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The Last Shade Tree
Sequoyah Morgan Hummingbird is different, living on the edge of reality where sharing thoughts is as natural as breathing. But he hates everything about himself—his name, his lost childhood in a Cherokee residential school, his tongue-tied shyness. Even worse, the Moon People, an octogenarian pair orbiting high above the earth, force him to comply with their ruthless repopulation scheme—because they alone have seen WW III destroy humankind. By age twenty Sequoyah hits rock bottom. He pulls through, helped by friends and strangers drawn to the poetry and goodness within him. Stumbling as often as they succeed, Sequoyah and his new clan make love, babies, and history as they jump across continents and millennia.
Serious questions about war and racism lie beneath the surface of this thought-provoking story, written with humor, satire, sensuality, and pathos.
Serious questions about war and racism lie beneath the surface of this thought-provoking story, written with humor, satire, sensuality, and pathos.
340 pages, Paperback
Published August 9, 2017
3 people are currently reading
302 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Panofsky
4 books13 followersMy Story
In The Last Shade Tree, a maple tree’s green canopy is shot through with the sun’s nourishing rays. But wait, the maple is carved in stone. And in Day of the Jumping Sun, what was once that heavenly body leaps out of the sky.
My mind runs naturally to myth and fantasy. I grew up with ancient Greek myths and epics that my mother would read aloud as bedtime stories. I’d enter a realm of glorious and inglorious extremes where terra firma warps into something surreal. The behavior of gods and heroes is either exemplary or marred by the same petty desires that humans have. And so I tell a story of time travelers, extraordinary people intensely bound together on a journey—both to strange places and to the interior of their own hearts.
I left the rolling, live-oak dotted hills of Northern California to live in New York City where I taught at New York University, founding and directing the Teares of the Muses, a consort of viols. The viola da gamba technique book I wrote became a “bestseller” in the small sphere of early music. At the same time, I developed a professional life that involved writing of all sorts—from press releases and program notes to scholarly articles, short fiction, reviews, and poetry, especially Elizabethan-style sonnets.
Day of the Jumping Sun is a stand-alone sequel to The Last Shade Tree, and may be enjoyed solo. What anchors the second book to the here-and-now (and to the issues I care about profoundly) is its setting in a bizarre alternate future world plagued by dire threats to its ecosystem and society—but with rays of hope peeking through—not unlike the realities of our own fragile planet.
In The Last Shade Tree, a maple tree’s green canopy is shot through with the sun’s nourishing rays. But wait, the maple is carved in stone. And in Day of the Jumping Sun, what was once that heavenly body leaps out of the sky.
My mind runs naturally to myth and fantasy. I grew up with ancient Greek myths and epics that my mother would read aloud as bedtime stories. I’d enter a realm of glorious and inglorious extremes where terra firma warps into something surreal. The behavior of gods and heroes is either exemplary or marred by the same petty desires that humans have. And so I tell a story of time travelers, extraordinary people intensely bound together on a journey—both to strange places and to the interior of their own hearts.
I left the rolling, live-oak dotted hills of Northern California to live in New York City where I taught at New York University, founding and directing the Teares of the Muses, a consort of viols. The viola da gamba technique book I wrote became a “bestseller” in the small sphere of early music. At the same time, I developed a professional life that involved writing of all sorts—from press releases and program notes to scholarly articles, short fiction, reviews, and poetry, especially Elizabethan-style sonnets.
Day of the Jumping Sun is a stand-alone sequel to The Last Shade Tree, and may be enjoyed solo. What anchors the second book to the here-and-now (and to the issues I care about profoundly) is its setting in a bizarre alternate future world plagued by dire threats to its ecosystem and society—but with rays of hope peeking through—not unlike the realities of our own fragile planet.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 21, 2017
How did I dream up The Last Shade Tree, a strange book by any definition? When I was fifteen, a frightening polar-route flight home from Europe to San Francisco forced an emergency landing at the air force base in Frobisher Bay, Canada (now Iqaluit), at the Arctic Circle. It was mid-winter. Shivering in the sub-zero air, I was amazed by the intensity of the Northern Lights—and decided to write about it one day. Many years later, pieces of that experience have inspired several chapters. But what truly shaped the book and its peculiar story are my fears for our future. I have watched the world lurch from bad to worse to bad and back again—more times than I can count. Letting my characters speak for me, I voice my dismay that human beings seem incapable of learning from past atrocities. But I didn’t want to preach, so I imagined a story that would be fun, thought provoking, terrifying, and a great adventure all at the same time. I hope I’ve succeeded, and that The Last Shade Tree will sweep readers off their feet as they share in my characters’ extraordinary journey across the world and through time, always battling the intensity of their heightened emotions.
October 20, 2017
My beloved twin wrote this, her first novel, and I think it is a wonderful achievement. How can I convey its richness? In it a manipulative old couple lives in an orbiting bomb shelter, a pair of eagles protect the heroine, and a violin that the heroine plays beautifully begins to scream all on its own. It has twins named after the sun and moon, a cab driver named The Skidder, a greyhound bus that can go anywhere and anywhen, and a cat with a red bandana. It is very serious and also funny, always with an edge of satire. Its characters are unusual in their intensity and abilities to communicate, but are also just like us: they worry and love and suffer. The reader accompanies the heroine and others on devastating trips to times of past horror in history, and must then move far forward in time after WW III. Will their clan, of loving, difficult, very human individuals survive new threats in an altered world? Or are they doomed to repeat the failures of their past and present? At the risk of a cliche, only love will tell.
November 14, 2017
The Last Shade Tree is a remarkable read. Panofsky weaves what seem to be at first glance disparate themes and cultures into a comprehensive whole. The characters are real - they fall in love; they hurt each other; they struggle with the paths they have chosen; they love again. You can’t help but see and love the humanity in each one of them. The journeys they embark upon are captivating, frightening, and at times humorous. Though deep and difficult topics are brought to light, the story maintains a hopeful tone as the heroes, while sometimes reluctant, pull together for the betterment of all.
October 10, 2017
The Last Shade Tree features a Cherokee protagonist. We follow his journey as he confronts hardships, faces memories of a difficult past, and builds new bonds with family and friends. This is a captivating story that is part science fiction, part historical fiction. I found it thought-provoking and unique, and it proved to be an absolute page-turner!
This book also has a website: http://www.lastshadetree.com/ Absolutely don't forget to check it out!! It is an amazing resource with information on all of the historical events mentioned in the book.
This book also has a website: http://www.lastshadetree.com/ Absolutely don't forget to check it out!! It is an amazing resource with information on all of the historical events mentioned in the book.
September 24, 2018
This book made my every day.
As a lover of science fiction, I am surprised by a unique protagonist and a brilliant story. In addition to Dear Margaret's style and wording, I am amazed by the colorfulness of all type of fictions. I am also fascinated by the richness of writing.
What was so satisfying for me is that I felt sense of reality. I forgot that I was reading a fiction book, moreover, it was like living in it. I sometimes sorrowed, laughed, surprised and shocked. The story is so intriguing and absorbing. You always wonder what will happen next and you can't help it. I loved The Moon People idea and its interesting tie with the protagonist. I liked the style of explaining the situations using humor in variety of topics.
I am glad that I found this book on Amazon and I am very thankful to Margaret Panofsky for writing such a beautiful science fiction. I also thank her bringing a different meaning to me about the life on Earth. I had questions about human being before and I got some answers from this book.
Thanks for reminding me those with Last Shade Tree.
As a lover of science fiction, I am surprised by a unique protagonist and a brilliant story. In addition to Dear Margaret's style and wording, I am amazed by the colorfulness of all type of fictions. I am also fascinated by the richness of writing.
What was so satisfying for me is that I felt sense of reality. I forgot that I was reading a fiction book, moreover, it was like living in it. I sometimes sorrowed, laughed, surprised and shocked. The story is so intriguing and absorbing. You always wonder what will happen next and you can't help it. I loved The Moon People idea and its interesting tie with the protagonist. I liked the style of explaining the situations using humor in variety of topics.
I am glad that I found this book on Amazon and I am very thankful to Margaret Panofsky for writing such a beautiful science fiction. I also thank her bringing a different meaning to me about the life on Earth. I had questions about human being before and I got some answers from this book.
Thanks for reminding me those with Last Shade Tree.
February 5, 2018
This was a fun and thought-provoking read. Lots of wild elements popping in from all sides, and several themes. Occasionally I had to look back to remind myself of exactly who the characters were in relation to each other - some names a bit too similar, but I have that problem with ballets and operas, too. The characters themselves are wonderfully drawn and mostly very lovable in their complexity. Those that aren't so lovable are still three-dimensional and real.
April 4, 2018
I’m sure this book has gleaned fragments from the inks of its existence and its author’s imagination and in turn has birthed a soul within its pages. It’s a rare thing!
The Last Shade Tree is a difficult book to put down. It’s a monster of the most wonderful kind, it’s a colossus. It has such an elasticity of ingenuity, one wonders if the author herself has seen the future and so has written an opera for us to inhabit; è una delizia orchestrale.
The Last Shade Tree is a difficult book to put down. It’s a monster of the most wonderful kind, it’s a colossus. It has such an elasticity of ingenuity, one wonders if the author herself has seen the future and so has written an opera for us to inhabit; è una delizia orchestrale.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews