Bye-Bye Baby on the Treetops

Bye , bye baby on the tree tops” is a story of a woman who is stalked by a violent man. Jean (the main subject) re-visits a chidhood home in the Lake District. Unknown to her a man from her past is living in an old mill. His father(who had been the mill foreman) had a love affair with Jeans mother when Jean was a child. This love affair turned to tragedy when the man, then a young boy, fell against some blades in the mill, and is now hideous, and filled with anger and hate. He sees Jean again, and sets about trying to stalk and kill her. He follows her to Sweden and Scotland. Jean flees up to the Highlands in Scotland where she meets a fantastic magical man.. The book is a mixture of murder, terror and wound round the life of a professional musician.Jean goes to Moscow with her orchestra, which is a separate chapter. The “Tree tops” title come from the fact that Jean’s father put up a swing for his children in a tree beside the river. , and the final confrontation is when Jean climbs the tree, as the man runs after her. The book is also a study of how someone can forgive another person in spite of that person trying to kill. It is a sort of pschycological study of forgiveness and tolerance.

There is a love interest. Michael, a fellow flautist. The love scenes are discreet and not explicit
The end chapter winds thing up in what one could call an amusing way. Right at the end Jean is kidnapped by an underworld boos, whose wife has been murdered by Jean’s stalker. He turns out to be a cultivated and charming man, even though belonging to the underworld. Jean sort of falls for him.