The Sound of the Trees A Novel

In the American Southwest, in 1930, Trude Mason and his mother ride out into the predawn quiet, hoping to escape Trude's brutal, violent father and an equally violent past. They plan on reaching Colorado, a place they believe holds the biggest ranches, the most limitless promise, and lives of the greatest ease. What Trude finds in a small border town in New Mexico, however, is brutality and lawlessness in the form of a cruel, pitiless sheriff and his devoted posse. When they arrest and sentence to death a young woman whose life Trude has saved, he must endure an explosive collision between conscience and self-preservation.

Robert Gatewood lives in New Mexico. The Sound of the Trees was a Book Sense 76 pick and is his first novel.

“Gatewood’s subtle, lyrical language gives this first novel a quiet grace....This cowboy tale has all the charms of a horseback ramble.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“This is a remarkable first novel....Gatewood makes us care about his characters and keeps us turning the pages. He shows enormous promise....It will be a pleasure to watch his progress.” —The Denver Post

“[A] remarkable debut novel...A haunting treatise on the conflict between free will and fate in an implacable world. The Sound of the Trees makes real one young man’s struggle between personal conscience and survival. Gatewood is a stunning arrival.” —The Santa Fe New Mexican

“Robert Gatewood, in his very fine first novel, has written a timeless tale, eloquent and verbose, vivid as a conflagration.” —The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)