Our Father Who Art in the Tree - Tapa dura

'It was simple for me, the saints were in heaven and guardian angels had extendable wings like batman and my Dad had died and gone to live in the tree in the back yard.' When ten-year-old Judith's father dies, her mother Dawn is left to raise herand her brothers on her own. Grief suffuses the house, seeming to penetrate even the walls. As their mother succumbs to sorrow the children are left floundering with their own unhappiness and loss. But Judith hears her father calling to her from the poinciana tree outside her window, and climbs the tree to listen. When she persuades her mother to climb up and listen too, the family slowly begins to heal itself.

Judy Pascoe was born in Australia and lives in Gloucestershire. She is an acrobat with Circus Oz. This is her first novel.