Jo-Ann Mapson

Another beautiful book from Jo-Ann Mapson! Solomon's Oak is an ancient white oak, growing in California, where no white oak should be able to grow. When Glory Solomon is widowed at an early age she unwittingly becomes its caretaker. Her new foster daughter, Juniper, arrives just as Glory is hosting her first wedding in the chapel her husband built under its branches. Close on Juniper's heels comes Joesph, an injured cop who is there to photograph the famous tree. Together, the three of them show more will weave a story of healing under the patient gaze of the ancient tree.

I absolutely fell in love with this book from the very beginning! The background is laid with rich California history, it is fleshed out with flawed, realistic, deeply felt characters, and finished off with a perfectly paced plot. I was especially impressed with the rendering of Juniper, a deeply troubled teenage girl. Jo-Ann Mapson gets just right the fierce emotions, hot and cold temper, striking intelligence and complete lack of common sense that is a teenage girl. Everything that is infuriating and lovable is there. She also perfectly captured how three emotionally wounded people can together pull each other out of the pain and find the way back into life. Sorry if I'm gushing, but I loved this book! Arguably one of Jo-Ann Mapson's best! show less

There was no other tree like it in California, yet estimates suggested the tree was 200 years old. Here, Glory took in dogs from the shelter and trained them for new homes. Here she and her husband, Dan, had taken in foster sons. Here Dan had built a chapel. Now, Dan is gone, and Glory is left alone until the day the pirates had a wedding in her chapel. On that day, the social worker, Caroline, brings her a lonely teenage girl, Juniper. The wedding seems to be going smoothly, until a sword show more fight brings an ex-cop onto the scene, and Glory asks him to take photographs. All three - Glory, Juniper, and Joseph - have been battling their demons, and slowly begin to form relationships with each other.

I haven't read this sort of fiction in awhile, but it has all the elements I loved in stories as a teenager - especially a foster child and grieving characters. There are no easy answers for any of them, but they each have to deal with tragedy in their own way and decide if and how to move on. As their relationships grow and more of their back stories are revealed, I grew to care very much about what happened to the Glory, Juniper and Joseph. Though it may seem at first glance to be a run-of-the-mill contemporary fiction, questions about loss and closure and what God thinks of human tragedy (if he exists) give you food for thought. show less

So, right away these three hurting souls cross paths. You know some kind of relationships are going to develop. You know they'll have to deal with a crisis (or crises) separately or with each other. You may even have an idea how things will turn out in the end. But Mapson paints such vivid pictures of these three suffering characters that you don't worry about all that - you just ache with them; root for them; get exasperated with them, and celebrate with them. There are sections which I show more couldn't read and turn the pages fast enough to satisfy the need to know, and sections where I just wanted to let the words slide over me. Beautiful language, rich characters, gorgeous setting with lots of history - Mapson has created a gem in a small, deceptively simple package.

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A poignant story about broken hearts healing. A widow, a wounded police officer, an abandoned child, all find healing under the shade of Solomon’s Oak.

Tenderly and slowly shedding light on the lives of three broken individuals, illuminating their past hurts, thoughts and future hopes, Jo-Ann Mapson has written a beautiful and compassionate love story. The love of mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, pets and owners, people and nature, and friendships, are all knit together into a show more heart-touching story.

Simply lovely. show less