The Language of Trees

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Steve Wiegenstein, and Blank Slate Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for sharing your work with me.

We follow the lives of several citizens of a community known as Daybreak, Missouri from August 1887 through the winter of 1888, through good times and bad, prosperity and want. Daybreak began as an experiment in communal living in the 1850's and though there were setbacks through the Civil War things are beginning to smooth back out for the community. Or so it would seem.

I loved Josephine and Charlotte, Charlie and Ambrose. I enjoyed watching Charlotte's sons Adam and Newton mature and fill out their places in the community, and the way the community circled round to protect themselves from the lumber and mining company intent on destroying what made Daybreak special. This is a book I will happily recommend to friends and family, and I must read the previous books in their series by Steve Wiegenstein.

Historian friends of mine will enjoy this story of a 19th century utopian community beset with problems from outsiders. I remember reading about these communities in college, I can't remember any lasting very long. Human nature what it is, it's a wonder we can all agree the sky is blue!

Daybreak is a community founded in the late 19th century as a commune. All of its members share in the profits of the land and all hold an equal vote to decide what to do with the profits, including the women. That doesn't mean there weren't secrets and relationships and apparent inequalities among the members of the community. They become more apparent when a lumber company from New York decides to secure land in the area and wants to buy their community property to cut down the pine forests. In addition to this, a new minister with his own unique take on the Bible has settled in the area. There are too many changes for the people of Daybreak, prompting many decisions to make.

The story of a big company trying to take over the little guy is a common one.

I like Josephine the best out of the commune characters, even though she was prickly toward others and was seen as stubborn and sometimes unfriendly. The leader was harder for me to get to know, and his secret relationship and thoughts about Josephine didn't make me want to. His brother wasn't much better, so the lumber company's attempts to buy out Daybreak seemed to magnify the difficulties that were already present in the town.

I was surprised by how much I grew to like some of the other characters in the book and cared about their efforts to preserve their way of life. The ending is dramatic and really helps to drive home for everyone involved what is most important to them: the connections they have and want to make