Join us on Wednesday, March 27 at 7pm PT when Marie Mutsuki Mockett celebrates the release of her novel, The Tree Doctor, with Shanthi Sekaran at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Tree Doctor
Most Anticipated for 2024 by Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews
"An affecting story of personal transformation, as broody as it is erotic."- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"[a] fertile tale of sex and gardening ... Mockett's loamy language describing her characters' erotic liaisons is often quite moving ... This portrayal of a woman's emotional courage and restoration makes the lockdown worth revisiting..." - Publishers Weekly
About The Tree Doctor
A startling, erotic novel about the need to balance care for others with care for one's self.
When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it.
Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic.
The Tree Doctor is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.
About Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Marie Mutsuki Mockett was born to an American father and Japanese mother. American Harvest: God, Country and Farming in the Heartland (Graywolf) won both the 2021 Northern California Book Award and the Nebraska Book Award, and is a tribute to the complicated and nuanced history of the United States and its people. Her memoir, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, was a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award. She lives in San Francisco and teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is currently a Fulbright Fellow to Japan for 2022-2023.
About Shanthi Sekaran
Shanthi Sekaran is a novelist and television writer. Her most recent adult novel, Lucky Boy, was named an Indie Next Great Read, an Amazon Editor's Pick and a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Library Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and LA Review of Books. In 2021, her middle grade debut, The Samosa Rebellion, won the Northern California Book Award and was named an Amazon Editor's Pick for readers aged 9-13. Her second middle grade novel, Boomi's Boombox, came out in Spring 2023. She recently wrapped up her work on the acclaimed NBC medical drama, "New Amsterdam". She lives in Berkeley, California with her family and a cat named Frog.
show less
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Tree Doctor
Most Anticipated for 2024 by Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews
"An affecting story of personal transformation, as broody as it is erotic."- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"[a] fertile tale of sex and gardening ... Mockett's loamy language describing her characters' erotic liaisons is often quite moving ... This portrayal of a woman's emotional courage and restoration makes the lockdown worth revisiting..." - Publishers Weekly
About The Tree Doctor
A startling, erotic novel about the need to balance care for others with care for one's self.
When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it.
Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic.
The Tree Doctor is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.
About Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Marie Mutsuki Mockett was born to an American father and Japanese mother. American Harvest: God, Country and Farming in the Heartland (Graywolf) won both the 2021 Northern California Book Award and the Nebraska Book Award, and is a tribute to the complicated and nuanced history of the United States and its people. Her memoir, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, was a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award. She lives in San Francisco and teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is currently a Fulbright Fellow to Japan for 2022-2023.
About Shanthi Sekaran
Shanthi Sekaran is a novelist and television writer. Her most recent adult novel, Lucky Boy, was named an Indie Next Great Read, an Amazon Editor's Pick and a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Library Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and LA Review of Books. In 2021, her middle grade debut, The Samosa Rebellion, won the Northern California Book Award and was named an Amazon Editor's Pick for readers aged 9-13. Her second middle grade novel, Boomi's Boombox, came out in Spring 2023. She recently wrapped up her work on the acclaimed NBC medical drama, "New Amsterdam". She lives in Berkeley, California with her family and a cat named Frog.
Join us on Wednesday, March 27 at 7pm PT when Marie Mutsuki Mockett celebrates the release of her novel, The Tree Doctor, with Shanthi Sekaran at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Tree Doctor
Most Anticipated for 2024 by Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews
"An affecting story of personal transformation, as broody as it is erotic."- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"[a] fertile tale of sex and gardening ... Mockett's loamy language describing her characters' erotic liaisons is often quite moving ... This portrayal of a woman's emotional courage and restoration makes the lockdown worth revisiting..." - Publishers Weekly
About The Tree Doctor
A startling, erotic novel about the need to balance care for others with care for one's self.
When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it.
Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic.
The Tree Doctor is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.
About Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Marie Mutsuki Mockett was born to an American father and Japanese mother. American Harvest: God, Country and Farming in the Heartland (Graywolf) won both the 2021 Northern California Book Award and the Nebraska Book Award, and is a tribute to the complicated and nuanced history of the United States and its people. Her memoir, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, was a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award. She lives in San Francisco and teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is currently a Fulbright Fellow to Japan for 2022-2023.
About Shanthi Sekaran
Shanthi Sekaran is a novelist and television writer. Her most recent adult novel, Lucky Boy, was named an Indie Next Great Read, an Amazon Editor's Pick and a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Library Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and LA Review of Books. In 2021, her middle grade debut, The Samosa Rebellion, won the Northern California Book Award and was named an Amazon Editor's Pick for readers aged 9-13. Her second middle grade novel, Boomi's Boombox, came out in Spring 2023. She recently wrapped up her work on the acclaimed NBC medical drama, "New Amsterdam". She lives in Berkeley, California with her family and a cat named Frog.
read more
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or watch online/Livestream link available soon
Praise for The Tree Doctor
Most Anticipated for 2024 by Oprah Daily, The Washington Post, Electric Literature, Kirkus Reviews
"An affecting story of personal transformation, as broody as it is erotic."- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"[a] fertile tale of sex and gardening ... Mockett's loamy language describing her characters' erotic liaisons is often quite moving ... This portrayal of a woman's emotional courage and restoration makes the lockdown worth revisiting..." - Publishers Weekly
About The Tree Doctor
A startling, erotic novel about the need to balance care for others with care for one's self.
When the unnamed narrator of Marie Mutsuki Mockett's stirring second novel returns to Carmel, California, to care for her mother, she finds herself stranded at the outset of the disease. With her husband and children back in Hong Kong, and her Japanese mother steadily declining in a care facility two hours away, she becomes preoccupied with her mother's garden--convinced it contains a kind of visual puzzle--and the dormant cherry tree within it.
Caught between tending to an unwell parent and the weight of obligation to her distant daughters and husband, she becomes isolated and unmoored. She soon starts a torrid affair with an arborist who is equally fascinated by her mother's garden, and together they embark on reviving it. Increasingly engrossed by the garden, and by the awakening of her own body, she comes to see her mother's illness as part of a natural order in which things are perpetually living and dying, consuming and being consumed. All the while, she struggles to teach (remotely) Lady Murasaki's eleventh-century novel, The Tale of Genji, which turns out to resonate eerily with the conditions of contemporary society in the grip of a pandemic.
The Tree Doctor is a powerful, beautifully written novel full of bodily pleasure, intense observation of nature, and a profound reckoning with the passage of time both within ourselves and in the world we inhabit.
About Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Marie Mutsuki Mockett was born to an American father and Japanese mother. American Harvest: God, Country and Farming in the Heartland (Graywolf) won both the 2021 Northern California Book Award and the Nebraska Book Award, and is a tribute to the complicated and nuanced history of the United States and its people. Her memoir, Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye, was a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award. She lives in San Francisco and teaches at the Bennington Writing Seminars. She is currently a Fulbright Fellow to Japan for 2022-2023.
About Shanthi Sekaran
Shanthi Sekaran is a novelist and television writer. Her most recent adult novel, Lucky Boy, was named an Indie Next Great Read, an Amazon Editor's Pick and a Best Book of 2017 by NPR, Barnes & Noble, Library Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times and LA Review of Books. In 2021, her middle grade debut, The Samosa Rebellion, won the Northern California Book Award and was named an Amazon Editor's Pick for readers aged 9-13. Her second middle grade novel, Boomi's Boombox, came out in Spring 2023. She recently wrapped up her work on the acclaimed NBC medical drama, "New Amsterdam". She lives in Berkeley, California with her family and a cat named Frog.
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