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The Witch Tree
A gripping action story with a vein of star-crossed romance In this prequel to 2022's THE RED CANOE, Buck, aka Michael Fineday, aka Red Deer is on his way to track down his wayward brother in the Twin Cities, when he's trapped in a snowstorm and rescued by Sally, a girl who is fighting her own demons. Though intrigued by Sally, most of Buck's time is spent trying to unravel his family’s involvement with an elaborate racket which has recently gotten his cousin Ruben and his half-brother Bear killed. Eli, Buck’s surviving brother, is up to his neck in the racket that involves insurance fraud and stolen vehicles, and unwilling to tell Buck the truth. The racketeer’s kingpin thinks Eli has something they want—which is both his death warrant and his salvation. The problem is, Eli doesn’t know exactly what the something is or how to find it; his only clue is a phrase in Anishinaabe language Ruben scrawled on the wall of his room before he was killed, and it's up to Buck to track it down. Meanwhile, Sally and Buck grow closer through the shared wounds of their difficult pasts; and Buck teaches her some Ashinaabe language and cultural practices. Strangely, all roads—both Sally's and Buck's—lead to the Witch Tree, an important spiritual reservoir in Native American religion, and where he is forced to face the many facets of his own identity and find a way for them both to heal.
328 pages, Paperback
Published July 18, 2023
About the author
Wayne Johnson
87 books12 followersWayne Johnson is the author of five critically-acclaimed novels: The Snake Game (Knopf), Don’t Think Twice (Crown/Harmony), Six Crooked Highways (Crown/Harmony), and The Devil You Know (Shaye Areheart Books). Under the pseudonym Albertine Strong, Johnson published Deluge (Crown/Harmony).
Among Johnson’s public accolades have been a listing as a London Times bestseller for The Snake Game; three Pulitzer nominations (for Deluge, Don’t Think Twice, and The Devil You Know); New York Times Notable Book citations (for Deluge and Don’t Think Twice); inclusion in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Series (for Deluge); recognition as a Minnesota Book Award Finalist (for Six Crooked Highways); recognition as a Great Lakes Book Association Finalist (for Deluge); and a Kansas City Star Book of the Year citation (for Six Crooked Highways).
Johnson has garnered excellent reviews (in addition to those from NYT) from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, ALA, Booklist, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, and other journals. He has been a Chesterfield Writers’ Film Project Fellow in Hollywood and has received recognition from the Sundance Film Festival for his screenplays.
His first non-fiction title, White Heat: the Extreme Skiing Life, was published by Atria in December 2007 and sold 10,000 copies in the first month. The paperback edition of White Heat was released in 2008, and the book has recently come out with Simon & Schuster UK and Pocket Books. Live to Ride, a non-fiction work on motorcycles, was published in hardback by Simon & Schuster, June 2010, and in paperback 2011 to broad critical acclaim.
In 2013, Wayne's memoir, Baseball Diaries: Confessions of a Cold War Youth, was published by Submarine Publishing in paperback and as a Kindle title, where it enjoys a 5-star rating on Amazon.com.
Of mixed Native and European descent, Johnson grew up on the south side of Minneapolis, and in the north lakes region of Minnesota on the White Earth and Red Lake Reservations. Johnson studied microbiology at the University of Minnesota before discovering the pleasures of hang gliding near Bozeman, Montana, where he finished his undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy. A Teaching-Writing Fellow of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, Johnson lives and skis in Utah, where he does emergency outdoor medical rescue for the Park City Ski Patrol. He is a long-time faculty member of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City.
Among Johnson’s public accolades have been a listing as a London Times bestseller for The Snake Game; three Pulitzer nominations (for Deluge, Don’t Think Twice, and The Devil You Know); New York Times Notable Book citations (for Deluge and Don’t Think Twice); inclusion in the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Series (for Deluge); recognition as a Minnesota Book Award Finalist (for Six Crooked Highways); recognition as a Great Lakes Book Association Finalist (for Deluge); and a Kansas City Star Book of the Year citation (for Six Crooked Highways).
Johnson has garnered excellent reviews (in addition to those from NYT) from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, ALA, Booklist, Forbes, The Chicago Tribune, and other journals. He has been a Chesterfield Writers’ Film Project Fellow in Hollywood and has received recognition from the Sundance Film Festival for his screenplays.
His first non-fiction title, White Heat: the Extreme Skiing Life, was published by Atria in December 2007 and sold 10,000 copies in the first month. The paperback edition of White Heat was released in 2008, and the book has recently come out with Simon & Schuster UK and Pocket Books. Live to Ride, a non-fiction work on motorcycles, was published in hardback by Simon & Schuster, June 2010, and in paperback 2011 to broad critical acclaim.
In 2013, Wayne's memoir, Baseball Diaries: Confessions of a Cold War Youth, was published by Submarine Publishing in paperback and as a Kindle title, where it enjoys a 5-star rating on Amazon.com.
Of mixed Native and European descent, Johnson grew up on the south side of Minneapolis, and in the north lakes region of Minnesota on the White Earth and Red Lake Reservations. Johnson studied microbiology at the University of Minnesota before discovering the pleasures of hang gliding near Bozeman, Montana, where he finished his undergraduate degrees in English and Philosophy. A Teaching-Writing Fellow of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, Johnson lives and skis in Utah, where he does emergency outdoor medical rescue for the Park City Ski Patrol. He is a long-time faculty member of the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 25, 2025
3.5 stars
The Witch Tree is raw, gritty, emotional, and unexpectedly tender in all the right places. As a prequel to The Red Canoe (which I loved), it dives deeper into Buck’s past, peeling back the layers of trauma, loyalty, and identity that shaped him long before Lucy ever entered his life.
We meet Buck while he’s caught between worlds, searching for his brother, haunted by family tragedy, and pulled into a violent criminal racket he barely understands. His journey is full of tension and danger, but also these luminous moments of quiet beauty rooted deeply in Anishinaabe language and tradition. I loved those scenes. They give the story its pulse.
And then there’s Sally, hurting, stubborn, wild around the edges, yet soft in ways she barely allows herself to acknowledge. Her connection with Buck is slow, hesitant, and so deeply human. Two people with broken pieces recognising the same fractures in each other. Their bond is the absolute heart of the book.
The mystery, the survival, the cultural depth, the grit, it all circles back to the Witch Tree, a spiritual place that becomes symbolic of pain, identity, ancestry, and healing. The ending brought everything full circle in such a powerful way.
This is one of those stories that crawls under your skin and sits with you. Heavy, hopeful, and well written.
The Witch Tree is raw, gritty, emotional, and unexpectedly tender in all the right places. As a prequel to The Red Canoe (which I loved), it dives deeper into Buck’s past, peeling back the layers of trauma, loyalty, and identity that shaped him long before Lucy ever entered his life.
We meet Buck while he’s caught between worlds, searching for his brother, haunted by family tragedy, and pulled into a violent criminal racket he barely understands. His journey is full of tension and danger, but also these luminous moments of quiet beauty rooted deeply in Anishinaabe language and tradition. I loved those scenes. They give the story its pulse.
And then there’s Sally, hurting, stubborn, wild around the edges, yet soft in ways she barely allows herself to acknowledge. Her connection with Buck is slow, hesitant, and so deeply human. Two people with broken pieces recognising the same fractures in each other. Their bond is the absolute heart of the book.
The mystery, the survival, the cultural depth, the grit, it all circles back to the Witch Tree, a spiritual place that becomes symbolic of pain, identity, ancestry, and healing. The ending brought everything full circle in such a powerful way.
This is one of those stories that crawls under your skin and sits with you. Heavy, hopeful, and well written.
October 9, 2023
Great read, now I’m going to find the “red canoe” and read that one 😀
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews