This book is written like a children’s story, focused on a young boy named Conor whose mother is ill with cancer, as he starts to get nightly visits from a monster in the form of a massive yew tree. And like many other children’s stories, it’s a parable that is used to illustrate a specific lesson. However, unlike most children’s stories, this particular lesson was heartbreaking, and left me crying.
I lost my mom to cancer about a year ago, so I found this to be a hard book to read. That said, it’s worth it. Although it initially reads like a simple children’s fantasy story, it turns out to be a complicated, gritty, and tragic tale with a powerful message at its heart about love and loss.
