The Singing Trees

A Novel

De: Boo Walker

Narrado por: Cassandra Campbell

A young artist forges a path of self-discovery in an enriching novel about forgiving the past and embracing second chances, from the bestselling author of An Unfinished Story.

Maine, 1969. After losing her parents in a car accident, aspiring artist Annalisa Mancuso lives with her grandmother and their large Italian family in the stifling factory town of Payton Mills. Inspired by her mother, whose own artistic dreams disappeared in a damaged marriage, Annalisa is dedicated only to painting. Closed off to love, and driven as much by her innate talent as she is the disillusionment of her past, Annalisa just wants to come into her own.

The first step is leaving Payton Mills and everything it represents. The next, the inspiring opportunities in the city of Portland and a thriving New England art scene where Annalisa hopes to find her voice. But she meets Thomas, an Ivy League student whose attentions - and troubled family - upend her pursuits in ways she never imagined possible. As their relationship deepens, Annalisa must balance her dreams against an unexpected love. Until the unraveling of an unforgivable lie.

For Annalisa, opening herself up to life and to love is a risk. It might also be the chance she needs to finally become the person and the artist she’s meant to be.

©2021 Lemuel (Boo) Walker. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Walker’s (An Unfinished Story) beautifully written coming-of-age novel is set during the Vietnam War…Ideal for book groups and for readers who enjoyed Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six, Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Dance Away with Me, or Nicholas Sparks’s novels.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“A heartwarming read.”—Historical Novel Society

“The Singing Trees is a beautifully crafted coming-of-age story set in working class Maine during the seventies, a time of intense turmoil and transformation in America. It is a heartfelt, complex tale of chasing your dreams without forsaking your roots, and I was swept away by Boo Walker’s deft storytelling and incredibly complex characters. Soulful but also full of sharp dialog and humor, The Singing Trees is exactly the sort of book you get lost in then mourn when it is over.”—Suzanne Redfearn, #1 Amazon bestselling author of In an Instant

Awesome book

This was a sweet and captivating book. It had from the first couple of pages. The storyline touched my soul. Can’t put my finger on exactly what caught my interest I just know that I was able to sit and listen to the book for hours. It soothed and calmed me.

Love, Faith, Forgiveness

This was a beautifully written story of one girls journey finding true love. And all the emotions it takes to get there. Loving your family, forgiveness when someone wrongs you and having faith that god will see you through. While there were times you will want to be angry with Anna, you will quickly remember that this was a time before having instant information. Time was slower. She was young snd she made mistakes. Mistakes she learned from. Thank god for Thomas’ never ending love for her.

Many moments of frustration, yet…

Cassandra Campbell is a new favorite narrator for me. Without her narration, I am sure I would have stopped listening to The Singing Trees hours before this long book came to a close. She has a pleasant, easy-to-listen-to voice and she does a good enough job of differentiating her characters.

Singing Trees felt like a YA book — that wasn’t, exactly! It seemed like it was written by an author that was confused as to his audience and intent, therefore, I found it a weird mix of YA — kinda.

Singing Trees was predictable in many aspects — however, that would have been far more acceptable if protagonist, Anna Lisa had been portrayed, at least for the majority of the book, as a young woman somewhere in her late twenties or early thirties, working through the wounds of her upbringing. From that standpoint, recapitulations might have worked much better to have told the intended story.

As it was, she was supposed to be about 17-20 when most of the book’s plot played out — and most of the many chapters were winding on…and on…as we suffered through an about 18 year old’s actions, reactions, decisions, fears, dreams, endeavors and poor choices.

Of course, as we grow up all young women go through varying fits-&-starts of maturing, however, to base an entire, many hours long storyline on these relatively few spurts of maturing clarity enmeshed in the goo of wallowing dysfunction, did not make for a satisfying reading experience — at least, not for myself, rather, I found it to be largely hours of mental eye-rolling.

Singing Trees was well written in dialogue and description, and, there were some appealing characters and interesting subplots and locations. It was just too bad that the story’s all-encompassing main theme was compromised of hours and hours of frustrations and Life near-misses, misunderstandings, assumptions and galloping dysfunction on the part of the protagonist; that became old, fast, no matter the “excuses” woven into the plot from the beginning and then ongoing.

The narration and other aspects of the author, Boo Walker’s, craft kept me going to the end. I’d never listen to the entire thing again, and I would likely not choose another book by this author.

Story of love.

Loved it. Beautiful story of LOVE... family, misunderstandings, heartache second chances and forgiveness. Great narrative!

Best book I’ve read in years!

I loved this book. I listened to it vs reading it. Cassandra Campbell as the performer was simply amazing! I truly thought there were more than one performer. She did an amazing job consistently changing the voices of each character some which had accents! Having listened to her perform the Jana De Leon Fortune series books, I was already a big fan!
The story had me feeling things and talking to the characters as if they were there! Lol! Every character had a story and they were all interesting! I enjoyed finding out what happened to the main characters and their relationships with each other! I’m going to read and/or listen to more of this author’s books!!! Boo Walker! Fortunately a memorable name! Thank you for such a great book!!

Believe in love again!

I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book, but it was a very sweet surprise! It was more than just a typical love story, but it was about the power of love that reaches across generations, different types of love other than romantic, And how love makes it possible to do the impossible like forgive those who have hurt you deeply, and the ability to continue loving even when your heart has been shattered. I would definitely recommend this book for people who simply want to feel good!

Vibrant!

The Singing of Trees is a tale rich with life and deep emotion. A heartfelt thanks to the writer and narrator!

Great story

This is a beautiful story of love. It requires a box of tissues but is worth the tears. I greatly enjoyed this book.

A nice light read

Very cute story line and a good message about following your dreams. Plot twist was a bit predictable but still a nice follow through to a ends tied conclusion.

loved it

a great story about the heart and love...filled with twists and turns. Made you really think about what is important.