The Oak Behind the House (Black Ice Book)

"The Oak Behind the House is the quintessential book for King. It represents a cherished natural place, and the human station in the greater world. Though its subject may be an insentient being, a personality emerges, so intensely observed that the suite can be characterized as portraiture."—from the Introduction by David Acton

This is a poignant photographic memorial to the magnificent Northern Red Oak that presided over B.A. King's family home in Southborough, Massachusetts. Almost 400 years old, the oak became a wise and comforting touchstone for the lives that grew up beneath its low, welcoming branches. Compiled from over thirty years of photographs taken at all times of day, in all kinds of weather, this book is testament to the tree's rich role in the rituals of family life—marriages, lazy afternoons, children at play—carried out in and around the majestic oak. Lovely and elegiac, this book is a powerful meditation on transcience and inheritance revealed through the deep connection between a family and the surrounding natural world. 55 tritone photographs.