The Bleeding Tree

"Girls, I think your father's dead. I knocked his knees out. I conked his head. I shot that house clown in the neck". In a dirt-dry town in rural Australia, a shot shatters the still night. A mother and her daughters have just welcomed home the man of the house -- with a crack in the shins and a bullet in the neck. The only issue now is disposing of the body. Triggered into thrilling motion by an act of revenge, The Bleeding Tree is rude, rhythmical and irreverently funny. Imagine a murder ballad blown up for the stage, set against a deceptively deadly Aussie backdrop, with three fierce females fighting back. (1 act, 3 female).

It was the last of the ebbing days, the brink of the new season. It was the murky hours, the clove between sunset and sunrise. It was a tall tree with deep roots and it had been bleeding for a long while. As summer falls into autumn, Hollie Starling is hit by the heart-stopping news that her father has died by suicide. Thrust into a state of 'grief on hard mode', Hollie feels underserved by current attitudes toward grief and so seeks another way through the dark. Following her first year without her father, Hollie embraces her lifelong interest in folklore and turns to the healing power of nature, the changing seasons and the rituals of ancient communities. The Bleeding Tree is an unflinching year-zero guidebook to grief that shows us that by looking back to past traditions of bereavement we can all find our own way forward. 'Starling's account of family life is riveting and narrated with grace and honesty, counterpointing the personal with the mythic.' - Irish Times

Get ready for Samantha Shannon's new novel, A Day of Fallen Night, coming in February 2023! The New York Times bestselling "epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones" (Bustle). NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: AMAZON (Top 100 Editors Picks and Science Fiction and Fantasy) * CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY * BOOKPAGE * AUTOSTRADDLE A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens. The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel. Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

Big Jim Collins dies, and his family rejoices. After decades of abuse, his wife and sons are finally free from his tyranny. One son follows in his father's footsteps, while the other son takes a different path. But the brothers never really escape their painful childhood. It defines each of them and leads them to a final, terrifying destiny. Death comes again at the Collins farm on a quiet, starless October night. Both brothers will pay for the sins of their father in the shadow of the bleeding tree.

Ashamed of his younger brother's physical handicaps, an older brother teaches him how to walk and pushes him to attempt more strenuous activities.