In a Temple of Trees by Suzanne Hudson

by Suzanne Hudson

Cecil Durgin, a twelve-year-old African-American orphan, witnesses the perverse buildup to a brutal murder at an exclusive hunting camp in 1958. Decades later, the shame and guilt are still haunting him when fissures start forming in the lives of several characters unwittingly connected by a young woman’s body buried deep in the West Alabama woods. Thirty years of pressure and bitterness ignite an unstoppable chain reaction leading back to the night of the murder—and the truth.In a Temple of Trees is the story of secrets and their devastating aftermath on the powerful and the meek, husbands and wives, the living and the dead.

Hardcover

First published September 19, 2003

About the author

Suzanne Hudson is the author of two literary novels, In a Temple of Trees and In the Dark of the Moon. Her short fiction has been anthologized in almost a dozen books, including Stories from the Blue Moon Café and The Shoe Burnin’: Stories of Southern Soul. Her short story collection Opposable Thumbs was a finalist for a John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her latest work of short stories, All the Way to Memphis, brings characters from the South to life in a way any reader will know and love. She lives with her husband, author Joe Formichella, near Fairhope, Alabama.

Reviews

[Dayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are about a dozen books out there that I wish I had written. The Stranger by Albert Camus, William Gay's The Long Home, Larry Brown's Facing the Music, Tom Franklin's Poachers, among others. All of Cormac McCarthy's alien fiction-alien in that a flesh and bone man could not have written it. Flannery O'Connor, Lewis Nordan, Katherine Anne Porter, Tobias Wolff, Rick Bragg, Harry Crews, Raymond Carver, Tim Gautreaux, are other writers that I envy. I wish I had been the person writing the first draft of a number of good books.

But now I have one more author, one more prose artist to wish I had breathed her words into being. Before her, the words were not. Because of her, the words are. That simple. That amazing. In a Temple of Trees is one of the kindest and harshest of novels I've ever read. It is a triple shot of justice, faith, and violence. Its pages shook me when I read them.

What bothers me the most-and I have a feeling that you will hear more about this-is that an awful lot of the story is utterly true to actual events, the murder of a young mother of a brood of kids.
Incredible reading. I highly recommend this novel and Suzanne Hudson's other work, Opposable Thumbs, as well.

--Dayne Sherman, author of Welcome to the Fallen Paradise: A Novel and Zion: A Novel (coming soon)

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very vulgar, but has a good message. Secrets keep us sick. Many parts of this story made me cringe, especially the illustrative descriptions of terrible sex acts and beatings. Worth reading if you don't have a problem with lots of profanity and lots of uncomfortable scenes of prostitution, racial hate, and pure ignorance.

[Gail Mchugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book because I could not seem to like any of the characters. I found I could not empathize with or have any feeling but contempt for any of these people. The leading characters were despicable. The protagonist was not much better. Sorry!!

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happened to Honey???

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this, though it was often tough to read. I really hope she has other books to read!

[Melissa Delbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best Southern Gothic work EVAH!