The Trees: A Novel

Written by Percival Everett

Narrated by Bill Andrew Quinn

An uncanny literary thriller addressing the painful legacy of lynching in the US, by the author of Telephone

Percival Everett's The Trees is a must-listen that opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, Mississippi. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist white townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.

The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution, but soon discover that eerily similar murders are taking place all over the country. Something truly strange is afoot. As the bodies pile up, the MBI detectives seek answers from a local root doctor who has been documenting every lynching in the country for years, uncovering a history that refuses to be buried. In this bold, provocative book, Everett takes direct aim at racism and police violence. The Trees is an enormously powerful novel of lasting importance from an author with his finger on America's pulse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781666195347

Percival Everett

Percival Everett is the author of over thirty books, including So Much Blue, Telephone, Dr No and The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His novel Erasure has now been adapted into the major film American Fiction. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for The Trees

[Jeanne Acuña · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think this one will stay with me for quite some time. Reminiscent of a Tarantino style movie about revenge/ retribution with an ever-present sense of absurd humor. America has a lot of buried/untold history to atone for

[njideka wiggins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Percival gives us his take on the ghosts of Morrison’s 7 days unleashing overdue revenge on the ghosts of money Mississippi ‘s most notorious and one of America’s most infamous perpetrators of anti-black terrorism in this satirical , detective noir masterpiece— and I’m HERE for it! A must read and discuss!

[AngieRay · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great book, but the reader annoyed me at times. For a book with characters as diverse as this one (children to seniors, male and female, Southerners and “Yankees”, black and white) this reader’s lack of range caused me to be confused several times throughout.

[kyndra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story was very interesting! I like that there was a bit of history and mystery rolled into one story. I enjoyed the acknowledgement of the ones that has been lost to some sort of violence, whether it had been through lynching or through gun violence. I highly enjoyed the book!!

[Karna Smith Bosman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The story was a mix of historical fact and fiction. The narrator had many characters to navigate and did so very well. Thought-provoking.

[FT Kinard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Content - presentation of atrocities of lynching; 105 year old character’s life work and her desire to seek justice

[Cindy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very satisfying listen. I loved the tone and the pace of this book. A definite must listen.

[Emma Johns · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The narrator was very good, they did distinct voices for each character

[Sharon Traylor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved this. The narrator was excellent!! I would recommend this book for sure

[AnnaGavrila · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A strong 4-star read two-thirds of the way through, but the ending was unsatisfying.