Beyond the Willow Tree

by Susan Cobb Beck

Eleven-year-old Emmaline Gullege, called Emmy by her family, has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a keen eye. She explores the mountains and valleys around her home with a zeal that is rivaled only by that of her mother, Charity. Even the Civil War her country is embroiled in has not dampened her nor her mother's enthusiasm for exploration and the long rides they take on Kagali, her mother's horse, up to the waterfall where the Indian Princess Noccalula took her own life many years earlier. At the close of the war in the summer of 1865, her mother suddenly lies down and dies after receiving a mysterious letter from a man that came to visit her. Emmy can see her mother there in the cabin; therefore, refuses to believe that her mother is dead, even though her older brothers and sisters insist that she is. A meeting with an old Indian man named Two Feathers at her mother's funeral, who is supposed to be the Keeper of the Sacred Fire and her great-grandfather, thrusts Emmy into the mystical, spiritual world of her mother's native peoples, the Cherokee. Told by the old Indian that she must carry on her mother's duties and given the power of observation and shape shifting, Emmy is charged with the task of becoming the family "Ka no he ha Ka no Ge sdi," the Storyteller. She is supposed to remember and pass down her family's history and tell about their ancestors to the coming generations. However, her refusal to accept her mothers crossing launches her on a mission to find and talk with her mother by using the powers bestowed on her by her great-grandfather, Two Feathers, who is the Keeper of the Sacred Fires ashes. During her explorations, Emmy discovers a hidden path that takes her beyond the willow tree to a layer of the world that is much different from her own. That is when she discovers that her grandfather can travel between space and time and communicate with all peoples within those layers... will Emmy return to her world or will she find what she seeks Beyond the Willow Tree?

468 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2013

About the author

I grew up in a family of storytellers on both the maternal and paternal sides of my family. I could sit for hours listening to them tell stories passed down from ancestors and stories of their own about how it was when they were growing up. I especially loved the ghost stories! When the stories ended, I wanted more... many times, I concocted my own stories where I would journey with these mysterious people, my ancestors. I found them fascinating. All I knew about them was what my parents and grandparents told me. However, it was never enough, I always wanted more... I began researching genealogy. What I learned through genealogy research still did not fill the void. I needed more, so, in my mind I invented more! Somehow, I felt as though I had known each character personally, sat and talked with them about their lives. I gave each a personality and a face. I could do that because of the descriptive storytelling ability of the storytellers. I want to be like that. I want to share my stories with all of those around me. Those who enjoy journeying into another world, a world that makes us forget about our troubles. A mysterious world, that exists only between the pages of a book. My name is Susan Cobb Beck. I also write under the pseudonym, Lila Beckham. I live along the coast in Southern Alabama with my husband, three children, three dogs and half a dozen cats :)

Reviews

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book listed at the local library pertaining to Cherokee culture, although I was not looking for fictional works. However, I am glad I read "Beyond the Willows". I enjoy novels set in geography that I am familiar with. Living the past 35 years on the Alabama coast, having visited northwest Alabama that was once a part of the Cheokee Nation, and having traved along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana-> I was right at home on Mobile's Conti Street and at the Battlehouse Hotel. The book started out a bit 'slow' for me, but maybe I just needed to get my mindset into the mode to be able to fully appreciate and understand the protagonists' thinking first from the spiritual plane (as subject) as it relates to the physical plane (as object); this is counter to the thinking we normally find in the 'modern' society around us (for most-> spirtual is an afterthought). "Beyond the Willows" is an important addition to storytellers literature Ka no he ha Ka no ge sdi.