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The Drowning Tree

by Carol Goodman (Goodreads Author)

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 · rating details · 2,043 ratings · 179 reviews

August Penrose created the stained glass 'Lady Window' to adorn the chapel of the university he founded for the daughters of the women who worked in his factory, the Rose Glass Works. Depicting his wife, Eugenie, as the Lady of Shallot, it's a mesmerising portrait that has come to embody the spirit of the school itself. But now, eighty years after it was created, the Lady...more

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Published March 3rd 2005 (first published June 29th 2004)

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Jul 25, 2007 Eilene rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who like myths

Shelves: fondmemories

Once again, Goodman delivers with a fabulous setting seemingly drawn from her own imagination. I would wager that Goodman has spent time in upstate New York, because she writes of the place as if she knows it, as if she has thought it was beautiful for a long time. And it sounds amazing, her descriptions make me want to visit so much more than any of those "Discover (insert state here)" commercials I see on television.
The Drowning Tree also has that element of myth woven into the story. The bac...more

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Oct 16, 2008 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, mystery

Carol Goodman continues with her theme of secrets-from-the-past in her third book. Once again, she's created a world that I became completely absorbed in and a mystery that I couldn't figure out. Each time I thought "ah ha, THIS is what happened" the main character thought of it herself and sent the story in another direction by disproving it.

It happens too often that I love someone's debut novel and then end up disappointed in everything that follows, so I'm really glad Goodman isn't falling vi...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Juno McKay's best friend, Christine Webb, is found dead in an upturned kayak on the private property of her alma mater, a women's college in upstate New York. Before she died, Christine asked Juno if she thought that a person could love someone so much that the beloved would have no choice but to love them back. Fourteen years earlier, Juno's husband, Neil, took her and their infant daughter out on the Hudson River, and in a fit of madness, attempted to drown them all. The events of that day, Ne...more Juno McKay's best friend, Christine Webb, is found dead in an upturned kayak on the private property of her alma mater, a women's college in upstate New York. Before she died, Christine asked Juno if she thought that a person could love someone so much that the beloved would have no choice but to love them back. Fourteen years earlier, Juno's husband, Neil, took her and their infant daughter out on the Hudson River, and in a fit of madness, attempted to drown them all. The events of that day, Neil's subsequent institutionalization, and their divorce have haunted Juno ever since. In the investigation into Christine's death, questions about inevitable love, mental illness, and family ties rise to the surface like long-forgotten pieces of a tragic shipwreck.

Carol Goodman is a talented writer. This is the second book of hers that I have read, the first being The Lake of Dead Languages. If the two are representative of her work as a whole, Goodman likes gothic tales with a long-lost princess twist set against the background of liberal arts women's colleges. Other common themes include water, troubled marriages, and the ties between women. Her water images (Heart Lake in The Lake, and the Hudson River in The Drowning Tree) are often beautiful and very evocative. And I like her exploration of women's relationships a great deal.

However, while all of these elements combined to a pleasurable effect in The Lake, I'm flat out irritated with The Drowning Tree. To be fair, I have not finished it. I've skimmed and skipped and come to the conclusion that it is not something I'm interested in finishing. Why? I'm happy to tell you, dear Reader.

I don't believe in inevitable love, the way Goodman (actually, I suppose it was Dante) presents it. I think it's an absurd concept, and ridiculously romantic. The scenes in which Juno and her ex-husband finally meet again are too silly for me to swallow. Perhaps I find it too much of a stretch to think that after such a traumatic split (he tried to kill his wife and child), and fourteen years of absence that there might be any love left. That's my cynic showing.

SPOILER ALERT

Also, it turns out that Christine was the victim of not one, but two TOTALLY unrelated murder attempts that converged at the same time. Implausible much?

Finally, the characters had potential, but ultimately were not convincing. Perhaps, I am a little tired of the whole women's college scene as well. Who knew it was such a world unto itself? Not I. This one will be going back to the library early.

Happy Reading,
The Professor's Wife(less)

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Feb 16, 2012 Robyn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: given-away, mystery

My sister gave me this to read in hospital after one of my surgeries years ago. It was ok. Setting was well-drawn, but characters were pretty one-dimensional and the denouement was fairly predictable. It was a good book for the purpose, which was escaping into something else for awhile and not needing to think while I did it.

The book would definitely have been better if I hadn't read it right after one of Goodman's others, The Lake of Dead Languages. Of the two, I liked the other better, but I'...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Christie rated it 2 of 5 stars

"It’s been thirteen years since I last saw Neil – and fourteen years since we both nearly drowned in the river – and I still dream about him every night, and because he told me once that he believed that we could visit each other in our dreams, I always have the feeling that that is what he’s doing – coming to me in my dreams each night." – The Drowning Tree

Carol Goodman’s interest in Latin and Art and Literature is obvious. The first novel I read by her, The Lake of Dead Languages concerned a L...more "It’s been thirteen years since I last saw Neil – and fourteen years since we both nearly drowned in the river – and I still dream about him every night, and because he told me once that he believed that we could visit each other in our dreams, I always have the feeling that that is what he’s doing – coming to me in my dreams each night." – The Drowning Tree

Carol Goodman’s interest in Latin and Art and Literature is obvious. The first novel I read by her, The Lake of Dead Languages concerned a Latin teacher at a private girls’ school. The Drowning Tree tells the story of Juno McKay, a woman who runs a glass business (she’s in the business of building and restoring stained glass windows and is currently working on the reconstruction of a beautiful window from her old school, Penrose College.) The novel is steeped in Greek and Roman mythology.

Juno’s best friend from college is the beautiful and wildly smart, Christine. She blows into town to deliver a lecture about Augustus Penrose and his wife Eugenie and her sister, Clare and the very window Juno is currently restoring. After the lecture, Christine disappears. Juno spends the next 300 pages trying to figure out what happened to Christine and why.

My feelings about The Drowning Tree are lukewarm, I’m sad to say. Goodman is a fine writer. She clearly cares about the craft and her work has depth…but she’s supposed to be a writer of literary thrillers and her books (at least the two I’ve read) move slower than cold molasses. Nothing. Happens.

In fact, in The Drowning Tree, it isn’t until Juno’s long-institutionalized husband, Neil, makes a reappearance some 200 pages into the book that things start to perk up a little. I guess Juno herself just isn’t engaging enough to carry the novel all on her own. And the book’s central mysteries - what happened to Christine and what was the deal with Eugenie and her sister - aren’t compelling enough to hold 338 pages aloft.

Perhaps it’s the publisher that does Goodman a disservice by calling the book a “literary thriller”. Literary for sure; thrilling, no way.

(less)

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Jul 26, 2010 Bailey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

When I started this book, I was looking forward to a good mystery - something that really pulled me in from Page 1. I will say that this book captured my attention with the Hudson River backdrop. Goodman did an excellent job with the setting; she truly made me smell the water and see some of the old buildings and statues in my mind's eye. There was a good mystery to this story as well. I confess that I'm generally always interested when family secrets and mental institutes are involved, and this...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mystery lovers, mythology lovers, imaginative people

Shelves: fiction, mystery, thriller, suspense, gothic, mythology, favorites

This is by far my favorite Carol Goodman book. I love the characters in it, the elements of mythology, the art, the settings, all of it. It's also one of the saddest books I've read. When I read this book the first time, in high school, it was probably the saddest book I had ever read, and it took me about a week to get the story, and especially the ending, out of my head.

This book has a lot of elements in common with other Carol Goodman books, such as the protagonist being divorced, having a ch...more

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May 20, 2013 Steph rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is, perhaps, the fourth time that I've read The Drowning Tree. Carol Goodman is a beloved author, and I return to her whenever I want an escape book, one that is both engaging and intelligent. As I've commented before on Goodman's novels, she has the amazing talent of creating these fantasical landscapes and buildings that the reader will long to visit for themselves. She manages to interweave fairy tale and mythology into her stories and, like Kate Morton's work, often has a double-mystery...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Lindsay Heller rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, academia, mystery

This was my third Carol Goodman novel and from the outset it's clear; she definitely has a formula down. Secrets from the past shedding light on the present, tight knit academia, meditations on art and literature, and gripping literary mysteries. I suppose I should feel as if I've read this before (and from the same author), but instead I'm waiting for a new one in the mail.

'The Drowning Tree' is the story of Juno McKay, former artist and current expert in stained glass. She lives in the same s...more This was my third Carol Goodman novel and from the outset it's clear; she definitely has a formula down. Secrets from the past shedding light on the present, tight knit academia, meditations on art and literature, and gripping literary mysteries. I suppose I should feel as if I've read this before (and from the same author), but instead I'm waiting for a new one in the mail.

'The Drowning Tree' is the story of Juno McKay, former artist and current expert in stained glass. She lives in the same small Hudson Valley enclave where she attended college at fictional Penrose (basically, Vassar) with her kayaking fanatic daughter, Beatrice, and their dogs Paolo and Francesca. Clearly she's a Dante fan. Beatrice's father, Neil, is locked up in Briarwood, a mental health facility near Poughkeepsie, where her best friend, Christine, is from, after an incident where he tried to kill himself, Juno, and their baby daughter by drowning. Moving on from exposition, early on Christine makes a speech about secrets of the Penrose family and a stained glass window everyone assumed was a portrait of Augustus Penrose's wife but who Christine believes to really be his sister in law, Clare, a patient at the same facility where Neil lives. That evening Christine disappears and Juno is propelled into a chase for the truth behind, not just her best friend's death, but also secrets locked away at both the former Penrose estate, Astolat, and Briarwood itself.

The thing that is immediately apparent in Goodman's writing is that she really knows how to set a scene. She creates stunning atmosphere. This book made me desperate to go to the Hudson River Valley and see the places she wrote about, real or imagined. It's something I've been impressed with in every one of her novels, all set in Upstate New York, the reader really feels as if they are there.

As formerly stated, this book has the same elements are the two other Goodman books I've read, 'The Lake of Dead Languages' and 'Arcadia Falls'; the early on death of a character, the return to an alma mater that hides secrets, a somewhat absent daughter, a policeman love interest, and shadowy pasts. But that doesn't mean it's the same book. 'The Lake of Dead Languages' has so far been my favorite offering, but I have to wonder if that was just because it was the one I read first. In any event this novel was filled with enough twists and turns that I couldn't wait to get back and discover who had done it. And, I really didn't know. Several times I found myself desperate to find out Christine's killer because all I knew was who much I didn't want it to be a certain character. I was invested enough to care that much, and I think that's telling. I can't imagine this will ever be winning any prizes for great literature, but I'm okay with that because sometimes things are just compelling and that's enough. (less)

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Apr 27, 2013 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Upon reading the second Carol Goodman book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for too many years, and after having recently read Girl With the Dragon Tattoo after putting both off for fear they'd be nightmare-producing (I don't like scary books) I have learned three things:

1. The thriller/suspense genre is nothing like the horror genre. It doesn't produce nightmares.

2. After reading the three thriller/suspense genre books I've read recently, while realizing that thriller/suspense novels are c...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Gretchen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the first Carol Goodman book that I have read and I was very impressed. A pleasant surprise! I don't know anything about the author but I would have to assume that she has a background in art history -- if not, she must have done some seriously extensive research to be able to write this one. The descriptions of the paintings, statues, and stained glass throughout and the way that story itself is woven into the art are beautifully written.

I selected the book from my shelf based on the d...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Why haven't I heard about this boook before? Astoundingly good.

Layers upon layers of symbolism and metaphor, from pre-Raphaelite art to Greek mythology. The layers show up not only in the characters' activities, but in the language the author chooses. The book is so lovely and carefully wrought, it makes my head spin (in a good way).

In addition, there is a mystery to be solved. Those of you who hate mysteries, I am one of you. Never read them. Nope. But I was sucked into this one by not knowing...more

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Sep 25, 2009 Hannah added it

Shelves: amerikaans, detective-mysterie-thriller

When I finished "The Lake of Dead Languages" about a month ago, I couldn't wait to read more by Carol Goodman. I liked everything about it: the setting, the characters, the references to art, literature and classical mythology, and the mystery (although it wasn't very hard to solve). Those same elements make "The Drowning Tree" worth reading too, but the similarities go so far that I sometimes wondered whether I wasn't still reading the same book. Single mother with daughter faces mysterious dev...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Doreen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read The Lake Of Dead Languages on the recommendation of an author I enjoy, and was intrigued enough by Carol Goodman's style to try out the rest of her books. As far as mystery and literary allusions go, this novel is even stronger than TLODL, but I felt it lacked something vital in its characterization of the protagonist, Juno. It wasn't that I didn't like her, it was that she felt hollow, almost like a marionette being used for the rest of the story to happen to and around her. Maybe it had...more

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May 07, 2010 Alayne Bushey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’m not joking when I say Carol Goodman could be my idol. Granted, I’ve only read two of her books, but she’s exactly the kind of writer I hope to be some day. Her novels are full of artistic and literary themes, with beautifully dynamic settings. Who wouldn’t want to write such intriguingly mysterious books?

The Drowning Tree centers around Juno McKay as she’s forced to confront her past during a reunion at Penrose College. When her best friend, Christine Webb, is chosen to give a speech on a fa...more I’m not joking when I say Carol Goodman could be my idol. Granted, I’ve only read two of her books, but she’s exactly the kind of writer I hope to be some day. Her novels are full of artistic and literary themes, with beautifully dynamic settings. Who wouldn’t want to write such intriguingly mysterious books?

The Drowning Tree centers around Juno McKay as she’s forced to confront her past during a reunion at Penrose College. When her best friend, Christine Webb, is chosen to give a speech on a famous stained glass window about to be restored by Juno’s family, Juno knows she has to attend. But it turns out that Christine has done some behind-the-scenes research, and seems to have discovered a bit of history about the founders of Penrose College that the current President, Gavin Penrose, may not be so excited about. When Christine dies unexpectedly, Juno is left with nothing but Christine’s research and a handful of suspects. When links to Juno’s mentally disturbed ex-husband start to surface, she no longer knows who she can trust.

Goodman’s writing is smooth and Juno’s voice is incredibly informative and consistant. But more than the characters themselves, I love the environments Goodman creates. The Drowning Tree has a burned out skeleton of a mansion called Astolat, a prestigious all-girls college with a shadowy history, and a haunting statue garden drowned under a river. I can’t imagine where she comes up with them, but her scenes are intensely dark and beautiful. Throughout the novel are themes of art and lust, as well as greco-roman mythology. The founders of the college were artists and their paintings of nymphs and mythological scenes are described so vividly and hauntingly, I can picture them if I shut my eyes.

As with Arcadia Falls (her most recent book), Goodman leaves you guessing until the end. You think you’ve solved the mystery and know who the killer is, but you’re wrong. Could it be Juno’s possible new love interest, the kayak instructor Kyle? Could it be the founding family’s grandson, current Penrose President, Gavin Penrose? Could her very own ex-husband Neil have done it? Fresh from his years in the local mental institution? Or did Christine succumb to her fear of depression and kill herself? The end happens quick, so fast you might miss it if you aren’t looking.

Goodman is two-for-two in my book. I strongly recommend her novels. 4 stars

(I purchased this book)
(less)

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Jul 30, 2012 Sarah rated it 1 of 5 stars

Gosh, this all just felt so FORCED. It seems obvious that Goodman has a passion for mythology and stained glass (what an odd combination). But I learned in my basic creative writing class that just because you're passionate about something doesn't many anyone else will be. You can't make people care about things; it's all about the characters and making the reader care about them. She was really trying hard to force a bond between two or three completely unrelated ideas. Ugh. It was awful. It le...more

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Jul 31, 2012 DeAnne rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: leisurereads

This book fascinated me. Though not categorized as a mystery, it contained all the elments of such...plus so much more. An art hsitorian gives a lecture on a famous stained glass window at a prestigious university; her research seemed to show that the mythological figure in the window was not modeled by the university founder's wife (as had been believed), but by the wife's sister. After the lecture was delivered to a somewhat skeptical audience, the art historian was found dead...was it suicide...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Cyndy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: didn-t-finish

I tried to wade through all the pretentious quotes in Latin, the lessons in Greek mythology, the prestigious school name-dropping, among other things, but after 70 pages I still couldn't find a story in this book. If you're really interested in the art of stain-glass making or the rowing sport--crew, then you'll enjoy the tedious, mind-numbing descriptions that go on ad nauseam. Unfortunately, I don't find either subject very appealing, especially not in the dosages the author is handing out. Wh...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Laurie rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was NOT a favorite of mine. The book is very descriptive and those descriptions were painfully simple and one dimensional. And the details were MANY. Forget subtle foreshadowing, when some little detail of note occurred in the book, the it was explained in such overabundant detail, and flaunted things that were painfully obvious observations. But this was not the end.... If this detail was then remembered by the main character, all the same information was written again as the small de...more

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May 31, 2007 Sue rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

DIdn't like it - If you want to read a fine book about time travel and romance - try Possession by A. S. Byatt

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Jan 21, 2010 Marika Gillis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Erin, Shannon, Andie

Shelves: fiction, mysteries

Juno's best friend, Christine, mysteriously disappears after giving a controversial speech about the influential founding family of the college they both attended. As Juno searches for answers about her friend's disappearance, her own dramatic past- the unplanned pregnancy that kept her from graduating, her former husband's attempt to drown Juno and her daughter, and his subsequent admittance to a nearby mental hospital- begins to emerge in uncomfortable and haunting ways.

Dark, mysterious, and f...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first discovered Carol Goodman this past summer and enjoyed the Seduction of Water and the Night Villa (gave them 4 stars each). I found this book at Goodwill for a dime, and enjoyed it immensely. Goodman weaves elements of art (specifically sculpture, painting, and stained glass), mythology, and academia into this literary thriller, while at the same time she explores the themes of love, friendship, and loss. I want my book club (or at least Annie and Alison) to read this so I can have someon...more

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Nov 23, 2012 Selena rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, writing, books-read-post-college

I had this for many years before picking it up. And I couldn't put it down. As with "Lakes of Dead Langauges, which I had read years before, this was a gripping novel. I was spellbound by the storyline, the mystery and the language. Both novels involve water, this a river and "Lake" a lake naturally and her words also flow like the current.

The novel makes many references to mythology and her imagery brought to mind the paintings I had studied in classical mythology of Waterhouse's "Lady of Shal...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Erica Rae rated it 4 of 5 stars

Juno is best friends with Christine and Juno falls in love with Brilliant who later tries to drown her n Bea which is his daughter...Brilliant gets locked up at Briarwood n gets on the drug Peridine 13 years after the accident ....then he slept with Christine once....got her pregnant ....she got killed by Neils psychiatrist because she was digging into old records n found out the doctor was slowly killing Neil ...Neil died with the psychiatrist in the water....Juno got away n ended up falling fo...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Ineke Van rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In reading a thriller I usually try to fathom the who-dunnit as I go along, but the style in which Carol Goodmand writes captivated me from the start - beautiful prose, good combination of words and marvellous in-depth descriptions - that I never even tried doing so while reading 'The Drowning Tree'. I savored every chapter, not wishing the book to end, yet nearer the end I couldn't wait to find out the denouement! :-) Upon hindsight I realized there certainly were revelations to let me second-g...more

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Oct 30, 2010 Gabbers rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not my favorite out of all the Carol Goodman books, but as all her books do for me it is light reading that takes me away into whatever place she's imagined. Usually the place is somewhere back East near NY, but her writing takes you into a fairytale setting with art and English history mixed with mysterious tales. There is always a man or two involved as the main character who is a single mother of a daughter, finds herself in the middle of a mystery in which she is deeply embedded and kind of...more

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Jun 23, 2010 Cara St.Hilaire rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well-written and with complex characters, this is an engaging read that did not disappoint. It involves close friendships that build foundations for a lifetime, troubling secrets, an interesting historical mystery, a lovely landscape and sense of place, and love that is lost and found. The twists are surprising, but not very intense and the storyline was drawn out a bit at times. What Goodman does well (and many others do not) is allows you to like the characters and root for them. You become in...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2011

This is my first Carol Goodman novel and I think I'll go back and read her earlier work. This was a really good novel. This is such a well written book - the imagery created by the author is just wonderful! I enjoyed the intermix of the modern mystery and the ancient with the use of mythology throughout the book. Really effective way to tell this particular story!

This wasn't an 'easy' read yet it wasn't what I'd characterize as difficult either. It felt a bit academic but perhaps that was more...more

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Sep 15, 2008 Kellie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2006-reads, mystery-thrillers, bookclub-books

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 22, 2010 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Lisa

Shelves: 2010, mysteries

Ahh, Carol Goodman. Returning to her novels is like ordering your favorite meal at a restaurant. You know exactly what to expect and will most likely enjoy it. I certainly enjoyed this one.

Juno McKay sees her best friend Christine Webb off at the train station after their fifteenth-year college reunion. Christine had just delivered a lecture at the Penrose College Library, shocking the crowd with little known details about the founding Penrose family. The next day, Christine disappears.

I find...more

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About Carol Goodman

Carol Goodman is the author of The Lake of Dead Languages. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Greensboro Review, Literal Latt, The Midwest Quarterly, and Other Voices. After graduation from Vassar College, where she majored in Latin, she taught Latin for several years in Austin, Texas. She then received an M.F.A. in fiction from the New School University. Goodman currently teaches writi...more

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Quotes from The Drowning Tree

“You told me trees could speak
and the only reason one heard
silence in the forest
was that they had all been born knowing different languages.

That night I went into the forest
to bury dictionaries under roots,
so many books in so many tongues
as to insure speech.

and now this very moment,
the forest seems alive
with whispers and murmurs and rumblings of sound
wind-rushed into my ears.

I do not speak any language
that crosses the silence around me
but how soothing to know
that the yearning and grasping embodied
in trees’ convoluted and startling shapes
is finally being fulfilled
in their wind shouts to each other.

Yet we who both speak English
and have since we were born
are moving ever farther apart
even as branch tips touch.” — 9 people liked it

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