Posts by owen_thomas:
The Lion Trees
March 9th, 2015What if survival required you to unlearn who you are? How far would you fall to save yourself? Sometimes happiness is a long way down.
The Johns family is unraveling. Hollis, a retired Ohio banker, isolates himself in esoteric hobbies and a dangerous flirtation with a colleague’s daughter. Susan, his wife of forty years, risks everything for a second chance at who she might have become. David, their eldest, thrashes to stay afloat as his teaching career capsizes in a storm of accusations involving a missing student and the legacy of Christopher Columbus. And young Tilly, the black sheep, having traded literary promise for an improbable career as a Hollywood starlet, struggles to define herself amid salacious scandal, the demands of a powerful director, and the judgments of an uncompromising writer.
By turns comical and poignant, the Johns family is tumbling toward the discovery that sometimes you have to let go of your identity to find out who you are.
“[A] cerebral page turner…a powerful and promising debut.”—Kirkus Reviews
“In its structure and nature, [The Lion Trees] reminds me above all of John Updike’s wonderful Harry Rabbit novels and their ability to summarize the essence of change in American society across a decade at a time.” – BookIdeas.com
“[W]onderful… worth every minute…The Lion Trees does what so very few great novels can: it will take a lot out of you, but leave you with much more than you had when you began.”—Pacific Book Reviews.
“Thomas’ writing leaves you richer with emotions and contentment even before the ending arrives. If there is only one book that you are going to read this year, make it The Lion Trees.”—Moterwriter.com.
“ [The Lion Trees] reminds me of the reason I fell in love with reading in the first place and what a magical world the art of storytelling is….”—LiteraryLitter.com.
AWARDS:
Honorable Mention – London Book Festival
Honorable Mention – Southern California Book Festival
Honorable Mention – Great Midwestern Book Festival
Honorable Mention – Los Angeles Book Festival
Honorable Mention – Great Southeast Book Festival
Honorable Mention – Pacific Rim Book Festival
