Available June 1st, 2021 in Paperback & eBook at all major online retail sites, plus your local independent bookseller can order it for you.
Buy a Signed Copy from Bill
Praise for Memory Tree
“For the second consecutive year, an entry of yours finished in the top 3 of the Chicago Writers Association’s 5th Annual First Chapter Contest. The Board of Directors selected your opening chapter to “Memory Tree” as the Third Prize winner out of a record number of entries.”
Bill Mathis understands the passion and humor, but more importantly, the pain and struggle that comes with being involved in an interracial relationship. A timely story as America comes to grips with its ugly past. Louis Butler, attorney.
While Mathis’ Memory Tree is set in the past, it holds timely truths for today. Racism is presented in a wholly unique way, as a personal story and journey, as the main character Duane struggles with lessons learned from his father and his own heart telling him there’s a different way. Teetering on the edge of death, Duane sorts through all the joys and sorrows of his life as he’s tenderly cared for by caretaker Retha, who has a secret of her own. Mathis is a skilled storyteller who knows exactly how to weave us through the unexpected and make the unbelievable believable. Kathie Giorgio, author of The Home For Wayward Clocks and If You Tame Me.
The Memory Tree is a satisfying tale with an end of life review that offers redemption to a whole host of characters and inspires hope in the reader. Joanne Lenz-Mandt, author of Remembering My Monk.
In Memory Tree, author Bill Mathis has brought a new set of characters to life. None of them perfect, but all of them human, though one has transitioned to stardust. Each character looks back trying to make sense of life’s puzzle pieces. Like every good story, this book allows us to look a bit deeper, to analyze our own actions and the resulting consequences, our own prejudices, the times we have stood as allies and the times we have looked the other way. There is plenty of regret to go around, but there is also hope in vulnerability, truth and love. Marci Yosef, M.S. in Community Health, also known as Super Mom.
Thank you for allowing me the privilege of reading this story. Memory Tree was deeply moving, meaningful and gripping from the first pages. I think many, many people, especially white Americans, need to read this. The insight into the psyche of non-Southern whites around race is heart-rending, infuriating and humanizing all at the same time. Ron Watson, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Political Science and Health & Society, Beloit College.
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