The Caleb Trees

by Dee Holmes

Publishers Weekly called Dee Holmes's previous novels "fresh and wonderfully written" and "compelling and touching." In this deeply moving story of a family in crisis, she explores the wrenching... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0515129046
• ISBN13: 9780515129045
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Jove Books
• Length: 313 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Love At Its Best

I'm an avid romance reader and usually check the RITA Award recipients just to make sure that I've read those considered best in the genre. I hadn't read this one and decided to pick up a copy. Am I glad I made this selection. I have read other Dee Holmes novels, but the books are issued farther apart than most and I usually forget to look for them. Her books have a depth that you don't find often. While the sensual aspects are not the overriding factor, you always find that the themes are relevant to today's issues. The Caleb Trees is the story of a family devastated by suicide. Each family member deals with the tragedy in their own way. Meg, the mother, is desperate for answers, for there is no warning that a problem exists. Jack, the father, doesn't know how to deal with his grief, so he tries to go on as if nothing major has happened. Bethany, the teenage sister, goes on a rebellious spree in anger at her brothers' death. We are introduced to Caleb, the suicidal teen, who is a sensitive young man that has his own ideas as to what he wants to do with his life. Involvement in the plot is immediate. You realize how Caleb's life has touched so many others as a result of his death. This book pushes all of the emotional buttons as the plot is unraveled to reveal the ultimate conclusion. There are some surprises along the way, which keep the story moving. I thought this might be kind of depressing, but it was written well and with sensitivity. Since this sometimes happens in real life, I reflected about the need to communicate with your loved ones because life is so fragile. Buy this book if you want to read a great Romance novel that makes you think and feel good about the important things in life!

Suicide, Adultery, and Romance

The Caleb Trees is about Meg DeWilde's attempts to deal with her son Caleb's suicide, to find a reason for such a terrible tragedy. Meg can't put the death behind her, rejecting her husband Jack's belief that they must move on with their lives before Caleb's suicide destroys their whole family. The reader's sympathy for Jack is reduced by his adultery.Still, Jack is right. Although Meg finally does discover a reason, the reader is left wondering whether she and the entire family might not have been better off had she dealt with her loss rather than sought an answer.

Powerful drama

In Cooper Falls, Rhode Island, the DeWilde family seems to have attained the American dream. Jack has recently expanded his very successful real estate business. His wife Meg, who once worked as Jack's accountant, has been the prime raiser of their two children. Sixteen years old Caleb is a star pitcher on the high school team with a potential major league career ahead of him. His sister Bethany is a reasonably popular young lady.However, the DeWilde world shatters when seemingly out of nowhere, Caleb commits suicide. Though distraught, Jack wants to forget the tragedy and return to the normalcy of the past. Bethany, haunted by her sibling's wasted death, struggles with life using anger and rebellion as weapons to keep her loved ones away. Meg mourns the loss of her child, but worries that his sister will follow suit if the family fails to learn from Caleb's lesson. Willing to risk her marriage for what she perceives is the greater good, Meg begins to explore why her teen took his life.Dee Holmes provides fans of relationship dramas a poignant look at teen suicide. The story line haunts the reader, especially when Meg starts to understand the demons that ate away at Caleb's essence and guiltily wonders what she could have done to ease her son's mind. THE CALEB TREES is an incredible character study that provides no easy solution to the major American problem of teen suicide. However, the novel causes the audience to think about their own family relationships, perhaps the greatest achievement an author can attain.Harriet Klausner

A strong, endearing story

This is an emotional book, primarily about a woman, Meg, trying to come to grips with the unexpected suicide of her teenage son. She is haunted by not knowing why he did it. The story points out the fact parents often think they know their kids, when they don't. It also explores the reaction of other family members. Meg's husband and daughter. The conclusion deals with Meg coming to terms with the reason her son killed himself also how she saves her husband a lifetime of grief, which I thought made a heroine of her.