The Healing Tree

Author of the best selling books, Ginger Lily, Easter Lili, From Flying Fish to Kippers, and Who Killed the Lark?, Margaret Knight delivers yet another thoroughly readable and fast paced novel about interracial and inter-class love in the Barbados of the 1940s and 50s. Much of The Healing Tree is set against the factual backdrop of the murder of Myra Greenland in 1948, which filled many a column inch in the national newspaper and kept the Barbados rumour mill running for years. With her usual skill and unique style, Margaret Knight weaves her story of forbidden love through an always telling and often witty description of the morals and attitudes prevalent in Barbados at the time, adding enough drama and unexpected twists and turns to keep the reader guessing about the outcome. As the story moves towards its conclusion in the 1980s, the full significance of the tree of the book's title becomes apparent. Knight's particular strengths are in capturing the social atmosphere of the period and creating fully fleshed out and believable characters. Like all Margaret Knight's books, The Healing Tree is an ideal read for quiet afternoons or evenings at home, or while relaxing on the beach.