A consequence of getting older is current experiences inevitably get threaded to memories as Maybelline Emmons learns when she embarks on what she thinks will be a simple road trip to find an old friend that happens to be an old tree. Widowed, she doesn’t have many friends left. She gets way more than she bargained for. The easiest way out is just turn around and go back to her comfortable townhouse in Santa Barbara, sip her Pinot, and watch her hummingbirds. This was always enough before except it does seem kind of providential, and she is a nice person, and what should the check amount be? (Has she lost her mind?) Suddenly she has a 30-something ‘son’ (with a girlfriend who gets in her face about justice). Maybelline doesn’t know why they put all the ugly strip malls and box stores in the poorest part of town. She never even thought about it and why would she? What, the sheriff? Again? A man named, what? Tank? And what is Tamara and Terrence’s grandfather’s connection with the tree really about? (Based on actual American history and African Americans).

This poignant, passionate, yet hilarious story revolves around efforts to save an old-growth tree but things go off the rails in such a compelling way, it’s sure to keep you on the edge of your branch (likely laughing, so don’t fall off). Per Virginia Arthur’s two previous novels, Treed will curl the tendrils of your heart, blow your leaves off, and maybe, just maybe, motivate you to save something in your own backyard.