Willow By Your Side

Book excerpt: To be young is to know magic, to see the woods for what they are and recognise visions when you see them.In the aftermath of war, a young boy tries to hold his family together, under a man who brought his nightmares back from the battlefield.As his sister recovers from a terrible assault by their father, she teaches him about the magic in the land, the tombs of ancient kings, about the treacherous Red Cap and the places where the adults donaat go.When she disappears, all eyes turn to their father. They search the woods, pushing deeper into the strange spaces where myths grow among the ancient oaks. But only the boy knows the secret paths they took, and the way to the lake where wishes come true.A story of the potent and dark spaces of folklore, channelling Robert Holdstockaas Mythago Wood and Catriona Wardaas Rawblood, Haynes plunges deep into the landscape, revealing the darkness that hides beneath.