Review 192: A Crooked Tree

A Crooked Tree by Una Mannion
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having a string of 4 star reads lately. 

A summer to remember. This book takes us into the lives of Libby Gallagher and her four other siblings, struggling after the death of their father and mentally absent mother. It’s the last day of school with all of them stuffed into the car heading home. The mother, Faye, and one of the younger sisters Ellen are arguing and about art camp. Having enough Faye leaves Ellen by the side of the road, miles from home with darkness coming on.

As a middle child you can see why Libby took the role of family worrier. She is the focal point of the book, the viewpoint, and we see her world that starts here, at the beginning of summer. While their dad and mom were divorced before he died, they are morning him a year or so later. The mother has a not-so-secret affair going on with Bill, which none of them have met except the youngest as that’s his daughter. The oldest kid, Marie is the mother figure but she’s about to turn 18 and head out on her own. The only boy, slightly older than Libby has been secluding himself in his room like their mother. It’s a fractured family and Libby feels like its on her to take care of them.

When Ellen returns to the mountain where they live, battered up from jumping out of a car, the girls take on the role of trying to fix this. Libby doesn’t want adults involved, she keeps things from people, fearful of the reactions and results. She trusts her best friend, but when it looks like she broke their confidence Libby shuns her and their friendship becomes tenuous.

The story has momentum, and you feel the worry thick on the pages. This summer changes the family. The book is set in the early 1980s and you do get that setting, with the bands mentioned, and other cultural backdrops, as well as no cell phones to be in constant contact with each other. It was a different time.

The book isn’t an intense thriller or much of a mystery, instead it is about teens grappling with the family they have, and specifically one teen, adjusting to the world that she inhabits.

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.