When love may not be enough
Lily Phelps suspects her teenage granddaughter Angie has been abused. Lily is frantic to learn the truth, but Angie isn't talking. The only way Lily can break the silence is to confess her own secrets. She reveals her eerie way of coping with loneliness and death. She tells of the violent tragedy in her youth that affected the relationships with everyone she knows-especially her children. Lily shatters the illusion of a peaceful rural life married to a loving farmer by reliving moments of sheer terror. But Lily is determined to help Angie and bravely faces the past so she can save the present-and her granddaughter.
While Purple Trees centers on a distressed woman's struggles, it's a tribute to farm life in rural New England beginning in the 1960s. The story is largely about secrets, but Wong shows us many truths. One of the most touching is the ability of children to put the needs of others first.
