A Crooked Tree: A Novel

Written by Una Mannion

Narrated by Sophie Amoss

A haunting, suspenseful literary debut that combines a classic coming of age story with a portrait of a fractured American family dealing with the fallout of one summer evening gone terribly wrong.

“The night we left Ellen on the road, we drove up the mountain in silence.”

It is the early 1980s and fifteen-year-old Libby is obsessed with The Field Guide to the Trees of North America, a gift her Irish immigrant father gave her before he died. She finds solace in “The Kingdom,” a stand of red oak and thick mountain laurel near her home in suburban Pennsylvania, where she can escape from her large and unruly family and share menthol cigarettes and lukewarm beers with her best friend.

One night, while driving home, Libby’s mother, exhausted and overwhelmed with the fighting in the backseat, pulls over and orders Libby’s little sister Ellen to walk home. What none of this family knows as they drive off leaving a twelve-year-old girl on the side of the road five miles from home with darkness closing in, is what will happen next.

A Crooked Tree is a surprising, indelible novel, both a poignant portrayal of an unmoored childhood giving way to adolescence, and a gripping tale about the unexpected reverberations of one rash act.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063049888

Una Mannion

Una Mannion was born in Philadelphia and now lives in County Sligo, Ireland. She is the author of the novels A Crooked Tree and Tell Me What I Am.

Reviews for A Crooked Tree

[icolford · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In her evocative and suspenseful debut novel, A Crooked Tree, Una Mannion draws the reader into the fractured family life of 15-year-old Libby Gallagher, a girl on the threshold of adulthood who is quickly discovering that grown-ups are not always reliable and cannot always be trusted. The setting is Pennsylvania in the early 1980s—a community called Valley Forge located in the rural outskirts of Philadelphia. School is done, summer vacation is just around the corner, and Faye Gallagher is driving her five children home. When 12-year-old Ellen gets mouthy, Faye, reaching the end of her endurance, pulls the car over and orders Ellen out. Libby and her other siblings are horrified, but Ellen does what she’s told, and her mother drives off, leaving her daughter by the side of the road five miles from home. The incident is a catalyst that sets Mannion’s taut narrative into motion. Later that night Ellen makes it back, but not without scratches and bruises and a harrowing tale. Ellen’s brush with peril unleashes something lurid and menacing into the community that, by the story’s end, has left many people scarred. Mannion’s novel is intricate with emotional threads and connections. Faye’s husband, Libby’s father, has recently died, and the trauma of this loss factors into Libby’s fierce loyalty to her family and Faye’s erratic behaviour. Libby, trying to shield Ellen from invasive questioning and her family from outside interference, refuses to seek help. She won’t let anyone report Ellen’s experience to the police. She tries to limit knowledge of the incident to a small circle because she understands that her mother’s irresponsible act could have dire consequences should the authorities get wind of it. But secrets have a way of leaking out, and later that summer Libby finds that another reckless act has brought the danger straight into Valley Forge, almost to her doorstep. This is a novel that radiates nostalgia for simpler times. Libby longs for the innocence of childhood, for carefree afternoons spent with her best friend Sage, for the security of the family unit as it was before her parents separated. She misses her father with a visceral urgency that sometimes chokes her up. She knows her mother has let her down, but she can understand that Faye is struggling with demons of her own. A Crooked Tree is gripping and poignant, written with enormous empathy and a powerful sense of place. With her polished and satisfying debut novel, Una Mannion announces herself as a writer to watch.

[mutantpudding · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finding it hard to mentally categorize this book... its technically historical fiction, kinda coming of age, with thriller/mystery vibes.

Basically people are complicated, grieving is complicated, growing up is painful.

Content warning for CSA and sexual assault. Its kind of a heavy read tbh but its good and very atmospheric.

[ridgewaygirl · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Libby's big, messy Irish-American family is falling apart. Her Dad is dead, her mother spends her time, when she is home, in her room with the door closed. With her older siblings busy with their own lives, Libby feels the pressure to keep everything safe. One evening, during an argument, her mother kicks Libby's twelve-year-old sister out of the car a few miles from home. This event becomes a catalyst for larger changes to this family and especially to Libby, whose constant fear and vigilance are not necessarily good for her or anyone around her. This novel is set in suburban Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the summer of 1980, when parental supervision was negligible and the adults were far too busy destroying their own lives to worry about the children. Libby is an interesting character to follow as she gets so much wrong along the way. This is a coming-of-age story structured chronologically, with a lot of details of suburban America during that time. It doesn't cover any new ground or do anything differently than any of the many similar novels out there, but it's well-written and is an enjoyable book to read.

[edgoldberg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Crooked Tree is not a book in my general reading genres and I forget where I even heard of it. While it is a sad book, I really did enjoy it.Narrated by 15 year old Libby Gallagher, it basically describes her summer school break in rural Pennsylvania. Libby has four siblings: Marie, 18 years old who typically keeps the household together but who is moving to Philadelphia to work and attend college. Thomas, the next oldest is a loner for the most part and a nerd. Then comes Libby. Ellen is 12 and is the upstart of the family. She is artistic and tempermental and when she oversteps, her mom lets her out of the car miles from home. She hitchihikes homes but the driver wants more than a mere passenger. She jumps out of the moving car and is traumatized.Beatrice is the youngest and has a different father. She and their mother go off for weekends at a time, leaving the other children alone and providing no contact information.The other main protagont is Wilson McVey, a neer do well who seems to be the guardian angel of the Gallagher family.It is hard to explain the book other than saying it is Libby's recollection of that summer with flashbacks to her, her friend Sage, Wilson and the family. It is tender and sad and truly reflects the thoughts of that odd age, 15. The book takes place in the 1970s.

[vanessacw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A coming of age family drama set in the suburbs of Pennsylvania during the early 1980s. It begins with an argument in a car, resulting in disastrous consequences and opening up quite a few cans of worms within the neighbourhood.This is a slow burning story with some well drawn characters. The narrator is 15 year old Libby who I thought was particularly realistically described and scripted. Beautifully and evocatively written, it’s a tale of secrets, how they unravel and then affect those peoples around them. There is a certain amount of suspense and also a couple of dark and disturbing scenes, as well as some life affirming moments. It took me a little while to get into the flow of the writing, but once I did I enjoyed it. An engaging and thought provoking debut.

[brangwinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A dysfunctional family, a house in the woods, and children left to themselves, what could go wrong? Growing up in a neighborhood near Valley Forge PA, Libby’s mother forces her young sister out of the car one night to walk home. Ellen is picked up by a weird man who has no intentions of taking her home. Ellen escapes by opening the door and jumping out, but it unleashes a series of events in which a neighbor, an older boy from whom the kids try to stay away, comes to her rescue only to case more challenges. The story is fine, but the diverse set of characters is what makes it interesting. It is not just a teen coming of age story. Yes, there is neighborhood dram and conflict and romance, but Libby the main character and her 4 brothers and sisters have individual personalities. Winston, the weird hero, is shown to have learned from his past mistakes and is shown to be a true friend.