The warm May day I found a newborn baby girl in the woods near the Buttonwood Tree, a mystical tree that offers advice printed on wafer-thin wooden buttons, had started like any other day in my life—with a hike in the woods, blown there by the hands of an insistent wind. With the wind’s help, I have a knack for finding things. Like lost pets, jewelry, car keys, and bark and blooms and leaves that I turn into ink to use for my work as a children’s book author and illustrator. But I hadn’t yet found the thing that prompted my hikes into the woods. The lost thing with no name.

It sounds strange, I know. But I’ve long since given up on ever being considered normal. Not with my family and its troubled past. Moving away from Buttonwood, Alabama, and starting a new life that wasn’t tainted by the actions of others was impossible, so I stayed. And I searched.

As surely as the wind pushed me along, it also held me back, keeping me tethered to Buttonwood like a small bird in a big, pretty cage. Until I found the lost thing with no name, I was free to roam—but only within the confines of my ornate prison.

But in all my days, I never dreamed I’d find a baby. The baby had been a shocking surprise, and at first I thought it a cruel joke, since I’d been trying to adopt for years. However, once the button turned up that said to give the baby to me, it became clear the little girl was meant to be mine.

While the Buttonwood Tree’s buttons were made of wood, what was written on them was set in stone. If you asked advice from the tree, you’d best be ready to accept the counsel given. To defy the tree’s guidance was to bring on everlasting unhappiness, a curse for ignoring the tree’s wisdom.

I named the baby Flora, and what happened in those days and weeks after she was found has had a profound impact on not just me but on the whole town. Who she was and where she came from was a mystery I never saw coming, so there had been no way to prepare for the hard lessons I learned. In the end, I found out a lot about myself and what I was willing to sacrifice in the name of family. . .and about the immense, intense power of love.

I’d brought the cradle into my bedroom but had spent most of the night in bed simply holding her. Feeling her warmth against my skin. Trying to memorize the pattern of her breaths, the rise and fall of her tiny chest. I studied the fine lines on her palms, the shape of her surprisingly sharp fingernails. I longed to sketch her profile, but I didn’t want to put her down long enough to pick up my drawing pad.

For the first time in my life I knew without a doubt that love at first sight was very real.

South of the Buttonwood Tree is a novel of magical realism, coming July 21, 2020.

USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber’s South of the Buttonwood Tree is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Blue Bishop has a knack for finding lost things. While growing up in charming small-town Buttonwood, Alabama, she’s happened across lost wallets, jewelry, pets, her wandering neighbor, and sometimes, trouble. No one is more surprised than Blue, however, when she comes across an abandoned newborn baby in the woods, just south of a very special buttonwood tree.

Sarah Grace Landreneau Fulton is at a crossroads. She has always tried so hard to do the right thing, but her own mother would disown her if she ever learned half of Sarah Grace’s secrets.

The unexpected discovery of the newborn baby girl will alter Blue’s and Sarah Grace’s lives forever. Both women must fight for what they truly want in life and for who they love. In doing so, they uncover long-held secrets that reveal exactly who they really are—and what they’re willing to sacrifice in the name of family.

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About the author
Heather Webber, aka Heather Blake, is the author of more than thirty novels. She loves to read, drink too much coffee and tea, birdwatch, crochet, and bake. She currently lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, and is hard at work on her next book. Visit her online at heatherwebber.com.