The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree

Disguised by a name she found on a tombstone and accompanying a Vietnam vet she met in a graveyard,an unconventional young snake-handler who talks to the dead returns to the ghosts of her childhood home in 1967 Arkansas… Readers of Delia OwensBarbara KingsolverKelly Mustianand Quinn Connor will be captivated by this haunting Southern debut about found familyfolk magicthe long shadow of traumathe salvation of human connectionand the transcendent beauty of nature. Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travelssheΓÇÖs wandered throughout the Southescaping a mental hospital in Alabamaworking for a Louisiana circusand dancing at a hoochy-kootch in Texas. Now for the first time in a decadesheΓÇÖs allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmotherΓÇÖs Arkansas farmhousea place hallowed in her memory. She intends only to visit briefly ΓÇô to pay respects to her buried loved ones and leave. But a chance meeting with a haunted young Vietnam vet reconnects her with the remnants of a family she thought long goneand their union becomes a catalyst for change and salvation. An abused woman and her daughters develop the courage to fight backa ghost finds the path away from lifeand a sanctimonious predator becomes the prey. In the processGenevieve must choose between her longing for meaningful connection after years as an outsider and her equally excruciating impulse to run. Written by a naturalist and set on the land where her family roots stretch back two centuriesThe Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is a haunting story about letting go and the things we leave behindthe power of namesand the ties that bind. It is both harrowing and triumphanta visceral Southern debut as otherworldly and beautiful as it is unflinching and wry. *A Publishers Marketplace BUZZ BOOKS Selection*