Tess Evans

The Memory Tree is the story of a family shattered by the unexpected death of wife and mother, Paulina. Spanning a period of almost 40 years the novel reveals a family fractured by grief, devastated by tragedy and longing for freedom from the losses that torment them. Tess Evans explores the everyday, and life changing, moments that bind the Rodriguez family in joy and sorrow, with compassion and tenderness.

The narrative moves between the past and present revealing the changes wrought to the family in the aftermath of Paulina’s sudden passing. Hal is broken by the loss of his wife and while he rallies briefly with the help of housekeeper, Mrs Mac and lay preacher Godown Moses, he slowly slips into a cyclical fugue of depression and mania. Zav (Xavier) and Sealie (Selina) witness their mothers death but it is the aftermath that changes who they are. Hal pulls away from Zav in a misguided attempt to ‘raise a man’, seeding bitterness and resentment. Sealie’s good nature protects her from her father’s developing eccentricities but traps her in the role as first her father’s, and then her brother’s, carer.
The Memory Tree has an unique narrator whose identity is not confirmed until late in the novel. I thought this added a particular poignancy to the story and provided an unusual twist. The third person point of view allows the reader to explore events from multiple perspectives, providing insight into Hal’s distorted thinking, Sealie’s self-sacrificing anxiety and Zav’s simmering anger. Evan’s protagonists are complex characters shaped by both nature and nurture. They provoke both sympathy and frustration, but are intriguing precisely because they are so contradictory.
The story of the past is obviously building to a pivotal event that explains the issues the family is facing in the present. It is difficult to say much more that that without spoiling the plot. The tension simmers quietly throughout the novel, so you know something is coming, but at times the story seems to meander aimlessly until it is pulled sharply together at its denouement.

Wonderfully written, there is much to admire about this literary family drama. The Memory Tree is an insightful novel that examines the strength and fragility of familial relationships, the devastation of mental illness and the grace of forgiveness.… (más)