Solomon's Oak

by Jo-Ann Mapson

Overview

Solomon's Oak is the story of three people who have suffered losses that changed their lives forever: Glory Solomon, a young widow who struggles to hold on to her Central California farm; fourteen-year-old Juniper McGuire, who arrives on Glory's doorstep, pierced, tattooed, angry, and homeless; and Joseph Vigil, a former Albuquerque police officer now disabled and in constant pain, who comes to California to fulfill his dream of photographing the state's giant trees, including the two-hundred-year-old Solomon's Oak on Glory's farm. In this deeply felt, wise, and gritty novel, these three broken souls will find in each other an unexpected comfort, and a second chance to see the miracles of everyday life.

Jo-Ann Mapson is the author of nine previous novels, including the beloved Hank & Chloe, Blue Rodeo (CBS TV movie), and the Los Angeles Times bestsellers The Wilder Sisters and Bad Girl Creek, a book club favorite. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband and their five dogs. Visit her Web site at www.joannmapson.com.

Praise for Solomon's Oak:

"Dazzlingly written, indelibly moving, and deeply profound, Solomon's Oak is filled with grace, heart, and wisdom, and a rich cast of real characters...Truly a gem."-Caroline Leavitt

"One chapter into Solomon's Oak, I surrendered to Glory Solomon's hope and her collection of restless hearts, and my world simply disappeared."-Jacquelyn Mitchard

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781408817711
Publisher:	Bloomsbury UK
Publication date:	05/28/2011
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Jo-Ann Mapson is the author of ten novels, including the Los Angeles Times bestsellers The Wilder Sisters and Bad Girl Creek, a book club favorite.

Emily Durante has been narrating audiobooks for over ten years and is also an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning audiobook director. She has been acting since the age of seven and has performed in a number of stage productions at the professional, collegiate, and regional levels.

Editorial Reviews

Mapson’s (Hank & Chloe) latest is an emotionally genuine if predictable story of three lonely, damaged people who find solace in one another. A year after the untimely death of her husband, Dan, Glory Solomon is adrift, in financial trouble, and unable to find much meaning in a world without her mate. But when she opens a wedding chapel on her historic California ranch (known for its ancient oak tree), she attracts a variety of couples in search of unconventional nuptials--and two lost souls. Juniper McGuire, an angry teenage girl, is still reeling from the tragedy that put her into the foster care system. And a former crime scene photographer, Joseph Vigil, suffers chronic pain from an on-the-job accident. Together, the three grievers form a tentative support system that could--if they’ll let it--be called love. As in her previous novels, Mapson seems most at ease describing the relationship between human and animal--especially dogs and horses--and in rendering the Western landscape. Her facility with dialogue, however, is less impressive, but most readers will be too involved in the sweep of loss and recovery to stumble for long over awkward talk. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

Three people aching with loss piece together new lives in Mapson's gorgeous new novel. Dazzlingly written, indelibly moving and deeply profound, Solomon's Oak is filled with grace, heart, and wisdom, and a rich cast of indelibly real characters, right down to the dogs. It's sometimes a cliché to call a book the author's absolute best, but this one is truly a gem.” —Caroline Leavitt, author of Girls in Trouble and Pictures of You

“In Solomon's Oak, we see how some things—like massive oaks, and unshakeable love—can stand the test of time. I love the way Jo-Ann Mapson writes about family—how the roots we put down are the ones that ultimately hold us together. Actually, let me correct myself: I just love the way Jo-Ann Mapson writes, period.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of House Rules

“How does Jo-Ann Mapson do it? She makes us look at people we'd rather not see—the abandoned, the broken, the lost—and then makes us cry for them and care for them, rejoice and hope for them. One chapter into Solomon's Oak, I surrendered to Glory Solomon's hope and her collection of restless hearts, and my world simply disappeared.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard

From the Publisher

Mapson's quirky, character-driven novels (The Owl & Moon Café, 2006, etc.) explore loneliness under the big skies of the West, and this effort is no exception as a young widow rebuilds her life on her Central California farm.

Though Glory Solomon's husband died almost a year ago, she still sits in the closet with his clothes and cries. At least she has the animals to keep her going: goats and chickens, abandoned horses and two rescue dogs she is training for adoption. To help make ends meet she is using the farm as a wedding venue—her late husband Dan built a chapel on the property, which also boasts Solomon's Oak, an ancient white oak that draws tourists and botanists from all over. Coupled with Glory's cooking skills, the whole wedding thing just may save her from working another day at Target. And then along comes Juniper McGuire, a 14-year-old foster kid Glory hesitantly agrees to take in. She and Dan used to foster-parent boys, and under Dan's gentle tutelage they became kind young men, but Glory's not sure she can handle Juniper, an angry girl with facial piercings and a bluebird tattooed on her neck. But then a kind of fate intervenes as she discovers who Juniper is: Juniper's older sister Casey was famously abducted four years earlier while walking her new dog—a rescue Glory herself gave the family and who made its way back to Glory's farm the day of the kidnapping. When Juniper meets Cadillac again, the two become inseparable, and Glory thinks this relationship may save the girl from her own destruction. Despite school trouble with Juniper, Glory's life is slowly improving—the chapel is getting more bookings and she meets Joseph Vigil, a former cop (living with chronic pain from a shooting that took his partner) who came to photograph Solomon's Oak and has stuck around to help tutor Juniper. Mapson's three damaged souls, and the ghosts in their lives, are able to find in each other just the thing to make life worth living.

A tender portrayal of those left behind in the wake of tragedy.

Kirkus Reviews