Up High in the Trees

When Sebby Lane asks his mother where he came from, she points to the trees high above their heads . . . In this startling and brave debut novel, Kiara Brinkman introduces an extraordinary young boy, a boy Cristina Garcia has called "a Little Prince for our times." Nine-year-old Sebby Lane has lost his best friend, his mother, and misses her so acutely that he begins to dream and even relive moments of her life. After an incident at school, Sebby's father leaves Sebby's older brother and sister behind and takes Sebby to live in the family's summerhouse, hoping it will give both of them time and space to recover. But Sebby's father deteriorates in this new isolation, leaving Sebby to reach out to a favorite teacher back home, writing his private thoughts in letters to her. He also becomes acquainted with nearby children who force him out of the void of the past and help him to exist in the present. Sebby's continued struggle to understand his mother--both her life and her death--lead him to wonder if he, too, is meant to die. When his attempts to reenact her life ultimately fail him, Sebby comes to a new understanding of himself, and only then can he begin to move forward. In spare and exquisite prose buoyed by the life force of its small, fearless narrator, Up High in the Trees introduces an astonishingly fresh and powerful literary voice.