If, as has been said, trees offer the solutions to almost all humanity’s problems, the big question is, are we listening? Awareness of the ways trees communicate with each other, share nutrients, and benefit health raises the issues of whether trees have rights and why people take extreme action in their defense. The varied ways trees grow and branch are metaphors for human lives, layered rings recording history and climate and documenting its changes. Family ties and generational stories split and rejoin and weave like forests and trees.

  

 The Overstory is a rich eco-epic, a paean to the wonder of trees and life. Beautifully written, it well deserves the many prizes it has garnered. It threads the complex stories of interesting people, whose lives intersect in eco activism, with love and loyalty and betrayal and sabotage interlinked. The fascinating and engaging characters are fully developed and the story line blends art and science, the rich biology of trees and the perspective of non human nature, while reading like a thriller.

    Trees delineate the structure of the book: sections are divided into “Roots”, where the characters are developed, then “Trunk” for the main action and “Crown” for the surprising outcomes. Lastly the short section “Seeds” inspires the hope inherent in trees, including the poem:  

    Greenwood is an equally compelling book, also beautifully written, and inspired from the same backdrop of the incredible power of forests and the effects of human degradation. Initially set in a future of major climate change and ecological collapse much takes place on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Using the layered rings of a tree as table of contents the action starts in 2038, then backs through time to the dust bowl 30’s and into the centre, 1908, then returns to the present and future. The story also moves from the Maritimes, takes place partly in Saskatchewan, and ends in Port Alberni.

    The question resounds, “What if a family isn’t a tree at all? What if it’s more like a forest? A collection of individuals pooling their resources through intertwined roots, sheltering one another from wind and weather and drought – And no one knows better than a dendrologist that it’s the forests that matter.” The intertwined lives of these fascinating people build in layers, with the heartwood set in time and the fresh living building new growth rings. The image of wealthy “Pilgrims” coming to the last fragment of forest for air and inspiration and escape from the dust is compelling.

    Both of these beautifully designed books are wonderful, gripping reads.