Penny Walker Veraar

She's the key witness to a drive-by shooting. But what happens when her duty to justice threatens the most important thing in her world-her family? Reagan Ramsey--mother and middle school teacher extraordinaire--knows how to hold it together in the face of adversity. In the aftermath of her husband's death from cancer, Reagan is doing everything she can to help her two children process their father's passing while trying to sort out what a new normal looks like for their family. The loss proves especially difficult for her seven-year-old daughter, Lizzie, who has a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome and autism and is nonverbal. Lizzie's father had been her protector, a hands-on parent since the day she was born, and in his absence, her behavior becomes increasingly challenging as she struggles to express her feelings of loss and confusion. But when a random encounter puts Reagan in the cross fire of a drive-by shooting-an event that shakes the foundation of her community-she suddenly becomes an involuntary key witness to a murder that turns her world, and her sense of safety, upside down. Trapped between protecting her family and helping to bring the killer to justice, Reagan's sense of right and wrong is tested like never before. As fear and shame threaten to break Reagan, she must learn to rely on her own conscience and her community for the strength to put her life on the line for those she loves. A piercing examination of how grief and gun violence reshape families and communities, Owl in the Oak Tree is at once a taut thriller and a story of love and redemption.

Penny Walker Veraar

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