The View from Here

Katie Sinclair climbed up a loblolly pine just to see if she could. And then she stayed, creating a media sensation and more than a little trouble for the folks in Jones County, North Carolina. There is a lot of speculation about why the state employee took to the tree. Some think she is making a political statement about the destruction of forests for urban development. Others believe her recent divorce has driven her to a nervous breakdown.

But the truth is she's living in a tree because she needs a new perspective. She needs a wider view of a life that had somehow become tedious and small. From her perch high above, Katie deals with the deputy who keeps being sent to try and talk her down, a brutal spring storm, well-meaning environmentalists, odd and interesting townspeople, a pair of protective horned owls, a mysterious reporter, and even some dangerous "boys" sent by a local developer whose plans demand the removal of her tree.

There is plenty for Katie to take in while living in a tree. The View From Here is her story. Author Lynne Hinton's elegant, effortless prose shows us as if we were on the landing beside Katie what Katie is seeing and learning about birds, sky, wind, her neighbors, and other people. But she-and us with her, her reader-is changed primarily by what she discovers about herself, about grief and forgiveness, and about the true love that has been in front of her for most of her life. No reader will be unmoved by the imaginative conceit of this novel or its wise, lyrical, and empathetic telling crafted by a master writer.