The Doughnut Tree

by Catherine Knowles

Percy Taylor has been many things over the years…honest man, judge, farmer, and bootlegger. He's lost a wife and mother under mysterious circumstances, fought in the Spanish American War and raised a beautiful daughter. Now it's 1920, and he's getting married again, this time to a known madam where there will be blacks, a dog as ‘best friend,’ a homosexual male bridesmaid, and alcohol…all during prohibition!

Percy's lived most of his life in the small northern Alabama town of Taylorsville near Huntsville, taking people as he finds them. A friend to all, he looked past the color of a person's skin making him at odds with the KKK. During the reception he takes time to look back on his life, including fond memories of Miss Lily's crispy fried doughnuts, eaten under the branches of the old oak where a corpse once swung to save an innocent life.

Fictionalized from many actual events and characters drawn from the history and records of Huntsville, Alabama and the area of the Tennessee River where a town, Taylorsville, once existed, The Doughnut Tree recreates a most colorful era in the cotton mill town's history, when lawlessness and corruption were the norm, not the exception.

Genres: Fiction

335 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 2015

Reviews

[Heather Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky characters and bizarre plot lines loosely based on real places and historical figures. Readers familiar with the Huntsville area and North Alabama would enjoy reading about familiar places (Hobb's Island, Ditto Landing, downtown Huntsville, etc.)

[Chera DeHoff-Federle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this book and its author, Catherine Knowles by chance, and I am very happy that I did. The Doughnut Tree brings you into the lives of the Taylor Family and their ties to the infamous madam, Mollie Teal. This is not just one person’s story, it’s many lives intertwined to create a vivid and memorable historical account of the early 1900 - where bootlegging, corporate deceptions, racism and the fight against it were the norm. If you love Southern history, you will be captivated by the events (including murder) surrounding this family and the towns of Huntsville and Taylorsville, Alabama. Having met Catherine, briefly – the story reads as though she were telling me "all" in her own voice - as a story that trickles down from generation to generation. She knows her characters inside and out - Now, that is a very STRONG voice. Although I laughed out loud a lot, there were moments within the context that brought me to tears as I recognized and felt the truths behind the actions of these characters - paying attention to the simple, yet powerful words spoken that break through to the truths that echo our current social and political climate. All in all, I was left wanting more. Upon closing the book, my hopes are that Mrs. Knowles’ next novel brings us back to the Doughnut Tree and these fine characters once again.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was quite strange, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, largely because I'm familiar with the Huntsville area. Both the writing and plotlines were a disjointed, random, and unexpected. I think the book could have been greatly simplified and shortened to make it easier to follow and a better read overall.