The Witness Tree

While copying her mother’s recipes, a woman recalls her childhood and adolescence in the 1940s and 1950s in a small Texas town, and re-lives the year that changed her life and the lives of those around her forever. This is a story about harmful family secrets and how it is possible to grow stronger through adversity by turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones. The story encompasses the shame and cultural bias associated with unwed pregnancies in the 1950s. It is the story of one girl’s adolescence and the years that followed, and her journey to adulthood and acceptance.

Author Biography

Patricia West Hays grew up in a small Texas town very much like the town of Darby in this book. She graduated from Memphis State University in Tennessee, long before it became the University of Memphis. She lives in Dallas, Texas, where she writes poetry and tells stories. This is her first novel. Website: www.thewitnesstree.net