The Crying Tree
- Winner of the Pacific NW Booksellers Award
- Chosen by the UK’s Richard and Judy Bookclub
- Shelf Awareness Top Ten
- Published in 11 languages
“Beautifully written, expertly crafted, forcefully rendered. Naseem Rakha lays bare all the ambiguities and nuances of our culture in a store that is compelling and deep. The Crying Tree is a story of forgiveness and redemption, but at its core it is a love story as well, and that is the most powerful story of all.” Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain
“A mesmerizing book – one any writer would deny and any reader would love.” jacquelyn Mitchard, author The Deep End of the Ocean
“For anyone who has ever wondered how forgiveness is possible, even when the pain is overwhelming, wonder no more. The Crying Tree takes you on a journey you won’t soon forget.” Sister Helen Prejean, author Dead Man Walking
“Naseem Rakha writes with both clarity and sympathy about one of the most mysterious and evasive of human impulses: forgiveness. The Crying Tree is a memorable and deeply humane novel.” Jon Clinch, author, Kings of the Earth
“Rakha has written a book that is almost impossible to put down. It is hauntingly beautiful, with wonderfully complex characters’ there are a few surprises in the story, but the point it not the mysteries of fact, but the mysteries of the heart.” Shelf Awareness, Marlyn Dahl
Literary Mama
“I was humbled by the transformative power of grace, and determined to answer two questions: how and why do some people forgive the unforgivable, and what toll does a system of justice based on vengeance take on our lives and society? From the quest came The Crying Tree.”
“It is very gratifying to know that there are readers out there who come away moved, more aware, sometimes changed, and feeling an urgency that they simply must talk to someone about the book – now.”
“The root meaning of justice is to restore balance. The justice system in the United States tries to do this by enacting a system of penalties for crimes. In reality though, these penalties do little, if anything, to bring a sense of balance back into a victim’s life. Crime subordinates its victims, makes them powerless.”