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The Widow Tree
In the fall of 1953, three teenagers find a clutch of long-lost Roman coins while clearing vegetables from a government field, and they argue over what to do with this new-found wealth. Nevena insists they should be turned over as they rightfully belong to the country. János wants to keep them. And Dorján walks the line between the two. The decision to conceal their discovery turns disastrous when János disappears.
Dorján and Nevena are left to question everything they believed to be true, while the mother of the missing boy, a widow named Gitta, slowly unravels. Has János used the money to escape the home that stifles him? Or has something much more sinister taken place?
The Widow Tree is a compelling, richly layered story of fatal plans and silent betrayals in a tightly knit Yugoslav village, where the postwar air is simultaneously flush with hope and weighted with suspicion. Amidst an intricate web of cultural tensions, government control, family bonds, and past mistakes, the truth behind many closely guarded secrets is revealed—with life-altering consequences.
Dorján and Nevena are left to question everything they believed to be true, while the mother of the missing boy, a widow named Gitta, slowly unravels. Has János used the money to escape the home that stifles him? Or has something much more sinister taken place?
The Widow Tree is a compelling, richly layered story of fatal plans and silent betrayals in a tightly knit Yugoslav village, where the postwar air is simultaneously flush with hope and weighted with suspicion. Amidst an intricate web of cultural tensions, government control, family bonds, and past mistakes, the truth behind many closely guarded secrets is revealed—with life-altering consequences.
320 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
2 people are currently reading
236 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Lundrigan
10 books431 followers“Lundrigan’s skillfully balanced blend of psychological thriller and haunting coming-of-age story is infused with creepy, small-town atmospheric suspense. . . . [Her] writing is both elegant and darkly humorous, delivering bareknuckle social commentary that will appeal to fans of Gillian Flynn, Karin Fossum, and Laura Lippman.”
Booklist, Starred review
Nicole is the author of eight novels including THE SUBSTITUTE, HIDEAWAY, and AN UNTHINKABLE THING. Her work has been selected as a Top 10 pick by Canada’s national newspaper the Globe & Mail, a top 100 on amazon.ca, a top 10 by Now Magazine, and was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award (best crime novel).
If you'd like to connect with Nicole, you can do so through her website.
Booklist, Starred review
Nicole is the author of eight novels including THE SUBSTITUTE, HIDEAWAY, and AN UNTHINKABLE THING. Her work has been selected as a Top 10 pick by Canada’s national newspaper the Globe & Mail, a top 100 on amazon.ca, a top 10 by Now Magazine, and was shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award (best crime novel).
If you'd like to connect with Nicole, you can do so through her website.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 26, 2025
this was a magnificent historical novel
horrifying, tragic, heavy.
i felt the ache inside.
the conflict, internal and external
horrifying, tragic, heavy.
i felt the ache inside.
the conflict, internal and external
May 9, 2014
Although we are told not to judge a book by it's cover, it is hard not to as it is so beautiful.
From the first page the reader is drawn into a compelling story told in beautiful language, richly drawn, imperfect characters and original similes and metaphors that make you stop and re-read. Nicole has written a book that made me want to rush home and read and had me researching the history of Yugoslavia and connecting me to my Hungarian uncle. The story and characters will stay with you long after you have finished the last page.
From the first page the reader is drawn into a compelling story told in beautiful language, richly drawn, imperfect characters and original similes and metaphors that make you stop and re-read. Nicole has written a book that made me want to rush home and read and had me researching the history of Yugoslavia and connecting me to my Hungarian uncle. The story and characters will stay with you long after you have finished the last page.
November 14, 2013
Bregalnica, Yugoslavia in the Autumn of 1953. Bussed to a government owned field and forced to harvest crops for the good of their country, three sixteen-year-old classmates stumble upon a cache of ancient Roman coins buried deep in the fertile soil. Their disagreement about what do with this incredible find sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change each of their lives, tearing their friendship apart at the seams and stitching it back together in a strange, foreign configuration that reveals hidden truths about themselves and each other.
For the poorest of the group, János Kelemen, the decision is easy. They must keep the coins for themselves and split their newly found riches. To him the coins represent a chance to escape a world in which the boys from Drobnik refer to him as a bolha, a flea, and act as if he’s “no better than dirt.” The son of a deceased gymnast who morphed into a highly skilled linguist during the Second World War, János is the most outspoken of the group, a trait that is unwelcome in the current climate of Josip Tito’s benevolent dictatorship. “Your mouth serves you best when it’s closed,” implores his mother Gitta, yet the boy is too headstrong and still too young to fully comprehend why.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/widow...
For the poorest of the group, János Kelemen, the decision is easy. They must keep the coins for themselves and split their newly found riches. To him the coins represent a chance to escape a world in which the boys from Drobnik refer to him as a bolha, a flea, and act as if he’s “no better than dirt.” The son of a deceased gymnast who morphed into a highly skilled linguist during the Second World War, János is the most outspoken of the group, a trait that is unwelcome in the current climate of Josip Tito’s benevolent dictatorship. “Your mouth serves you best when it’s closed,” implores his mother Gitta, yet the boy is too headstrong and still too young to fully comprehend why.
READ MORE:
http://www.typographicalera.com/widow...
January 13, 2014
The conflict that comes around personal identity always causes a certain amount of tension, either inside the family unit or with the community around the individual. But it is a drama that must occur sometimes and that is what Nicole Lundrigan has brilliant documented in her novel The Widow Tree.
Page 12
After his parents had died, Dorjan had moved from Drobnik to Bregalnica to live with his nagyanya. He fought against it, insisting he could manage on his own. He knew where to buy bread. A quarter loaf. With his mother now gone, that was all he would need. His grandmother was welcome, he told her, to bring him a boiled egg and a bottle of milk on occasion.
http://wp.me/p46Ewj-1c
Page 12
After his parents had died, Dorjan had moved from Drobnik to Bregalnica to live with his nagyanya. He fought against it, insisting he could manage on his own. He knew where to buy bread. A quarter loaf. With his mother now gone, that was all he would need. His grandmother was welcome, he told her, to bring him a boiled egg and a bottle of milk on occasion.
http://wp.me/p46Ewj-1c
February 16, 2015
I am a big fan of Lundrigan's writing, and, although I enjoyed this story, it didn't pull me in as quickly, or as completely (until almost the very end) as did her others, "Unravelling Arva", and "Glass Boys".
This may be because I wasn't able to connect as easily with the characters in this book as I did with those in her other stories, or perhaps it was the bleak setting in which the story takes place. There was very little, if any, beauty, or lightness in the story, which left me with an oppressive, heavy feeling while reading it.
November 20, 2013
Haunting - not to the same extent as Glass Boys, but powerful nevertheless. Nicole Lundrigan is an amazing author. She may not draw a happy frolicking picture but a poignant thoughtful story.
More later...
More later...
October 8, 2015
Well constructed but rather plodding in pace, and overall by the final chapter it was, oddly, unconvincing as to what had occurred.
To be fair, it was interesting for the unusual setting (eastern Europe) during this time period rather than the narrative itself.
To be fair, it was interesting for the unusual setting (eastern Europe) during this time period rather than the narrative itself.
November 10, 2013
The story was very interesting and there were great descriptions.
May 11, 2015
There are few books that I set down unfinished - this was one, despite all of the stellar reviews. I just found it difficult and tiresome.
November 22, 2013
We have been given very strong characters once again. A very good read.
July 11, 2021
Nicole Lundrigan is definitely one of my favorite authors, with "The Widow Tree" she takes us into the lives of three friends Dorjis, he lives with his grandmother, Janos lives with his mother and the girl Nevena. While picking crops for the governement, the three come upon a cache of old Roman coins, this discovery will forever change their lives. Ms Lundrigan in her brilliant writing knits the story in a way where the truth of past lives slowly unravels and we discovers lost secrets. These were not easy times, postwar surviving under dictatorship government and war survivors with more than physical scars. Well written book where the words are a delight to savour.
September 13, 2021
3.5 stars
I did really enjoy the writing style although the dialogue felt kind of stiff. Story was compelling, the world and characters felt rich, but a lot of things being implied or not fully resolved left me wanting more a bit more clarity.
I did really enjoy the writing style although the dialogue felt kind of stiff. Story was compelling, the world and characters felt rich, but a lot of things being implied or not fully resolved left me wanting more a bit more clarity.
March 2, 2018
Serbian historical....1950s Serbia....post WW2 village, hidden motives, grief.
November 21, 2019
There is a particular art to creating and nourishing a dark atmosphere in a book with a real setting – especially without relishing in or glorifying the very real pain of the past. Nicole Lundrigan’s The Widow Tree is a gothic mystery set in Yugoslavia in 1953, when three teenagers uncover a hoard of Roman coins buried in a field. The brash János wants to keep them, Dorján is less sure, and Nevena – the girl the two of them both love – wants to turn them over to the state and into the keeping of her father the Komandant. When János disappears, though, Dorján and Nevena are left keeping the secret, and wondering if he ran off with the money and left them behind.
The book is a specific kind of dark; it isn’t fantasy, or even anywhere near the speculative realm, and I’d be hard-pressed to classify it as horror. Instead, it’s gothic in the truest sense; it’s atmospherically dark, digging into human motivations that are as cruel as they are honest, and as kind as they are complex. The mystery itself has a conclusion that isn’t surprising in and of itself, but the mystery in and of itself isn’t the point – the point is the people.
The atmosphere, writing and characterization of this book are the big sells, but if you need a faster-paced plot, this isn’t the book for you – nor is it for you if you’re a hopeless romantic. It’s a cynical book, which is appropriate given its setting, but you should know that going in. The main thing that disappoints me is how it touches on and uses certain oppressions as backdrop without ever significantly challenging them; one of the characters’ father is a ‘gypsy’ (Romani, not that the novel uses the term) and suffers greatly for other reasons, but none of his trials are ever put in the context of his ethnicity and the other Romani in the novel are background thieves. Another character is the local ‘simple boy’, also targeted, and the novel makes a small concession to why but also never really challenges it.
If you like the historical atmosphere of Sarah Waters’ ‘Fingersmith’ and the intrigue of Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’, this is a book to give a try.
The book is a specific kind of dark; it isn’t fantasy, or even anywhere near the speculative realm, and I’d be hard-pressed to classify it as horror. Instead, it’s gothic in the truest sense; it’s atmospherically dark, digging into human motivations that are as cruel as they are honest, and as kind as they are complex. The mystery itself has a conclusion that isn’t surprising in and of itself, but the mystery in and of itself isn’t the point – the point is the people.
The atmosphere, writing and characterization of this book are the big sells, but if you need a faster-paced plot, this isn’t the book for you – nor is it for you if you’re a hopeless romantic. It’s a cynical book, which is appropriate given its setting, but you should know that going in. The main thing that disappoints me is how it touches on and uses certain oppressions as backdrop without ever significantly challenging them; one of the characters’ father is a ‘gypsy’ (Romani, not that the novel uses the term) and suffers greatly for other reasons, but none of his trials are ever put in the context of his ethnicity and the other Romani in the novel are background thieves. Another character is the local ‘simple boy’, also targeted, and the novel makes a small concession to why but also never really challenges it.
If you like the historical atmosphere of Sarah Waters’ ‘Fingersmith’ and the intrigue of Gillian Flynn’s ‘Gone Girl’, this is a book to give a try.
August 6, 2015
I did not think I would enjoy this book when I started reading it. It was set post WWII time and usually I don't like books like this, but once I sat down and started reading it for longer periods of time and got more of the story together in my head, I realized I actually liked this book. I thought it was very well written and the language was very accurate to the time and period of the book. I was a bit surprised by the plot, but soon I realized it was a very nicely written coming-of-age book and it was realistically portrayed for the time period of the setting. It portrayed the toughness about growing up in that time period very well. I actually was able to imagine myself transported to the that time. This is an indication that a story is very well written in my eyes. If I am able to picture myself and the characters in a realistic fashion and not have to constantly re-read what I just read to understand the story, it deserves a good rating because of that. While the story itself was a sad one,I thought the author did a wonderful job with the imagery and language of the book.
September 10, 2016
This beautifully written story takes place in 1950s Yugoslavia. The tale begins very slowly, but the plot soon begins to unfold as more and more detail emerges. The pace of the story is slower than I would normally like, but not so much as to be distracting.
I enjoyed reading this historical novel about a part of the world and time period I have no experience with. The novel is rich with imagery and nuanced characters, and filled with metaphor (perhaps at times too much). The plot is well developed, and full of suspicion, suspense, betrayal, family tragedy and mystery.
This is the second book I have read by this Canadian author. Both are good stories, well told.
I enjoyed reading this historical novel about a part of the world and time period I have no experience with. The novel is rich with imagery and nuanced characters, and filled with metaphor (perhaps at times too much). The plot is well developed, and full of suspicion, suspense, betrayal, family tragedy and mystery.
This is the second book I have read by this Canadian author. Both are good stories, well told.
February 27, 2015
Never judge a book by it's cover. I always keep that in mind when I am shopping for books. The cover of this one is what made me pick it up and look at it. The artwork is beautiful.
The story is set in 1950s Yugoslavia, 3 friends find a cache of roman coins buried in a government owned field. Their disagree on what to do with the coins and how it effects their lives. The novel is beautifully written and I have since passed it on to a friend. I will keep and eye out for more books by Nichole Lundrigan.
The story is set in 1950s Yugoslavia, 3 friends find a cache of roman coins buried in a government owned field. Their disagree on what to do with the coins and how it effects their lives. The novel is beautifully written and I have since passed it on to a friend. I will keep and eye out for more books by Nichole Lundrigan.
March 13, 2015
I would lean towards 4.5 stars on this book. For me, this book was quietly beautiful. It is interesting to see behind the iron curtain as it begins to solidify. The characters were well developed and I fell in love with the main boy in the book, Dorjan. Even though you kind of knew how his story would end, it still felt surprising in the last few chapters. Great job on making this little sliver in time come alive for me!
November 12, 2014
Captivating story and rich characters - I could hardly put it down. When I was done I immediately looked for another book by this author - the world she creates is so complete and full it makes me just want to stay in it. I think I have found a new favorite author.
December 23, 2014
To find out more about my opinions, you'll have to listen to the Write Reads podcast http://writereads.wordpress.com/2014/.... Clearly, I quite enjoyed it, but why? :)
January 13, 2014
A beautifully written book. Nicole Lundrigan is an extremely talented writer. Looking forward to reading all of her other books.
April 29, 2014
Beautifully written story dealing with post WWII. More complete review to come.
May 4, 2015
A fantastic book. Tense, gripping, vivid, not a word wasted. It took a supreme act of will not to skip to the end to see if the young protagonists made it to the last page alive. Highly recommended.
November 16, 2013
Intense! Intense! INTENSE! I could not put it down.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews