The Wishing Trees
A year after her death, Ian and his 10-year-old daughter, Mattie, are still reeling from the loss of wife and mother, Kate, who succumbed after a long, drawn-out battle with cancer. On Ian’s birthday, he opens the letter Kate gave him right before she died. The family had planned a trip to Asia to commemorate Ian and Kate’s fifteenth wedding anniversary, and Kate’s letter asks Ian to take their daughter on that trip. Ian takes Mattie on a winding journey through Japan, Nepal, India, and Thailand, showing her everything they meant to see with Kate at their side. As they struggle through their travel, Ian tells Mattie stories about her mother, Mattie sketches the landscapes, and the two tie paper wishes to trees as messages to Kate to help them come to terms with their grief. Shors’ fourth novel is a moving, emotional story about coping and coming to terms with loss. Anyone who has lost a loved one will relate to this poignant novel. --Hilary Hatton