harrys treesReaders who likes eccentric characters and strange twists of fate will love Harry’s Trees. 

Oriana and Amanda live near the woods in the Endless Mountains area of Pennsylvania. Life is ordinary until Amanda’s perfect husband and Oriana’s perfect father dies.

Dean dies sprawled out like a snow angel in a snowy field. His buddy, Ronnie, is convinced there are feather impressions in the snow. He believes Dean has become some sort of winged creature–a red-tailed hawk–who can interact with the townspeople after his death.

But it’s more than feathers that take on a larger significance. The lottery ticket Harry bought is piece of bad magic, an unlucky talisman.

Amanda Jeffers, Oriana’s mother, does not believe in miracles, fairy tales, or magic but nonetheless she shelters Harry. She lets him rent out her tree house because they are in the same club–both having survived a year after a spouse’s death.

Amanda thinks Harry is safe–that he is a “bland, levelheaded bureaucrat who understood rules.” Little does she know that Harry is the opposite of what she thinks.

Harry is just like the “grum” in the story Oriana loves from Olive Perkins’ library. He is the catalyst that will change everyone perspective; this is, if his brother, Wolf, does not catch up with him first.

Wolf is appropriately named because he is greedy and destructive–the villain of Harry’s childhood. His greed is the polar opposite of Harry’s altruism. Wolf is drawn to the only other character who is extremely voracious–Stu Gipner, a real estate agent with no scruples.

Will Wolf and Stu bring destruction to the fairy tale world Harry and Oriana have constructed? Will Amanda, who is jaded and practical, believe in the fairy tale? Will Harry, who has always taken the safe road, be willing to take a risk?