The Willow Tree

About the Book

Southern and Black Native American-descended Kai Harjo proposes marriage to his red-haired Westerner girlfriend Elena, a runaway from the foster home system who has sought refuge in the fast lane of Atlanta.Elena loves Kai, but does not want to leave Atlanta to live in the rural south Georgia of the 1980s.

Kai,raised with his older sister Tanika by their loving grandmother Niabi in a primative Native American household along the Cherokee Trail in North Carolina, carries emotional trauma from his mother Mina, deserting him at birth and his father chiding him that Mina did not want him.

Meanwhile, their long-lost mother Mina, searches for her children she left behind to escape their brutish father and the confines of teenage motherhood, intuitively knowing that her children have yearned for her as well.

In The Willow Tree, readers discover how the willow sets a steadfast example in overcoming life’s challenging ordeals.

"A moving tale of loss and redemption -- the writing is thoughtful and the characters deep"--Kirkus Discoveries

About the Author