''In Solomon's Oak, we see how some things - like massive oaks, and unshakeable love - can stand the test of time. I love the way Jo-Ann Mapson writes about family - how the roots we put down are the ones that ultimately hold us together' Jodi Picoult __________________ Solomon's Oak is the story of three people who have suffered losses that changed their lives forever. To make ends meet, Glory Solomon, a young widow, is using the chapel her husband built on their central California farm, under a 200-year-old white oak tree, as a place to hold unusual weddings. Her first is for a bride and groom who want a pirate wedding. Fourteen-year-old Juniper McGuire is the surviving member of a family decimated by a local kidnapping. Juniper arrives on Glory's doorstep, pierced, tattooed, angry and homeless. When Glory's husband Dan was alive they took in foster children and raised them. But Juniper may be more than she has the capacity to handle. Joseph Vigil is a former Albuquerque police officer and crime lab photographer who was shot during an assignment. Now disabled and in constant pain, he came to California to photograph the giant trees of the state. Jo-Ann Mapson's deeply felt, wise and warm portrayal of broken souls finding their way back to humanity shows how these three people - along with a host of dogs, horses and goats -enter and transform each other's lives.

`If you haven't discovered Jo-Ann Mapson yet, you're in for the finest of treats - her books will move you from out-loud laughter to bittersweet tears' Jodi Picoult

'Mapson creates characters so real you could recognize them coming down the road'