THE LION TREES

The Lion Trees is a work of literary fiction about an ordinary American family. Its central characters are a family of five – the Johns—living in Columbus, Ohio in the year 2005. George W. Bush is well into his second term. The Iraq War is raging. Hurricane Katrina has landed. The Johns family is quietly, and then not so quietly, unraveling. In shades of Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full, Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible and William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, the Johns family story, at turns dramatic and comic, is woven in four distinct narrative voices: Hollis, Susan, David and Tilly.

Hollis, the disaffected paterfamilias, simply wants some respect. He would like someone to acknowledge the quality of his character and the depth of his wisdom about the world. Is that so much to ask? Certainly, it has not helped that after decades of loyal service as a commercial banker, Hollis finds himself callously nudged into early retirement by a merge-happy bank looking to make room for younger, shallower talent. He is home now, amid indistinguishable days, taking stock of his many attributes and exploring new pursuits to deepen his consciousness—like Buddhism, bonsai trimming, vibrational meditation and, increasingly, oenophilia – pursuits that his family, and others lost in the fog of their shallow, media-driven narcissism, pointedly fail to appreciate. Relief, at last, comes with the sudden arrival of Suki Takada, the daughter of a powerful Japanese bank president in need of an escort on her tour of Ohio graduate schools. Young enough to be Hollis’ own daughter, Suki is a kind of confirmatory narcotic, addictive and aphrodisiacal, offering herself up as an affirmation of everything Hollis marvels about himself. She will either return Hollis to the full potency of his lost youth or, as he races cross-country chasing ghosts of the past, strip away every last dignity and conceit until there is nothing left but the truth.

Hollis is not alone in the maelstrom of identity confusion. His wife, Susan, for instance, is waking up after forty years of marriage to realize that she has been living Hollis’ life, not her own. When a lesbian biker undertakes to reconnect Susan with a political past long abandoned, Susan must not only reevaluate her identity, but what and who in her life is worth keeping.

David, Hollis’ eldest son, is a high school history teacher trapped in the past. Teaching hopelessly incurious students at the very school from which he graduated, David wilts in the shadow of his father’s judgment and success. Try as he may, reason for optimism is elusive. It does not help matters when one of his students goes missing and David quickly becomes the unrelenting preoccupation of the Columbus Police Department. Proving his innocence – if that is possible—will require more than the help of Glenda LeVeau, his high-priced, colorfully embonpoint lawyer who just may be interested in sexually offsetting her fee. It will require more than the help of Lonnie Lumkin, a public defender who eats root vegetables out of his briefcase. Not even the inimitable Caitlin Carson Lewis, an out-of-nowhere, southern, pot-smoking hospice worker who drives a decommissioned ambulance and who seems to know David better than he knows himself will be enough to save him. David must save himself. Ultimately, he must plumb the depths of his own history, examining his childhood memories for the judgments he has sewn into the fabric of his identity, and that threaten to pull him beneath the surface.

Hollis’ only daughter, Tilly, does everything she can to live down to her father’s low expectations. Working in Hollywood as an up-and-coming starlet provides Tilly with ample opportunity to offend Hollis’ sensibilities and sharpen their long estrangement. Playing the “dead hooker” on bad television crime dramas, for example. And sleeping with her directors. That she is driven to do such things is beyond question. But exactly why is a mystery.

The path to illumination begins when Tilly receives an offer to play the role of Colonel Elena Ivanova in the screen adaptation of Angus Mann’s classic story, The Lion Tree. It is the role of a lifetime, not only because Tilly so powerfully identifies with Colonel Ivanova, but also because of her formative associations with two men behind the disaster-prone production. One of those men is acclaimed director Blair Gaines, who is determined to own Tilly, even if it means sacrificing the project. The other is Angus Mann himself, a reluctant consultant on the film, who seems to generally loathe the existence of Hollywood and its perversions of literature, including the very possibility that someone of Tilly’s reputation might inhabit his beloved Ivanova.

Tilly’s lifelong journey of self-discovery, forgiveness and redemption, threads its way from Ohio to California to Africa and back again, a path mined with all manner of salacious scandal of a kind that Hollywood and its ingénue starlets are very familiar. But no single twist of events in Tilly’s life will prove to be more revealing than the dark past that haunts the great Angus Mann and that wrought his most famous story. Ultimately, her work with Angus and Blair on The Lion Tree will raise for Tilly fundamental questions of the self, the answers to which will lead her back to Ohio, to her father Hollis, and to the secrets buried in the basement of her childhood home. Only there will she find her true self and confront the lion tree of her own heart.

CLICK TO PURCHASE THE LION TREES

KIRKUS REVIEWS:

“[A] cerebral page turner…a powerful and promising debut.”

INDIE READER:

“A stunningly realized debut evoking shades of vintage John Irving, the recently released audiobook version of Owen Thomas’ THE LION TREES has transformed this must-read novel into a ‘must-listen.’”

ALASKA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION:

“The Lion Trees has the all hallmarks of a modern classic.”

THE ERIC HOFFER BOOK AWARD:

“A sweeping literary saga in the tradition of Dr. Zhivago, Gone with the Wind, and The Thorn Birds, this book has it all, including scandal, aspiration, treachery, and reinvention. Thomas’ fiction has a fresh feel—original and stirring—delivering a tale of monumental family dysfunction, which captures interest through numerous plot shifts, quickly alternate between poignant and humorous. By turns exhilarating and exhausting, Thomas creates compelling, rich characters. The ending is just as satisfying as the beginning. At 2,000 pages, the scope of the project alone is admirable.”

THE US REVIEW OF BOOKS:

“Owen Thomas’ Lion Trees… can be anointed any number of superlatives to showcase its brilliance; highly addictive, spectacular, and mind blowing will have to suffice. Thomas is a wizard of fiction, and his novel a captivating gem that engulfs the reader from the beginning. Whether it’s the reliability factor, exhilarating plot arcs, or the deep allegiances built with the characters, this novel is brought to life in the readers’ mind…. What makes this story a literary juggernaut is the fluidity of the prose and the impeccable pacing of the novel. Thomas gives readers just enough of each character’s perspective, and as that carrot is dangling seemingly within reach, he switches gears. Don’t let the length of the book deceive; there is never a dull moment, and the pages just seem to turn themselves. Ultimately, The Lion Trees is life personified. No man is either good or bad, but rather a tantalizing fusion of the two that makes life worth living.”

THE ANCHORAGE PRESS:

“Every now and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a new voice comes along and knocks your socks off. Owen Thomas owns that voice. . . . . Intoxicated by his prose, you gorge upon chunks of passages and while awestruck by the language’s majesty two discordant thoughts course through your brain: why is the book so long and then, superseding that sentiment, please don’t let it end. It is not often that a book like The Lion Trees graces our lives. Yes, making the commitment to engage in such a lengthy tome can be daunting. Here’s my response, throw caution to the wind, make this book your summer indulgence—it will be a vacation you’ll never forget.”

BOOK IDEAS REVIEWS:

“In its structure and nature, [The Lion Trees] reminds me above all of John Updike’s wonderful Harry Rabbit novels and their ability to summarize the essence of change in American society across a decade at a time.”

PACIFIC BOOK REVIEWS:

“I loved The Lion Trees – and you will too. This is a powerful, gripping and realistic story. Once, a few decades ago, many authors would set out to write “The Great American Novel,” hoping to tap into whatever it is which makes the US and its people so unique and hopeful, particularly at a set point in time. The Grapes of Wrath comes to mind as such a novel. These days it doesn’t seem like anyone tries to write those kind of seminal novels anymore… until now. I don’t know that The Lion Trees will be held in this regard by others, but it certainly struck a nerve with me and I hope one day it comes to be considered a “Great American Novel.” The story is lengthy … but never dull. Don’t be intimated by the length. The novel is worth every minute you spend wrapped inside its world. … This is a wonderful, well thought out, well written tale, worth every minute, every hour, and every day that you spend in it. Mr. Thomas’ style is straightforward and easy (even with the various dialects he employs perfectly). He uses simple, detail-oriented diction, creating a wonderful base on which to build such a story. The Lion Trees does what so very few great novels can: it will take a lot out of you, but leave you with much more than you had when you began.”

READERS’ FAVORITE BOOK REVIEWS:

“This is the sort of novel which a light fiction reader might put down after the first dozen pages, and I’m here to implore that you don’t. Once you get used to the time-hopping, perspective-switching style of Owen Thomas’ deep and beautiful prose, the story of the Johns family flutters like a paper bag in the breeze that you can’t stop watching. Unpredictable, philosophical and deeply, intrinsically human, The Lion Trees explores a lengthy gamut of powerful emotional depths, asking important questions about life which we readers, like the Johns family, so often forget to stop and ponder. A superb and high quality literary drama.”

MOTERWRITER.COM:

“By the time you are done with The Lion Trees, you [will] have forgotten all about the length and will realize what an amazingly entertaining piece of literature it was and do I dare say it, a serious novel that provides you with some genuine laugh out loud moments. … The Lion Treesdepicts people who can’t be slotted as just saints or monsters, they fall somewhere in between, just like any of us. Owen Thomas’s writing leaves you richer with emotions and contentment even before the ending arrives. If there is only one book that you are going to read this year, make it The Lion Trees.

LITERARY LITTER.COM:

“I’ve been an avid reader for well over thirty-five years. I’ve been a reviewer for over a dozen. I’ve been bombarded by today’s cookie cutter story assembly and I despise it. There are times when I just don’t think I can take another pre-fab book. Then, someone like Owen Thomas comes along and reminds me what the book world CAN offer, what a story CAN be. It reminds me of the reason I fell in love with reading in the first place and what a magical world the art of storytelling is…. If I were going to write a book myself, I would want it to be something that changed the world of the person holding it, and this book does that exceedingly well. …. [T]his was an astounding read for me. Not only was the story telling mesmerizing, but Owen’s writing style is inspiring. His writing is seamless and flawless and makes me yearn for more. After reading both of these books, I’ve nominated [The Lion Trees] for Book of the Year Awards, I truly believe this is the best story that I’ve read this year, actually in a long time. This is what fiction and novels were initially created to be. It’s not only beautifully crafted, but it becomes a part of you.”