her first novel.
"This dark, dramatic novel set in the Appalachians is an impressive and often lyrical debut by a young writer born in Virginia . . .Rachel Keener shows some serious literary chops; her characters are complex, her plot twists are pleasingly unpredictable and her writing oozes atmosphere. Put this one on your summer reading list."
-Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Keener reveals the dignity and sense of community among the outcast and itinerant."
-The Charlotte Observer
"It has been years since I've read a book as profoundly dramatic in its examination of survival as Rachel Keener's 'The Killing Tree. This is a story of the magic and the meanness of southern mountain people. In one way or another I have known each of them, and Rachel Keener knows them also. Her writing in this debut novel is wonderful."
"An Appalachian coming-of-age novel...intensely lyrical, emotional debut...Keener's vivid imagery and lush, folksy language evoke traditions...the novel succeeds in bringing to life a slice of mountain life..."
-Publisher's Weekly
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