The Crying Tree is a new novel by Naseem Rakha that raises the real-life question: Could you forgive the man who murdered your son? Rakha is an award-winning broadcast journalist whose work has been heard on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.” The story of her novel is told through the lives of a mother whose son was murdered and the superintendent of a state penitentiary where the defendant’s execution is to take place. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, said in review, “For anyone who has ever wondered how forgiveness is possible, even when the pain is overwhelming, wonder no more. The Crying Tree takes you on a journey you won’t soon forget.”

(N. Rakha, “The Crying Tree,” Broadway Books, 2009). See Books and Victims.