If " The Crying Tree" doesn't make you cry you have better control over your blubbing than I do. This is an astonishing debut novel." (Richard Madeley " Woman's Own"). Irene Stanley thought her world had come to an end when her teenage son Shep is murdered. Daniel Robbin who had spent his teenage years in & out of trouble gave himself up to the police & was given the state's harshest sentence: death by lethal injection. Now nineteen years later as the state penitentiary prepares to execute Robbin Irene Stanley must reveal what she has been hiding from her family. That in order to survive the anger & grief she had at loosing her so she not only had forgiven the man who killed him but had come to be his friend. Her revelation stuns her family & cracks open the secrets that had been surrounding her son's death. Secrets that reveal how little she understood Shep her husband or herself. Dramatic emotional & ultimately uplifting " The Crying Tree" is an unforgettable story of love & redemption the unbreakable bonds of family & the transformative power of forgiveness. " If you enjoy reading Jodi Picolut you'll love Naseem Rakha. These are big themes for a new writer but Rakha knows what she's doing.. ." The Crying Tree" is quite simply a terrific story." (Judy Finnigan " Woman's Own")."