I enjoyed this coming of age tale, but was left wanting more. The female character is strong, her personal tragedies come alive through the telling of her story. It was easy to identify with the main character, particularly with regard to her peer relationships. Adolescence is challenging, particularly when girls reject and spite one another while balancing their own development!
There were some holes within the pages, which I wish had been developed further. I found the relevance of the tree to be downplayed a bit and wanted to know more about her relationship with her father.
While on a recent hike, I found a crooked tree and easily connected with my memory of the book. I wish I had taken a photograph to share here!
Thank to NetGalley for my digital copy in exchange for this review.

A Crooked Tree is a strong debut novel from Una Mannion that follows the story of a 15 year old girl, Libby, in 1981 following the aftermath of an explosive argument between Libby's sister and mother.

I loved the positive portrayal of Libby and her sisters relationship--they are self-sufficient, reliable, and strong-minded. The typical trope of a father's death affecting Libby's mother causing her to be mostly absent from their daily lives does take place. I get the importance of this but it felt like a lazy way to get Libby's mother in an absent state. After an argument on the last day of school Libby’s mother orders her little sister Ellen out of the car several miles from home. That rash decision in a series of poor judgement calls produces a myriad of unintended effects for everyone directly and indirectly involved.

Libby and her family are strong characters but the background characters do lack the same punch of development that the main characters exhibit. This slow burn of a drama will grab readers and surprise them when it goes into the path of a coming-of-age narrative. I'm excited to recommend this to adult and teen readers at my library!

I was drawn into this book immediately and the gripping plot kept my attention throughout the entire novel. The writing is excellent and all of the characters are interesting well fleshed out. I found the dysfunctional family quite disturbing, which is why I considered giving the book only 3 stars. However, in the end, I decided I would still want to read the book again (knowing what I know now), so I left it at 4 stars. Bravo to the author on what I think is her debut novel!

Una Mannion's "A Crooked Tree" combines tight-knit family drama with 80's nostalgia. Set in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Mannion's tale begins with an argument in the family car. When younger sister Ellen's temper clashes with her mother's, mom forces her daughter to exit the car and walk home in the dark.
This crazed action sets up the fraught filled plot that drives second sister Libby's narrative, filling the story with tensions, trips to the mall, scenic walks in the woods and the mysterious blonde haired man that looms large.
Mannion fills "A Crooked Tree" with a stellar 80's musical soundtrack, complete with Rolling Stones lyrics from Libby's hip big sister.
Sisterly bonding, assorted bad boys and an unpredictably volatile mother give "A Crooked Tree" its many limbs. A great debut.

A summer to remember. This book takes us into the lives of Libby Gallagher and her four siblings, struggling after the death of their father and mentally absent mother. While their dad and mom were divorced before he died, they are morning him a year or so later. The mother has a not-so-secret affair going on with Bill, which none of them have met except the youngest as that’s his daughter. The only boy, slightly older than Libby has been secluding himself in his room like their mother.

As a middle child you can see why Libby took the role of family worrier. She is the focal point of the book, the viewpoint, and we see her world at the beginning of summer. When Ellen returns to the mountain where they live, battered up from jumping out of a car, the girls take on the role of trying to fix this. Libby doesn’t want adults involved, she keeps things from people, fearful of the reactions and results. She trusts her best friend, but when it looks like she broke their confidence Libby shuns her and their friendship becomes tenuous.

The story has momentum, and you feel the worry thick on the pages. This summer changes the family. The book is set in the early 1980s and you do get that setting, with the bands mentioned, other cultural backdrops, as well as no cell phones to be in constant contact with each other. It was a different time.

The book isn’t an intense thriller or much of a mystery, instead it is about teens grappling with the family they have, and specifically one teen, adjusting to the world that she inhabits.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.


"The night we left Ellen on the road, we were driving north up 252 near where it meets 202 and then crosses the Pennsylvania Turnpike." Una Mannion's debut novel opens with this unsettling event, setting the stage for a coming-of-age story infused with a desperate tension and threat of vengeance that amplify its emotional wallops. A Crooked Tree is poignantly narrated by 12-year-old Ellen's older sister Libby, 15, full of normal teen angst while also struggling with her father's death, her mother's neglect and her oldest sibling Marie's impending departure for New York.

After being forced out of the family car by her angry mother, Ellen shows up bloodied and shell-shocked at the home where Libby is babysitting. She reports jumping from the car of a disturbing man with waist-length white hair and long fingernails, having asked him for a ride up Valley Forge Mountain. Fearful of being separated if authorities discover how they live, Libby tells only Marie. But three people knowing a secret is two too many, and soon the man they dub "Barbie Man" has reason to return for revenge.

As the plot swirls towards a showdown, Mannion deftly weaves the varied plot threads into a magnificent whole. Like the crooked tree near the fort built with her best friend, Libby's mettle is bent and tested by forces spinning out of control as she tries to keep her family safe. A tale of trust, friendship and valor set against a backdrop of wicked apprehension, Mannion's work is spectacularly accomplished.

I’m not going to lie, I don’t even know how I ended up with this book and it took me forever to even try to pick it up. BUT that was a huge mistake, as it was flawlessly written, and so dang thrilling! I think the author wrote in an emotional manner, which had me on the edge of my seat from the tension, and need to know how it would play out. It was done with amazing character development, beautiful writing, and a tense and shocking storyline. I highly, highly recommend this book, as it’s not what I normally would pick, but will be one i regularly recommend!

Will buzz around platforms and use low Amazon reviewer number!

3.5 stars

The writing was spectacular and I very much enjoyed the story, I just found it to be a bit long winded. I think this would’ve been perfect at around 250 pages. There were too many anecdotes that I found unnecessary (I hit my limit when the narrator started talking about a past story involving a bobby pin, because she was currently holding a bobby pin) and ended up skimming most of them. I think if I was more invested in Libby as a character, I would’ve enjoyed the fluff.

Overall not bad and I would recommend to a very specific audience.

I'm a little disappointed to say that the idea of what I imagined this to be was a bit better than what it ended up being for me. The set-up is incredible: the last day of the school year in the 80's, the car is filled with bickering children driving down a winding road, the little spats become too much and twelve-year-old Ellen is told by her mother to get out of the car and walk home--six miles from their house. The family is already fractured seemingly beyond repair, what is this one action going to do to it?

Overall, I did find this enjoyable. There wasn't a huge amount of plot, but that isn't necessarily something I find bad. A book without a lot of plot often brings characterizations and Una Mannion did that wonderfully, it just wasn't in the places that I personally wanted. I didn't find the narrator, Libby, to be particularly likeable or sympathetic. I was much more interested in the other characters--Ellen, Marie, Wilson, their parents. And this might have been something that just didn't click with me and Libby. I think I still would've liked all the other characters regardless, I just might not have wanted them to narrate the book instead.

Una Mannion is clearly very talented. Her writing is beautiful and I loved all the references to Irish culture. It put me in the mood to read some James Joyce. I think this is also a banging debut. I'll definitely look into anything else she publishes.

I was in a wild reading slump, until I picked up A Crooked Tree. I read this book in 24 hours and truly loved it.

This was a stellar work of literary fiction. The summary of the story really does this injustice. Ultimately, it is the story of Libby the middle child and how one event can send every thing else careening off course. Beautiful writing, loved the incorporation of nature into the story. Can’t wait to read more of Mannion’s writing

“Everything was beautiful, and for a moment we were held together by our longing to be what we had once been.” - A Crooked Tree.


This book is set in the 1980’s and follows Libby and her large, unruly family. Libby is obsessed with trees and spends a lot of her time in a stand of trees near her home that she named “The Kingdom”. However, one night on their way home, Libby and her siblings are fighting in the backseat of the car. Tired of their arguing, their mother pulls over and makes twelve-year-old Ellen get out and walk the rest of the way home in the dark. This dangerous punishment starts off a turn of events that will impact Libby’s adolescence.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Books , and Una Mannion for proving me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Overall, I thought this book was good and enjoyed the glimpse into Libby’s adolescence and her experience within her family. I felt that the characters were interesting and that there was a lot going on between them all. This is definitely a slower read that’s builds a bit overtime, but there is a little action to it too. One thing I wanted more of was further exploration into certain themes, scenarios, and conversations. Sometimes I felt myself wanting the characters to dig a little deeper into themselves and have stronger revelations. I also really wanted the ending to be expanded upon more as there were a couple major changes that occurred for the characters. Overall, I thought this was well-written and would recommend it to those who are looking for a literary read that looks at a snapshot of adolescence.

Release Date: January 5, 2021

A dysfunctional family, a house in the woods, and children left to themselves, what could go wrong? Growing up in a neighborhood near Valley Forge PA, Libby’s mother forces her young sister out of the car one night to walk home. Ellen is picked up by a weird man who has no intentions of taking her home. Ellen escapes by opening the door and jumping out, but it unleashes a series of events in which a neighbor, an older boy from whom the kids try to stay away, comes to her rescue only to case more challenges. The story is fine, but the diverse set of characters is what makes it interesting. It is not just a teen coming of age story. Yes, there is neighborhood dram and conflict and romance, but Libby the main character and her 4 brothers and sisters have individual personalities. Winston, the weird hero, is shown to have learned from his past mistakes and is shown to be a true friend.

I read this book in a day and thought it was really good overall. I loved the sibling relationships and how they took care of each other. The main character Libby goes through a lot of growth during the story and at times it's jarring to realize what she is not seeing but they I'd remember that she was just a teen.
Over the course of a summer Libby's understanding of adults, relationships, and friendships really expands. I think a main theme of this book is that adults are just fallible people too and that when a child learns that it's a growing up moment.
There are a lot of difficult subjects in the book too - child abuse, neglect, death of a parent (their father died before the events of the book), and violence. I really cared about the five kids and found myself being nostalgic for my childhood as well, and recognized that even though their situation was not good, they were there for each other and very connected.
The author brought in quite a bit of info and stories about the Indigenous people who lived in the area before colonization - she had the kids in the book talk about it and the father talk about in the kids' memories. It made me wonder where that part fit in overall with the main story. In a way they were recognizing the land but they also had some likely incorrect "campfire tales" about the people whose land they were on.

I really struggled to get into this book. I felt like it moved incredibly slowly and there wasn't much of a plot. 'The writing is good, with great imagery and world building, but nothing really happened in the book to capture my interest. I think it needed more depth in the plot for me to care about the characters.

Una Mannion loves her characters and she does a good job of differentiating the members of the large and complicated family at the heart of this novel. For me though the novel relies a little too heavily on a first-person narrator who is never quite believable to me. The novel is narrated by a middle sister, and she seems to be telling her story from a neutral place, somewhere outside the family. She makes grounded observations of her kin as if she's a side observer and she never quite feels like she's inside the story herself. This narrative style--one that also relies on the first-person narrator to provide a lot of backstory and exposition, along the way--will probably work well for readers who prefer a straightforward storytelling style and who like their narrators to be reliable. It's not really my preference.

I read an e-copy of this novel prior to publication, provided by Harper via NetGalley.

I grew up on a gravel road, and our house was about a mile down from the highway. My sister and I were expert backtalkers, and on more than one occasion we got booted out of the car to walk the last mile home. The opening chapter of this book resonates with familiar feeling, but as the story unfolds, it becomes more and more unsettling.

I loved how the author balanced the main character's understanding and naivete. Like most children in her situation, she had to grow up too fast. There are tense moments when you can tell she needs someone to turn to, to guide her, but she is forced to rely on her own wits and limited experience. I enjoyed the casual writing style and the haunting, almost longing feeling the book maintained throughout. While the story is imperfect, it is believable and would be a great chilling-but-not-too-scary summer read.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. I'll be posting my review on Goodreads and Amazon

While there was explicitly nothing wrong with this book or the writing, i was surprised that i did not find the book propulsive or interesting in any regard. The atmosphere if mystery was built up and quickly resolved, though i believe the author intended for it to carry forward with regards to the father figure in this novel being absent. I was sad that it did not hold my interest, i felt very little connection to the characters. I usually adore mysteries, thrillers, and stories from the perspective of the child, yet even 60% in i had no theories to the plot, nor any vested interest in getting to know them better. Sadly did not enjoy this one

"Everything was beautiful, and for a moment we were held together by our longing to be what we once had been."

Gawdddd, this book is gorgeous. I honestly didn't know what I was getting into when I started this one. I thought I was going to be reading a mystery about a missing girl and what I got was an amazingly well-written, beautiful book about a family in the 70s. Libby is the protagonist of the story, which starts with a fateful car ride. It is the last day of school and Libby's mom is driving Libby and her four siblings home. Twelve year old Ellen is being a pain in the ass (as twelve year olds tend to do) and her mother finally pulls over on the side of the highway and tells her to walk home. Ellen gets out of the car, and her siblings watch in astonishment as their mother drives away. Ellen does make it home, but the events of that night leave the family forever changed.

I'm not sure what to say about A Crooked Tree except that is touching and intense and made me nostalgic, even though I didn't grow up in the 70s. The writing is beautiful and it is hard to believe this is a debut novel. If you enjoy coming-of-age novels you MUST add this to your list. This is my first five star read in awhile and I will be keeping an eye on Mannion as I would love to read anything she writes--grocery lists included.

*Please note that the quoted material is from an uncorrected proof and is subject to change.