{"product_id":"when-the-tree-sings-9781589881686","title":"When the Tree Sings","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Extraordinary . . . A modern classic.\"--\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Remarkable . . . A highly original and eloquent story.\"--\u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"The effect is haunting . . . bitter and beautiful.\"--\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet in an impoverished Greece at the cruel time of the German occupation during WWII, \u003ci\u003eWhen the Tree Sings \u003c\/i\u003eis a boy's eye view of war's terrible ways. The young narrator's parents are dead, his paternal home destroyed; he lives with his aged grandmother. With barely enough to survive on, they struggle to avoid death--and we, the readers, are given the life of the village, filled with its vivid characters: Flisvos, the narrator's one-eyed playmate; Lekas the Informer; Uncle Iasson, who is in love with Lekas's red-haired mistress; Dando, who dies of fright; a mysterious figure known as the puppeteer. Mundane horrors mix with terrible cruelty and occasional, hysterical, levity. Our starving narrator is offered a chestnut from the soldiers' fire--if he can hold it hot from the coals in his bare hand; a motorcycle engine runs to disguise the sounds of prisoners being tortured; an explosion kills all the fish in the bay and they wash up soaked in kerosene and inedible; the boys spend an afternoon plotting how to hang Grandmother's only drawers from the enemy flagpole; a kitten named November is trained to fly in a basket tied to a paper kite. The wonder of this novel is how engaging the world is to the boy and, so, to readers who accompany him through the pages of this \"modern classic.\" (\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eStratis Haviaras \u003c\/b\u003e(1935 -2020) was born in a village in the Peloponnese and grew up in Athens during WWII and the ensuing Greek Civil War. At thirty-two, he came to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he worked at Harvard University for forty years--twenty-six as the Curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room at the University. Founder of \u003ci\u003eThe Harvard Review\u003c\/i\u003e, Haviaras published in Greek and English. His translations of poems by Seamus Heaney appear in Greek and those of Constantine Cavafy in English. His two famous English-language novels, \u003ci\u003eWhen the Tree Sings\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Heroic Age\u003c\/i\u003e, portray the lives of children as they struggle to survive the cruelty of war and its aftermath. \u003ci\u003eWhen the Tree Sings\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the National Book Award and named an ALA Notable book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Paul Dry Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51890607554834,"sku":"9781589881686","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_63a15be6-2bb4-4429-8c88-f6657603307a.jpg?v=1768310664","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/when-the-tree-sings-9781589881686","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}