The protagonist, Sister Anthony, of The Christmas Tree, by Julie Salamon, is a nun who used to be a young orphan named Anna. Sent to a convent in Brush Creek at the age of six, Anna is lonely and unaccustomed to her new surroundings. She befriends a tiny fir tree, and they grow up together, unlocking the secrets of friendship and sharing the wonders of nature. The narrator of the novel, the chief gardener at Rockefeller Center, goes on the search for the perfect Christmas Tree, and comes across a Norway spruce, but Sister Anthony refuses to let her Tree go. Abandoned when she was little, Tree was the only one who accompanied her, but when her best and only friend is faced with trouble, Sister Anthony comes to a decision that changes the rest of her life.

Orphaned at a young...