The Only Branch on the Family Tree
 Sherryl Clark                      

 The Only Branch on the Family Tree
Sherryl Clark (2025)
Ill. Astred Hicks
University of Queensland Press
Verse Novel, 112 pages, Paperback
ISBN 9780702268915           

 ‘Today is the day 
my face flames red and
my eyes sting.’

This immensely readable verse novel begins as young Gemma surprises her teacher by erupting emotionally over a late assignment.

Fortunately, Gemma’s teacher, Mrs Wellcome, is aware that an Exploring Family project can cause personal stress. Then, Gemma tells how her project began. Her best friend, Marley, has a large family, so she was planning to create a big family tree. Gemma, by contrast, has only her mother.

Gemma sees herself and her mother as a team and ‘best friends.’ (Gemma is aware that her Mum’s parents are dead and that her own father is ‘on the other side of the world,’ where her mother left him.) In Sherryl Clark’s carefully crafted verses, the reader learns that Gemma had a sudden inspiration on how to deal with her assignment:

‘My project was going to be a collage…
… just lots of great photos
of Mum
and me.’

Sorting through old photos to make her collage, Gemma makes a shattering discovery. Her Nan is still alive.

‘Why would Mum lie to me?’

Gemma tells the reader what then happens in a series of short vivid poems.  She and Marley use the computer to find the address and phone number of her grandmother. Gemma feels she can’t question her mother.

What if this becomes another ‘closed subject’?

Realising Nan’s birthday is near, Gemma buys a card and a present. She calculates that she and Nan have both missed sharing eleven birthdays, so Gemma takes a bus to Nan’s suburb and rings the doorbell.

Avoiding spoiling the surprises that are in store, Gemma hears her Nan’s account of why her only relatives aren’t speaking to each other. Then Gemma realises she has to tell her mother what has happened. This conversation is a difficult one, especially when Gemma points out that her mother has lied to her about Nan being dead. Reconciliation takes time but with the helpful support of her friends and some sound advice from Mrs Wellcome, Gemma is able to make a breakthrough with her mother.

‘Alright, I’ll try, but if it goes wrong again …’

The meeting takes place and it seems to Gemma that she has failed. Her mother and grandmother seem as far apart as ever.  Then Mum returns home and provides the perfect finishing touch to Gemma’s family project.

The conclusion is believable and enjoyable.

 A ‘novel in verse’ might sound off-putting to young readers, so it must be stressed that The Only Branch on the Family Tree is immensely readable. Each poem is like a snapshot of an important moment or a special realisation. When Gemma tries a computer search for her grandmother, she finds the death date of her grandfather.

‘I’m fine,’ I say,
feeling silly about crying
for a grandpa
I never knew.

Powerful moments like these, conveyed in just a few carefully chosen words, are one of the reasons that poetry speaks across the ages.

Sherryl Clark has created a moving story which will resonate strongly with every reader. 

 

Before writing The Only Branch on the Family Tree, Sherryl Clark carried out research which included conversations with several families who had experienced estrangement. She found that ‘what is common to all is the pain, which is also often grief.’ At the end of the book, she has a list of helplines suitable for young people in Australia and New Zealand.

 

Trevor Agnew 29 April 2025 [Review 3767]