The Great Tree

By Susanna Tamaro

The Great Tree is an enchanting new fable for children and adults about a 300 year old tree, whose life is saved in a joint rescue operation by a squirrel and a miracle.
A tiny but spirited seed lands in a clearing in the forest, implants itself in the earth and sprouts into a beautiful and eventually enormous and long lived tree. There is much gossip and jealousy among its neighbours, but nonetheless, its life is blessed: lovers lie beneath it, squirrels and birds line up to make their homes in its branches. , 300 years of seasons and human “progress” quickly speed by. One day however, the tree falls into a deep slumber. A group of men chop down the tree and take it to St Peter’s Square to be decorated for Christmas at the Vatican. An angry and enterprising squirrel wakes up in the city and does not appreciate the change in scenery. Asking information from the pigeons, he finds a way to speak directly with the big bosses: the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the Head Rabbi…reunited in San Marco to pray for a miracle.
He pleads with them to save the tree’s life…and he may even be successful.
A witty and joyful ode to nature and to man’s disposure to change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: VandA edizioni
• Release date: Dec 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9788898475889

Susanna Tamaro

Susanna Tamaro (Trieste, 1957) ha studiato al Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, diplomandosi in regia. È una delle scrittrici italiane più conosciute e amate in tutto il mondo. Ha pubblicato romanzi per adulti di straordinario successo di pubblico: La testa fra le nuvole (1989), Per voce sola (1991), Va' dove ti porta il cuore (1994), Anima Mundi (1997), Cara Mathilda (2001), Rispondimi (2001), Fuori (2003), Ascolta la mia voce (2006), Baita dei pini (2007), Luisito (2008). A questi si affiancano anche delle narrazioni per ragazzi: Cuore di ciccia (1992), Il cerchio magico (1994), Tobia e l'angelo (1998), Papirofobia (2000), Il grande albero (2009). E dei saggi: Verso casa (1999), Più fuoco più vento (2002), Ogni parola è un seme (2005), L’isola che c’è. Il nostro tempo, l'Italia, i nostri figli (Edizioni Lindau, 2011). A gennaio 2013 è uscito Ogni angelo è tremendo(Bompiani).

Book preview

The Great Tree is an enchanting new fable for children and adults about a 300 year old tree, whose life is saved in a joint rescue operation by a squirrel and a miracle.

A tiny but spirited seed lands in a clearing in the forest, implants itself in the earth and sprouts into a beautiful and eventually enormous and long lived tree. There is much gossip and jealousy among its neighbours, but nonetheless, its life is blessed: lovers lie beneath it, squirrels and birds line up to make their homes in its branches. , 300 years of seasons and human progress quickly speed by. One day however, the tree falls into a deep slumber. A group of men chop down the tree and take it to St Peter’s Square to be decorated for Christmas at the Vatican. An angry and enterprising squirrel wakes up in the city and does not appreciate the change in scenery. Asking information from the pigeons, he finds a way to speak directly with the big bosses: the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the Head Rabbi…reunited in San Marco to pray for a miracle.

He pleads with them to save the tree’s life…and he may even be successful.

A witty and joyful ode to nature and to man’s disposure to change.

Susanna Tamaro (Trieste, Italy, 1957). She attended the Experimental Center of Cinematography, from which she graduated in Film Direction. She is one of the best known and loved Italian writers worldwide. She has published novels for adults of extraordinary success. In 1989 she published her debut novel, Head in the Clouds, which won the Elsa Morante Opera Prima Prize. In 1991 For Solo Voice was published to critical success, followed by the childrens book Chubby Heart. Two years later, she wrote the best-selling Follow Your Heart (1994) which became the most commercially successful Italian book of the century, selling over 15 million copies in 40 countries, and from which Cristina Comencini produced a film. In the same year she also wrote the children’s book The Magic Circle and in 1997, she wrote Anima Mundi, followed by Dear Mathilde, an imaginary correspondence with a friend living in Africa. The next year, she wrote a story collection about the difficulties of the immigrant experience, called Outsiders and in 2005 a collection of essays entitled Every Word is a Seed. In 2007, she wrote Listen to my Voice, in which Marta, the young protagonist of Follow Your Heart, returns home after her grandmother’s painful death from Alzheimer. In 2007, she wrote Luisito, the novels that followed are The Big Tree (2009), Forever (2011). Her last book, Every Angel is Terrifying, was published in 2013.

V

ANDINI

© Susanna Tamaro

All rights reserved

Original title: Il grande albero

Published in Italy by Salani, 2009 and Giunti, 2012

© VandA.ePublishing 2013

Via Cenisio, 16 - 20154 Milano (Italy)

ISBN 978-889847-588-9

First digital edition: December 2013

Traslation by Vicky Satlow 

Ebook Design and Production: eBookFarm

Cover: Network Comunicazione

www.vandaepublishing.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system or transmitted

in any form or by any means,

including microfilm or photostatic copies.

I

This story begins long, long ago, when a tiny seed first broke away from its pine cone which was hanging precariously from a tree branch. After hovering for a brief moment in the air, the seed then glided in boundless flight through the boundless horizon, to the ground.

It was a late spring morning, and a cold, brisk air blew in from the still, snow-covered peaks. The brooks babbled downstream swollen from the winter’s thaw.

At dawn, the birds sang, an orchestra of the most unique and exquisite sounds.

Robins, Goldfinches, Snowbirds, Redpolls, and Bullfinches, each vied for the role of lead vocal.

Soon, the air would be teeming with insects; it was indeed time to search for a partner as well as begin to define an area suitable for a family’s future.

The day would bring frenzied bouts of flight through the pastures, amidst the leaves and lichens. The youngest of couples would be questioning themselves: would this branch do? Is it long enough? Should we use that thread of wool, or those strands of hair tangled in the brush?

Building a house for the first time was certain to bring about a great deal of anxiety. Will the eggs be warm enough here? Will there be enough room for the babies to grow? What if there are more than we expected?

Those couples more experienced in such matters had a calmer approach to such concerns.

You mustn’t be afraid, they would say, while deftly weaving together a mass of moss and branches. Believe in yourself!, Follow your heart.

In a week’s time, there would be no more leafy branches or bushes free to shelter even a cosy, small ball of a nest.

Some were small and round, bound by fuzzy moss and lined with soft wool. Others were bigger, woven only by twigs. And some, a mass of lichen, dried leaves, and branches which hung from the trees like winter stockings.

Each nest however was constructed according to the nature of the new nestling’s needs. The walls were both high and thick; they would keep the nest warm throughout the still very cold nights, endure the wear and tear of the most enterprising chicks, as well as shield them from their predators, thus keeping them out of harm’s way.

A beautiful day would bring about frenzied and busy nest-building, followed by the gentle quiet of a forest in full-brood.

And while males went about in search of food for their partners, fierce rains showered the forest for what would be days to come. Wet drops fell from the heavens and lashed against the trees and meadows, soaking the tree trunks and nourishing the soil, as the seeds began to swell, waiting patiently for their moment to sprout forth from the earth. After the rains, the sun returned once again, and the seeds, wrapped up tightly in their shells as if fastened in by a very tight corset, burst open.

Even our tiny seed opened, anchoring itself into the soil with its fragile little roots, yet giving way to a delicate bud moving upwards in search of the sun.

The forest was celebrating a season of new birth.

The fledglings, nestled