Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen

Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen – 336 Audio

Book Blurb:

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane, lifelong lover of trees, works as an analyst in a treeless US Forest Service office. When his wife dies in a freak accident, devastated, he makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania’s Endless Mountains, intent on losing himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana. She, too, has lost someone—her father. And in the magical, willful world of her reckoning, Oriana believes that Harry is the key to finding her way back to him.

As Harry agrees to help the young girl, the unlikeliest of elements—a tree house, a Wolf, a small-town librarian and a book called The Grum’s Ledger—come together to create the biggest sensation ever to descend upon the Endless Mountains…a golden adventure that will fulfill Oriana’s wildest dreams and open the door to a new life for Harry.

My Review: 4 stars

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Harry’s Trees is a magical story that beautifully blends nature, fiction and the fantastical feeling of a fairytale together. This book is quite different from anything I’ve ever read. Some will say this is a book about grief and moving forward, while others will call it a fairytale for adults. Some will see this as an ode to libraries, and some readers will see true love. I think readers will elicit different feelings from this book based on when they read it, and what is going on in their lives at that time.

I started this book and about a third of the way through, Covid hit, and the lockdown happened. During that time, I just couldn’t read. Honestly, I’d forgotten about the book until just recently, when I saw it was available on audio through Cloud Library. I was thrilled to start over, and this time, the voices I’d heard in my head while reading, had a tone and a cadence. It was awesome.

This book offers hope and healing with the help of a fairytale called The Grum’s Ledger. It will make you think twice about “signs” because what we may think is a bad sign, could really be a good omen in disguise. There’s a lot to digest and many of characters to meet, but they all have a purpose. Overall, this is a fabulous, mystical book for those looking for something out of the ordinary. 

Quotes I liked:

What else is a library, but a temple of truth? What other function do books have, the great ones, but to change the reader? Books to comfort. But most of all, books to disturb you forward.”

That’s a lot of plot in one sentence, dear.”

You keep the lights on in a library the same way you keep the lights on in the emergency of a hospital.”

Reading solves most things. Or at least assuages the heart.”

He didn’t know kids, but he supposed that sometimes a kid needed something she couldn’t find at home, but only in the wild of the forest.”

Of all the glorious enchantments of this world—spring, snow, laughter, red roses, dogs, books—love is by far the best.”