“The Tree Nobody Wanted" is a tender, nostalgic tale, set in post World War II Brooklyn, and told by 11 year old Thomas, who lives with his grandmother in a cold-water flat overlooking the El train. Thomas and Nanny have so little in the way of worldly possessions, but that have all that really matters, love and each other.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
Boston, MA, December 10 – Tom McCann’s new book, The Tree Nobody Wanted: A Christmas Story (Exeter Press Boston, October 2007), takes you on a journey back to the hardship and marvel of 1940s boyhood in Brooklyn, New York. On the eve of Christmas, a young boy is sent out to find a tree for the apartment where he lives with his grandmother, Nanny, and a singing bird called Sweetie.
“One thing poor people know is that at eight o’clock on Christmas Eve all over the world, the men who sell Christmas trees simply walk off their rented spaces and begin their own Christmas celebrations. They just leave behind the unsold Christmas trees.”
They live in Brooklyn--the poor side, the tough side--a section called Brownsville. It still exists and, in fact, it is even poorer and tougher now.
It is early in the evening but dark outside, and very cold. The men who sell Christmas trees are about to turn off the strings of bare light bulbs and go home to their families. Their lots are empty except for a few forlorn trees that nobody wanted. They leave what is left to poor people who can't afford to pay the high prices, or pay any money at all, for a tree.
Thomas is old enough now to be sent out to pick through those trees and bring the best one he can find back to the apartment. You'll have to read the story to find out what happens next. I can tell you this much: All of their lives were changed forever by what happened that night.
The story of "The Tree Nobody Wanted" is part remembrance, part fable, part miracle.
It is a story about family values long before that term became fashionable and was taken over by politicians for their campaign speeches and slogans. In this case a "family" is just a boy and his grandmother. It is a story about hope in hard times and great happiness growing from small things. It is a story about youth and old age. It is a story about rejuvenation and rebirth. It is a story about things that are not supposed to happen, but do. Some people call things like that "miracles."
Above all, it's a love story--of a special kind, and that is the other part of the miracle.
"-Very engaging and heartfelt. If something is nurtured it can grow powerful and beautiful . . . a book for children that adults will like, as well." --Bill O'Reilly, Author, The O'Reilly Factor
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom McCann is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling nonfiction book, An American Company: The Tragedy of United Fruit (Crown, 1976) and the novel Earth Angel, published in 2002. He is also a playwright and has written several screen and teleplays. McCann is a television producer who has produced prime-time docudramas for both network and public television. He was born in Brooklyn and now lives in Rockport.
The Tree Nobody Wanted by Tom McCann; Published by Exeter Press Boston; Publication date: October 2007; Price: $14.95; Hardcover; ISBN 978-0-9797407-0-1; Category: Adult Fiction; available online at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com or through the publisher at www.exeterpress.com or call 617-267-7720.
Website: http://exeterpress.com | 
Digg it
