Catalpa Tree

I finished this book in one day it was that gripping! I was drawn in from the very first page,I went through so many emotions from happiness to frustration! You feel apart of Jude and Oliver, the two main charecters and embark on their extrodinary relationship. I have to admit i was miffed at the end because it didn't turn out how i thought it would. However all I can say overall is that it was just great to get stuck into and Denyse Devlin deserves all praise becuase she made this book real to me and It always will be!!!!

Denyse Devlin's The Catalpa Tree is a novel about an orphaned teenage girl named Jude who is placed under the care of Oliver Sayle, her father's best friend after he meets with an untimely demise in a boating accident. In spite of a slow start, Devlin has deftly managed to piece together a highly realistic and breathtaking portrait about the intertwining lives of two individuals who constantly test the limits of their circumstantial relationship with each other over the course of seven years. The ending is somewhat bleak yet all the more appropriate, and when you step back and ruminate over the storyline in its entirety you realize that somehow, there is still a glimmer of hope amidst the tears and pain in the aftermath of love.

I, too, stumbled on this book and was drawn into the story from the very beginning. It is so beautifully and vividly written giving the reader a fantastic journey somewhat like "Under the Tuscan Sun" for Ireland and the French countryside. The characters are so well-developed that they emotionally capture as they come to life off the page. For me, it was also a lesson in tolerance and acceptance of the power of so many kinds of love. Read it and weep. Read it and cheer!

I stumbled upon this book. Oh my, what a find: like discovering a gem in a junk shop. This is one of the most emotionally gripping novels I have read, ranked up there with Jodi Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper." The two main characters - Oliver and Jude - reached off the page, grabbed me, and never let go. They're still haunting me. I wish I could see them ten, twenty and thirty years on. "The Catalpa Tree" is one of those rare books that makes you tingle with delight from the first page and never disappoints, even when you're crying. I can't wait to re-read it and savour the descriptions, the emotional turmoil and the characters (even the supporting ones) all over again.