Books that Stuck with Me: The Heaven Tree Trilogy

This blog post series is about books that stuck with me for various reasons. Some of them are special to me because of the age at which I first read them, and they introduced me to a new thought or emotional experience. Some of them are special because they introduced me to a new favorite author. A few stuck with me because I hated them so much. But not this one!

The Heaven Tree Trilogy by Edith Pargeter is one of my favorite books/series ever. This is a book to read again and again. Love, passion, envy, hate, tragedy, honor, forgiveness, compassion… it’s all there in gut-wrenching clarity.

You’ll note that the editorial reviews on Amazon say that it isn’t quite as good as some of her later works. I’m not sure I agree. I love her other books (the ones that I’ve read), but I think this one is especially beautiful. Other readers tend to agree. Of the 50 reader reviews on Amazon as I write this, the book is rated a 4.9/5, the highest rating I’ve ever seen on Amazon of a book with more than a handful of reviews.

The Heaven Tree Trilogy is beautiful in every way. It’s the reason I started reading historical fiction. If I could recommend ONE fiction book to you, it would probably be this one.

I love Edith Pargeter’s writing so much that one year, my husband found me a rare copy of The Marriage of Meggotta. Pay no attention to the low ratings on that page – apparently people can’t be bothered to read the entire book or realize that it’s not a YA book… it’s just a book about young people. I also love The Brothers Gwenydd Quartet (Sunrise in the West, the Dragon at Noonday, the Hounds of Sunset, and Afterglow and Nightfall) and A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury. Edith Pargeter also wrote as Ellis Peters for the Brother Cadfael series and other books.