How the Tree Grows: A Novel in Stories

Date

2015

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Tampa

Abstract

An unsuccessful novelist, a sexually deviant school teacher, and a man troubled with the loss of his estranged father, William Bradstock struggles with assimilating into what his world wants him to become. Through this novel in stories, William is poised against his successful philanthropist wife, Samantha, whose infidelities cause William to question himself. In exploring the depths of William’s psyche, the reader is exposed to a selection of William’s failed novel, Leaning Tree, which superimposes the stories within each section of the work onto a backdrop of paralleled emotion. William seeks to answer two questions. First, can the vastness of his love for his wife encompass all, including an affair with a Dan Brown fanatic? Second, can he face a duffle bag that contains the objects his late father chose to die alongside? Through a combination of sexual exploits, reimagined futures and odd occurrences, William eventually answers a different question. Can a life be saved even if all hope for such a thing has long been lost?

Description

Keywords

Short stories, Love, Loss

Citation

DOI

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