Where Trees Touch the Sky by Karen Barnett
Reviewed by Sandra Merville Hart
A Redwood National Park Novel
A Time Slip Novel
1972—June Turner took a summer job at the new national park at her great-aunt Marion’s prompting. Her leg brace and crutch are constant reminders to others of her childhood bout with polio, yet she hopes she can do all the job requires. When she learns that her boss has hired Adam to replace her, she sets out to prove herself. She’s used to this treatment, having endured it all her life.
1923—Nurse Marion Baker spends the bulk of her free time fighting to establish a national park along with others in the Save the Redwoods League. She has loved the giant trees since childhood and can’t bear to see loggers cut any more of them.
Frank Duncan tries to make up for past mistakes with his father, but the stern timber baron is as unmovable as the trees that irritating nurse loves so passionately. He manages to keep his identity a secret from her. After they begin dating, he worries how his family will accept her—and how she will accept his family.
Loveable, believable characters make mistakes that affect their future and the future of the Redwood Forest. Past heartache rises up to affect the present.
The author has woven a beautifully redemptive story. Readers are pulled into the challenges faced by each character, making us care on so many levels. A myriad of twists and turns in both time periods kept me riveted to this well-written book.
This book will stay with me for a long time.
I will look for other books by this author. Highly recommended.
