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What the Trees Remember: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 21 Jul 26Deeply researched and perfect for fans of Jayne Anne Phillips’s Night Watch, this action-packed coming-of-age tale, set in post–Civil War Appalachia, is part suspenseful mystery, part incisive examination of this nation’s history of racial violence.
Dora Minor, a quirky and fiercely courageous girl, grows up in a remote Virginia mountain community in a family of outliers, thanks to their Quaker beliefs that all people are born equal. After her mother’s death, her indomitable, pipe-smoking grandmother Alma—a revolutionary in her own right—becomes her primary caregiver and protector. With a fierce moral compass, Alma helps shape Dora’s worldview and guides her to question the status quo.
When Dora’s father partners with formerly enslaved Ginny Dudley to open a school for Black children in a place where none would otherwise exist, it sparks a violent backlash. After her father’s death and then a lynching, Dora, with Alma at her side, are forced to look at their community in a new light. Alongside Ginny’s husband Randolph and her closest friend Watcher James, a preacher guided by Nature spirits, Dora confronts hard truths about her neighbors, her father’s death, and, finally, the mysteries of her mother’s life—all of which ultimately leads to healing.
A post–Civil War novel that opens just as Reconstruction is falling apart, What the Trees Remembered depicts a time of extreme social unrest and the birth of the Jim Crow era as experienced by strong women constrained by the limitations of the time they live in. Through the devastating loss of loved ones, the destruction of the comfortable life they’ve known, and Nature’s wrath, Dora and Alma strive to rise above their trials by drawing strength from the natural world and never losing faith in themselves.
Dora Minor, a quirky and fiercely courageous girl, grows up in a remote Virginia mountain community in a family of outliers, thanks to their Quaker beliefs that all people are born equal. After her mother’s death, her indomitable, pipe-smoking grandmother Alma—a revolutionary in her own right—becomes her primary caregiver and protector. With a fierce moral compass, Alma helps shape Dora’s worldview and guides her to question the status quo.
When Dora’s father partners with formerly enslaved Ginny Dudley to open a school for Black children in a place where none would otherwise exist, it sparks a violent backlash. After her father’s death and then a lynching, Dora, with Alma at her side, are forced to look at their community in a new light. Alongside Ginny’s husband Randolph and her closest friend Watcher James, a preacher guided by Nature spirits, Dora confronts hard truths about her neighbors, her father’s death, and, finally, the mysteries of her mother’s life—all of which ultimately leads to healing.
A post–Civil War novel that opens just as Reconstruction is falling apart, What the Trees Remembered depicts a time of extreme social unrest and the birth of the Jim Crow era as experienced by strong women constrained by the limitations of the time they live in. Through the devastating loss of loved ones, the destruction of the comfortable life they’ve known, and Nature’s wrath, Dora and Alma strive to rise above their trials by drawing strength from the natural world and never losing faith in themselves.
256 pages, Paperback
Expected publication July 21, 2026
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About the author
Abigail Cutter
3 books50 followersAbigail Cutter started out as an artist/printmaker with a MFA from George Washington University, but during a long stint at the National Endowment for the Humanities, she developed a deep love of American history. She married a man who came with 200 acres and an 18th century farmhouse in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The farmhouse came with a very active ghost that inspired this book. She currently lives at both the farm and in the small town of Waterford, VA with her husband, a black labrador named Emma, and a cat that bites named Barnibi.
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Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 Stars: I really loved this historical fiction piece by Abigail Cutter. The story follows Dora across two very different stages of her life: her younger years spent navigating the deep-seated prejudices of the post-Civil War era, and her perspective now as an elderly woman.
Dora is a wonderful character—she firmly believes in racial equality and the right to education, even in her small rural town. While her family actively supports the community by teaching and building friendships across racial lines, the rest of the town isn't so progressive. The book doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of that time, showing the harassment and extreme violence faced by anyone who dared to challenge the status quo.
Cutter has done her research and beautifully weaves it into this novel.
Dora is a wonderful character—she firmly believes in racial equality and the right to education, even in her small rural town. While her family actively supports the community by teaching and building friendships across racial lines, the rest of the town isn't so progressive. The book doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of that time, showing the harassment and extreme violence faced by anyone who dared to challenge the status quo.
Cutter has done her research and beautifully weaves it into this novel.
Displaying 1 of 1 review