The Singing Tree

by Peter Moss

Book Overview

Kristian Hardy, an old man closing out his days in the Amazon jungle, was once Kurt Hellmann, the youngest railway stationmaster in Germany. One day as he was serving in that capacity, a phone call... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595309143
• ISBN13: 9780595309146
• Release Date: February 2004
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 140 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Elegant and remarkably traditional.

The Singing Tree by Peter Moss This very short novel (148 pages) is elegant and remarkably traditional. It is written in the first person by a modern anti-hero a survivor of Nazi Germany who was responsible one afternoon, for the massacre of more than a hundred Jews. He has lived with this guilt for more than forty years and is now aged seventy-two and living in Brazil claiming to have been a Swiss national. Using the soubriquet 'Kristian Hardy', the second half of his life has been rather uneventful, ekeing out an existence as a rubber planter. 20 years earlier a young local Indian girl that he had married, had died in childbirth confirming that he was not going to be rewarded with any happiness this lifetime. Enter Ruth Golding, butterfly expert. For some reason, KH thinks she is tracking him down for a major war-trial. The growing relationship between these two characters builds up to a final crescendo in the last section of the book. Cleverly researched with great attention to detail this is a very convincing piece with some lovely touches and not a word too long.

a convincing first novel of guilt and redemption

This very short novel (148 pages) is elegant and remarkably traditional. It is written in the first person by a modern anti-hero, a survivor of Nazi Germany who was responsible one afternoon for the massacre of more than a hundred Jews. He has lived with this guilt for more than forty years and is now aged seventy-two and living in Brazil claiming to have been a Swiss national. Using the soubriquet 'Kristian Hardy', he ekes out an uneventful existence as a rubber planter. 20 years earlier a local Indian girl he had married had died in childbirth, seemingly confirming that he was not going to be rewarded with any happiness in this life. Enter Ruth Golding, butterfly expert. For some reason, KH thinks she is tracking him down for a major war-trial. The growing relationship between these two characters builds up to a final crescendo in the last section of the book. Cleverly researched with great attention to detail this is a very convincing piece with some lovely touches and not a word too long.