Becoming a tree

twenty-five years after anna's unexplained disappearance from his life, william, a middle-aged englishman living in italy, runs into her perfect look-alike, karen. quizzed, the young south african denies any knowledge of anna, even though she is living in her former flat. the chance meeting sets off an investigation that takes william back into a troubled past and a series of jealously guarded family secrets. as the unspeakable truth begins to emerge, it becomes clear that everyone who has been harmed and has struggled to survive must undergo a radical transformation. a novel about the haunting of the present by the past, becoming a tree explores the prisons this creates and the different ways people find to break free of them.