Customer Reviews

Heaven Tree

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This is the best historical novel I have ever read. The villain, Ralf Isambard, is the most complex character in any book, and at the end, you will find yourself feeling sorry for him. Fascinating.

The Heaven Tree is the first book in a trilogy; it is continued by The Green Branch and The Scarlet Seed. In these books, Pargeter not only tells a great story, but deals with the themes of the artist's place in society and the permanence of art. The quote above is from Pargeter's introduction to the 1993 edition, in which she calls this trilogy "the work that came nearest what I wanted it to be."

The Heaven Tree takes place between 1200 and 1234, in Shropshire, Wales, and Paris. The story centers on Harry Talvace, second son of a knight, who has a gift for carving stone and a strong sense of the injustice of English feudal law. Harry and his best friend Adam are falsely charged with poaching, and they escape to France, where they find work helping to build Notre Dame. Ralf Isambard, lord of Parfois on the Welsh border, offers Harry the chance to build him a cathedral. Despite the dangers of returning to Wales, Harry accepts. Isambard's mistress, Madonna Benedetta, falls in love with Harry, but he refuses her in order to marry his childhood sweetheart. The book ends with Harry's death, but Benedetta, his wife and child, and his cathedral (almost a character in its own right) live on.

A bare outline of the plot can do no justice to Pargeter's skill with character. Harry, possessed by his art; loyal Adam; haughty, honor-obsessed Isambard; and proud and passionate Benedetta are all larger-than-life, unforgettable characters; their clashes of will, honor, and love are brilliantly written, not a word in the wrong place.