South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Siblings come of age into world of revenge, violence
’A Crooked Tree’ By Una Mannion. Harper, 320 pages, $27.99
Una Mannion’s perceptive debut “A Crooked Tree” pinpoints the exact moment when 15-year-old narrator Libby Gallagher’s family unravels beyond repair. It started when her father, an Irish immigrant, left his family to find work in New York and then died. But the defining moment begins at night on a rural road near Valley Forge, Pa., in the early 1980s.
Libby and her four siblings are arguing during the long drive home on the last day of school, infuriating their overworked and tired mother, Faye, as they talk about their father, Faye’s secret boyfriend and their summer plans. When 12-year-old Ellen demands to go to art camp, Faye orders her out of the car, leaving her on a deserted road to walk five miles home.
Libby and the others are powerless to stop their mother, who retreats to her bedroom when the family arrives home. Ellen finally comes home, dirty and smeared with blood, claiming she was almost molested by a “creepy” man who had picked her up hitchhiking.
The five Gallagher children are afraid to tell the police, for fear the authorities will separate them. And they can’t tell their mother what happened because they know she will only get mad but do nothing. The Gallaghers are plunged into a world of violence and revenge when a shady friend tries to organize other teenagers to find the man and beat him.
“A Crooked Tree” is a coming-of-age tale for each of the children, from
Marie, 18, who’s about to leave for college, to Beatrice, age 7, whom
the others believe was fathered by Faye’s mysterious boyfriend.
The sweet scenes of family life, such as a birthday celebration at an Amish restaurant, give the family a respite from the sense of terror permeating the plot as the siblings navigate feelings and fears they don’t yet understand. The nearby woods offer the kids, especially Libby, refuge and comfort away from ineffectual adults.