Goshen Public Library & Historical Society | 203 Main St Goshen, NY 10924 | Phone: 845.294.6606 | Fax: 845.294.7158 | RCLS MemberThe drowning tree | Carol Goodman
This time the locale is a Hudson River community called Rosendale, home to Penrose College (an exclusive girls college) and the abandonded glass factory of Augut Penrose. Stained glass, and other decorative arts are characters in this novel in which Juno McKay, former Penrose student and single mother, is hired to clean and repair the “lady window” in the college library. She has revived her father’s glass business which is now housed in the former Penrose factory building. She aspires to turn the building into a loft space for artists, similar to DIA Beacon. (There are references throughout to Poughkeepsie, “World’s End”, New Paltz and Beacon to help place Rosendale.)
Her best friend is mysteriously drowned after delivering a lecture on the lady window, a lecture which alludes to a mystery in the Penrose family. Juno uses hidden diary pages of the college’s founder to discover the circumstances leading to her friend’s murder and unravel a mystery hidden in the window.
In addition to the locale, Goodman uses mythology and the arts & crafts movementof the early 20th century to give substance to her story and characters.