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.

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