The Tree Bride route 66 series

The Tree Bride route 66 seriesNational Book Critics Circle Award winner Bharati Mukherjee has long been known not only for her elegant, evocative prose but also for her characters influenced by ancient customs and traditions but also very much rooted in modern times. In The Tree Bride, the narrator, Tara Chatterjee (whom readers will remember from Desirable Daughters), picks up the story of an East Bengali ancestor. According to legend, at the age of five Tara Lata married a tree

But when their work starts to threaten careers and lives

and Tupac Shakur

playful humor

and her unique skill at seeing connections others miss has brought her an impressive string of arrests

Councilman Irvin Irving's son jumped or was pushed from a window at the Chateau Marmont

Helpful information for diabetics

or how to do it

Nothing can stand in our way

searching for a place where he belongs

never become a parent

she became increasingly depressed

When her fifth-grade teacher hints that a series of lessons about home and community will culminate with one big answer about two tall towers once visible outside their classroom window