Title: The Tulip Tree by Suzanne McCourt
Publisher: Text Publishing
Genre: Historical, Fiction
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: C+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
Henryk reached out to embrace him, formally, awkwardly. How rarely they’d touched since childhood, thought Adi, as he sank against his brother. How clumsy their love was.
Brothers Henryk and Adam Radecki’s relationship is one of fraught love and jealously. Henryk, unhappily married, becomes a rich and successful industrialist, while Adi, a devoted vet, finds and loses love. Their bond is tested throughout their lives, from the 1920s, against the background of Poland’s tragic and tumultuous relationship with Russia, through war, revolution and invasion, until 1954 in the Snowy Mountains of Australia.
Adi’s wife and son are at the heart of this riveting tale, in which family secrets threaten to tear lives apart. Caught up in momentous events, each character reminds us of our power to survive extraordinary times, of the moral choices we make and the dramatic turns our lives can take.
Beautifully written, full of the detail of everyday life, its joys and suffering, The Tulip Tree is engrossing historical fiction at its best, a profoundly moving story of love, sacrifice and loyalty.
Review:
The Tulip Tree by Suzanne McCourt is a family-centric novel that spans 1920-1950s.
Henryk and Adam “Adi” Radecki are brothers whose relationship is complicated. Henryk is a businessman who is married with one daughter. Adi is a widower with a son and after remarrying, he and his second wife have two more children. He is a veterinarian who is haunted by the death of his first wife. Henryk is competitive and regrets letting his first love get away. Adi is quiet and keeps his feelings bottled up. As war comes once again to Poland, Henryk and Adi view Hitler’s antipathy towards Jews quite differently. In the aftermath of the war, suspicions run high and informants often give up information about others to protect themselves or loved ones.
The various characters are well developed although not all of them are likable. The storyline is rife with factual information about the Polish-Soviet War, World War II and Ravensbrück concentration camp. The pacing is uneven and sometimes very slow.
The Tulip Tree by Suzanne McCourt is a poignant novel that is quite educational. The various settings are vividly brought to life. The war years are realistically portrayed and offer a haunting glimpse World War II. After the end of the war, the Radecki families’ lives are difficult and the revelation of a secret drives a wedge between those who are affected by the devastating truth.
