At once a family chronicle, an autobiographical fiction, and a coming-of-age story, this puzzle of a novel is a fascinating exploration into the territories of childhood.

Vive is a child whose world consists of the trees in the family garden; the exotic essences that her father, a perfumer by trade, brings back from his long travels; and the new words that she records in her notebook to tame the chaos of the world around her. But behind this unprepossessing façade lurks wounds that will take a long time to heal. Inspired by lived experience, The Palm Tree is the tale of a heroine who, like the author herself, finds herself confronted early on with both the beauty of nature and the brutality of certain men.