Irene and Nate Stanley are living a quiet and contented life with their two children, Bliss and Shep, on their family farm in southern Illinois when Nate suddenly announces he's been offered a job as a deputy sheriff in Oregon. Irene fights her husband. She does not want to uproot her family and has deep misgivings about the move. Nevertheless, the family leaves, and they are just settling into their life in Oregon's high desert when the unthinkable happens. Fifteen-year-old Shep is shot and killed during an apparent robbery in their home. The murderer, a young mechanic with a history of assault, robbery, and drug-related offenses, is caught and sentenced to death.

S hep's murder sends the Stanley family into a tailspin, with each member attempting to cope with the tragedy in his or her own way. Irene's approach is to live, week after week, waiting for Daniel Robbin's execution and the justice she feels she and her family deserve. Those weeks turn into months and then years. Ultimately, faced with a growing sense that Robbin's death will not stop her pain, Irene takes the extraordinary and clandestine step of reaching out to her son's killer. The two forge an unlikely connection that remains a secret from her family and friends.

Years later, Irene receives the notice that she had craved for so long — Daniel Robbin has stopped his appeals and will be executed within a month. This announcement shakes the very core of the Stanley family. Irene, it turns out, isn't the only one with a shocking secret to hide. As the execution date nears, the Stanleys must face difficult truths and find a way to come to terms with the past.

Dramatic, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting, The Crying Tree is an unforgettable story of love and redemption, the unbreakable bonds of family, and the transformative power of forgiveness.

"This complex, layered story of a family's journey toward justice and forgiveness comes together through spellbinding storytelling. Deputy sheriff Nate Stanley calls home one day and announces he's accepted a deputy post in Oregon. His wife, Irene, resents having to uproot herself and their children, Shep and Bliss, from their small Illinois town, but Nate insists it's for the best. Once they've moved into their new home, Shep sets off to explore Oregon's outdoors, and things seem to be settling in nicely until one afternoon when Nate returns home to find his 15-year-old son beaten and shot in their kitchen. After Shep dies in Nate's arms, the family seeks vengeance against the young man, Daniel Joseph Robbin, accused of Shep's murder. In the 19 years between Shep's death and Daniel's legal execution, Bliss becomes all but a caretaker for her damaged parents, and a crisis pushes Irene toward the truth about what happened to Shep. Most of the big secret is fairly apparent early on, so it's a testament to Rakha's ability to create wonderfully realized characters that the narrative retains its tension to the end. (July)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"[A] beautiful and passionate novel... Highly recommended." Library Journal Reviews

A mother's extraordinary act of forgiveness nearly tears her family apart in a powerful debut novel that's perfect for reading groups that have adopted Jodi Picoult and Elizabeth Berg.

Nate Stanley thinks the move to Oregon will be great for his family, especially his fifteen-year-old son, Shep. His wife, Irene, has doubts, and her reservations prove eerily prescient when tragedy strikes and Shep is killed a little more than a year after they settle into their new home.

Irene battles with her grief and desire for vengeance until it nearly kills her, and then she decides she must forgive her son's killer if she is to have any life at all. She begins a secret correspondence with Daniel, the young man who awaits execution on death row for the murder of Shep. When Nate discovers the friendship that has developed over the years between Irene and Daniel, he is devastated and in an explosive confrontation with his wife, a shocking truth about the circumstances surrounding that fateful day is revealed. Stunned but still determined to find peace, Irene embarks on a soul-searching journey that takes her to places in her heart she never knew existed.

Naseem Rakha writes about ordinary people facing extraordinary odds with a grace and emotional depth that is sure to establish her as a new favorite of readers who love to immerse themselves in complex family relationships and identify with characters who are all too human.

Naseem Rakh is an award-winning broadcast journalist whose stories have been heard on NPR. She lives in Oregon's Willamette Valley.