The Sun Climbs the Trees
The Sun Climbs the Trees
Emily knows she’s dying, and has begun reliving her life through music, the songs that have defined her fifty-seven years. Each melody her husband Ray plays returns her to a different chapter of her life — a person, a place, a version of herself she thought was lost to time. When she asks for songs from the year they met, Ray knows where she’s going: back to the beginning, when he was leading a threadbare existence, struggling with demons and doubt, and she was living a lie, having buried herself in someone else's idea of who she should be.
One year. A crossroads that marked the difference between what might have been and what came to be.
As the Sun Climbs the Trees is told in two voices across two timelines: the quiet acceptance of an increasingly finite present and the vivid reliving of a past still alive with infinite possibility. It’s about the many shapes love takes and the loneliness of getting close to someone who only knows distance.
It’s about the moments that, in the end, outlive us all.
Fiction Titles
"There's nothing better than Tom Jones," Rusty's mother informs her young son. "He represents the very best life has to offer."
And thus the crooner becomes symbolic of uninspired fare, that which is as inoffensive as it is unoriginal: white walls, khaki pants.
Now twenty-three, Rusty is knee-deep in mediocrity. A prisoner marking time on a life sentence of nine-to-five, he spends his days pandering to an overbearing boss with an unfavorable likeness to Steve Buscemi. Life hasn't shaped up to be all Rusty thought it'd be; he hasn't shaped up to be all he thought he'd be.
And so, flanked by a sideshow of accomplices, he plunges headlong into each weekend. When not even Grace, her blue-green eyes alive with hope, can slow the unrelenting descent, Rusty authors a rebellion that sees him abandon personal hygiene and sully his boss's sister in the hope of being laid off. Challenging every principle espoused by corporate America, Rusty finds that getting hired is easier than getting fired.
The Reader’s Listening guide
The Music of The Sun Climbs the Trees
Music is a continuous thread woven into The Sun Climbs the Trees. Beyond serving as soundtrack or a literary device, it’s part of the novel’s DNA. It’s a primary character.
Artists, albums, and songs are referenced throughout the text. This playlist offers a primer for anyone who cares to dig deeper into the music within the book. It largely follows the order in which references appear in the novel.
Behind the keys
Meet the Author